The Movie That Made Star Wars

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2005)

In 1977 Star Wars Episode IV, the revolutionary sci-fi fantasy film, played on screens all over the world and changed the word cinema as we know it today. Star Wars gave new meaning to visual appeal and opened an entire galaxy of aliens, heroes, villains, soldiers, and legends to everyone everywhere. With inflation accounted for, Star Wars still stands as the best box office hit ever. But despite all the accomplishments of Star Wars Episode IV without the success of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back the Star Wars series would never have reached the longevity and greatness it has today.
We all know the story. Luke is the last (as portrayed then) hope for a struggling rebel alliance trying to put a stop to the harsh, tyrannical rule of the Galactic Empire. Along with a bizarre group of companions (Chewbacca, Han Solo, Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C3PO, and R2D2) Luke goes from a typical poor farmer boy to blowing up the biggest space station in the empire. The Empire Strikes Back elaborates. With Obi-Wan having been killed by the mysterious Darth Vader Luke meets the isolated and nearly deranged Jedi Master Yoda. Han Solo and Leia make shelter at the City in the Clouds only to be betrayed by Lando, Han's old friend who is the proprietor of the city. With his friends in captivity with the Empire, Luke abandons his training with Yoda prematurely and goes to save them. Luke and Vader confront one another giving the world the first great lightsaber duel and a true look at the power of the 'Force' and its manifestations. Vader tells Luke the notorious "I am your father" line and the biggest twist in cinema history is sealed. They all escape (save Solo), Luke minus a hand chopped off by Vader. Han Solo is frozen in carbonite. Needless to say there is no definite ending, which is okay for a 2nd of 3 movies.
What makes The Empire Strikes Back so great cannot be cornered to one portion or aspect.
-Creator George Lucas already had the story which obviously helps. Many sequels fail because they lack freshness and creativity. Lucas had the stories for 12 Episodes before even releasing Episode IV.
-Yoda and Lando were the only new characters and Frank Oz and Billy Dee Williams both had firm grips on the story and their roles in the plot.
-The revelation that Luke's father was actually very alive and in fact Darth Vader was one of the most anticipated but yet not surely known twists ever.
-The visuals in Episode V kept par and passed Episode IV. The ice planet Hoth, the City in the Clouds, Dagobah, and the asteroid monster were all amazing eye candy in 1980.
-Irvin Kershner also did a brilliant job directing, much better than Lucas himself did in any of the prequels or Episode IV. He made the original encounter with Yoda perfect. It was as not only was Luke meeting Yoda, but so were you.
-And of course, John Williams served up another score of brilliance. He's the best composer to ever work in film.
What The Empire Strikes Back truly does is save the Star Wars series. If this movie was some half-attempted low rent film that coasted off the success of the original like almost every other sequel out there we would not be here now talking about the prequels and the Return of the Jedi would have been some movie that topped the box-office for one weekend before falling into oblivion. This movie maintained the greatness of the original and then some.
The perfect sequel for the perfect trilogy, this movie, it is.