Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back - Review

Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back – Review

After the trailer we all saw a few days ago I was really in the mood for Star Wars. It’d been way too long since I had watched the Empire Strikes back and I was curious to see whether it’s as good as I always think it is.  When asked my favourite film I would always proudly admit it was the Empire Strikes back so how was it now? Let you be warned there will be spoilers although let’s face it, everyone in the universe knows what happens in this film.

 

The Empire Strikes Back follows the aftermath of the Rebellion destroying the Death Star. A good film needs a good plot and this film definitely has that. The first film set a great foundation and Empire really ups the stakes. It would have been very easy to unite the same crew as last time and send them all off but instead after a short time our main protagonists get separated. This was a great move as not only did it allow more locations and thus show us more of the world that was being created but also meant the characters had new challenges to overcome.

 

If plot is the bread then characters are the butter and a sandwich with butter is a dry and thirsty experience, so how were the characters? We’ll start with our main protagonist Luke. A bit of a tangent here but when you think of the prequels what is one of the main things that sticks out? For me it’s how irritating Anakin was. I am not criticising the actor, honestly considering what tripe he had to work with I think he did a decent job. This is especially apparent in scenes with no dialogue but the point is he was whiney and stuck up and perhaps most importantly for this kind of story, completely unreliable. Luke could be whiney at times but it was never annoying because we could kind of see what he was saying. He reacted to how many people would but he was still brave and determined and all those good things you want in a hero. Unlike what the prequels did with Anakin, Luke was written to kind of stray the border at times with good and bad and it wouldn’t be unfeasible to see him go either way but at the same time we wanted to see him succeed.

 

The other two main leads, Han Solo and Princess Leia spend a lot of time together throughout the film and take up a lot of screen time so if they had no chemistry this would be a huge problem. Luckily they’re really enjoyable to watch. I’m a huge fan of Han Solo, he’s the kind of character I’d like to think I was similar too even though I know it’s definitely not the case. He’s if nothing else, really cool. More than that though he was a character I enjoyed seeing the growth of. He started out in the first Star Wars as just in it for the money and let’s face it, a bit selfish. He develops though from the guy who shot first into a genuinely good guy, one you could always rely on. He never loses that swagger and bravado that makes him such a great character to begin with.

 

Leia doesn’t quite have such an arc, she doesn’t change anywhere near as much as Luke or Han but that doesn’t mean she’s not interesting. She is strong and she holds her own and she doesn’t need to be rescued all the time. I also like the chemistry between Han and Leia, they do bounce of each other well and again unlike the prequel it is like a real romance. You do believe what’s happening, you don’t just have to assume they’re in love because George Lucas says so.

 

Now I need to talk about Darth Vader. Right. Do villains get any better? I doubt it, Vader was a powerhouse in this film. Like everything else he really stepped it up for the Empire Strikes Back. He was far more evil here and while we saw him do a few cool things in the first film we really get an idea of his power here. He executes people by choking them, he throws stuff at Luke and the lightsaber duel is superb, it really highlights how easy Vader finds it to block Luke’s assaults. Vader is powerful but he’s also complex and while his character isn’t explored that much there are subtle moments with him that I absolutely love. I loved it when we saw the back of his head and how it was all scared and I like seeing him bow to the Emperor. Little moments like that I thought did a great job of showing us a bit more without having to spell it out to us.

 

Of course there are so many great supporting characters it’s hard to fit them all in to one blog post. Yoda was a fantastic mentor character, we are always aware there is more to him but it never just gives it all away and equally we are shown how wise he is. Chewbacca has great interactions with Han, C3PO has some good lines (I especially like it when Han is making his move on Leia and runs charges into the room exclaiming about some random sci-fi gibberish). Lando is like more awesome cool smuggler character and Boba Fett for all 12 seconds he’s there is just plain awesome.

 

There are some amazing scenes in this movie, I’ve already mentioned the show down with Luke and Vader, the chase through the asteroid field is great, the battle for Hoth was cool and one of my favourite ever movie scenes is in this movie. It’s where Han gets frozen in carbonite and it’s a fantastic scene. The line I know was so fitting and such a great way of emphasizing the moment.  The music is perfect and then we see Vader’s helmet through the smoke! I love that scene.

 

There’s so much more I could talk about and I could go on for pages and pages but instead I’ll answer the question of is the Empire Strikes back as good as it has been in my head. Absolutely, the film is a masterpiece and if you’re one of the 3 people on earth who hasn’t seen it then I highly recommend you do.