Best of either Trilogy...

Rating: 9/10 (11 September 2008)

Not as historic or groundbreaking as the original, this film easily represents the 'Godfather part II' of science fiction sequels.
There is up and down, black and white with ebb and flow in film... and 'Empire..' hits them all, in order and without dragging it's feet.
Maybe because we know a majority of the story already, maybe because it just unfolds and unfolds and then BAM! carbonite. Scoundrels are lovers, dead men are ghosts, Jedi Masters can be two foot nuthin' and Darth Vader is still the biggest intergalactic bastard around (and not much fun to work for).
'Empire..' represents the old-school swashbuckling epic that Lucas had envisioned, the episodic Saturday morning matinée you'd show up thirteen weeks in a row to see. To find a film even close you'd need to rent one of Errol Flynn's early Warner Bros. works, and none of them had an eight foot Wookie.
Far from a simple transition sequel, 'Empire..' stands above any other film in the six part series, and contains all the spirit, action, emotion and oomph that the prequels fought to give.
Epic. 'nuff said.