Maybe Obi-wan didn't tell Luke because there was a gag order on the results of the paternity test

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2008)

My personal favorite of the original Star Wars trilogy -- in fact, it's my favorite among all six films -- The Empire Strikes Back is one of those near-mythological sequels to best the original. This is all the more remarkable because it is the sequel to Star Wars: A New Hope, a classic in its own right.
A while ago, I wrote a review for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in which I described that movie as suffering from a fault that is common in sequels, a flaw I labeled as "the meandering middle." The Empire Strikes Back never suffers from this. I suspect the reason why is because of the sharp writing of Empire. Lawrence Kasdan (writer/director of another classic, Body Heat) had impressed George Lucas with a draft of Raiders of the Lost Ark and was thus brought on to complete a final draft after Leigh Brackett's death. Kasdan's work is most evident in the scenes on Dagobah between Yoda and Luke. In A New Hope, the script was plot-driven; Empire is character-driven and dark without ever being bleak.
The story opens on the frozen planet of Hoth, where the rebels are hiding from Darth Vader and the Imperial Starfleet. When found, a skirmish ensues, but this is only the catapult into the main plot: Han and Leia's flee from Darth Vader; Luke's training under Yoda; and the eventual union of these two stories.
Irvin Kershner's direction is more ambiguous than Lucas'. Gone is the "aw, shucks" attitude of Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher is given a strong, mature role this time in place of her previously brash Leia. To Lucas' credit, this feels as much like the evolution of the characters as it does like improved writing and direction.
One special note I want to make is John Williams' score. While it is arguable that the whole trilogy is the greatest scored film or film series ever, it is in Empire that Williams perfects that sublime and terrifying leitmotif for Darth Vader. While the main score of A New Hope was the one that won the Oscar, it is "The Imperial March" that is more widely-recognized today.
All told, The Empire Strikes Back is more than just a worthy follow-up to A New Hope. It surpasses it, building greatly on theme by adding a truly creepy underpinning of emotion and enlightening us to the chilling person of Darth Vader. It is easily one of the best films ever made.