Welcome back to old movie reviews, and sorry for the long hiatus previously before I made a review on The Force Awakens, I was very busy. But anyway, to use these two weeks of Christmas Holidays, I feel like making more movie reviews!
So anyway, I’m back to talk about
possibly my favorite Star Wars movie of all time: The Empire Strikes Back. In
fact, I respectfully disagree with the fact that it’s the best Star Wars movie
ever made; it is one of the best movies and sequels ever made.
Basically, George Lucas threw Irvin
Kershner to the director’s chair, while throwing Lawrence Kasdan to the
writer’s chair, clearly telling them I’m a bit done with the sequel stories
here, I’ll give it to you guys to do the work. It is more than a wise choice,
in fact, having it as one of the best choices George Lucas has made. This is
not a way to insult him, but it’s true: Irvin Kershner and Lawrence Kasdan were
absolutely brilliant with this movie.
There are a number of things that are so
different from The Empire Strikes Back and the first Star Wars movie. The first
one, being that this movie has brought Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia,
and even Darth Vader, to heightened emotional levels. This is the first
time we have seen these characters that 3-dimensional. It has also given us a
bigger picture of the Star Wars Universe. Before this movie came along, Star
Wars was an awesome movie, yet we don’t know much about these characters, and
how else the Star Wars Universe can be capable of. Filmmakers knew people are
going to watch this movie now, thanks to the first movie, and are willing to take
risks by taking the movie into a different direction. It is, needless to say,
darker and more sinister than Star Wars, but ultimately more involving than
Star Wars.
If I missed anything out, I apologize,
but there’s just way too many positive things about this movie. This review
will definitely contain spoilers; you’ve been warned.
Film Synopsis - The adventure continues in this "Star Wars" sequel. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi master's help will Luke survive when the dark side of the Force beckons him into the ultimate duel with Darth Vader (David Prowse).
Film Synopsis - The adventure continues in this "Star Wars" sequel. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi master's help will Luke survive when the dark side of the Force beckons him into the ultimate duel with Darth Vader (David Prowse).
The Pros
The expansion of the universe - The Star Wars saga doesn’t stop there about expanding the universe;
you can see it growing. We finally see a snowy planet called Hoth populated
with cold blizzards and freezing ice caps. We finally see an asteroid field
taking place. We also see a swampy planet called Dagobah, as well as having a
wise old Jedi master lurking around the area (Dagobah felt absolutely nothing
like a set. It was so real and impressive). We see a gas planet called Bespin
with a floating city that hangs above it. As you can see, the Star Wars
Universe has gotten more creativity of a universe more than any other cinematic
universes when it comes to science fiction. You keep seeing it expand, you keep
seeing it grow. You truly wanted this universe to exist, and not only that,
kept expanding what you already saw from the first Star Wars movie, except the
fact that they gave it more.
A bigger picture - You finally get to tie some loose ends around the questions you
didn’t know from the first Star Wars movie. For example, why does Darth Vader
need the suit? Is he wearing it for style? Why is the force strong within Luke?
Why does Leia know Luke is hanging underneath those antennas hanging underneath
Cloud City? Most of the questions have been solved in this movie, satisfying
you, but in the end, sometimes may give ten questions more to the answered
question. This is what I love about this movie; it’s more than just another
adventure movie. It expands and gives you more details about each and every
character.
The acting - This is possibly the 2nd kind of the best acting I’ve
seen, the 1st being The Force Awakens. The young actors have
obviously become more confident with their roles, giving them more
characterization than they did from Star Wars. You see them as
three-dimensional characters with a lot of feelings. You look at them as real
characters, and whenever something happens, you see them distressed, sad, and sometimes
remorseful. You see them as real people, not a bunch of heroes.
What I also love about this movie is the
fact that everyone is vulnerable; you can’t see them as superhuman anymore,
just because it’s Star Wars and you don’t know the abilities the humans have
from their world, but the fact that they can get injured, captured, and
tortured, just like anyone else. Hell, even the Millennium Falcon was
broken the entire time, and you can feel just because you have the fastest ship
in the entire galaxy, doesn’t mean it can be vulnerable as well.
The direction Irvin Kershner took with
these characters is great, because these characterizations are very important
for the third and final movie of the original trilogy. There’s more to their
characters now, and I’m happy to see them develop.
Han Solo - Han was an absolute badass in this movie. There is finally more to
his character than just being a smuggler from the first movie. He saves Luke
once again when Luke was lost around Hoth, and fired his gun first to Vader
when Han realizes his best friend Lando Calrissian betrays him. See, that is
why I hate the idea of Greedo shooting first in the Special Edition edit,
mainly because it is true to the point Han does shoot first. I mean, hell, he
shot Vader first without thinking. That’s the kind of character he is. When
George Lucas had to change that, I absolutely hated it.
When Han thinks he might die of Carbonite
freezing, Leia says to him: “I love you.” He responds: “I know.” See, that’s
the kind of brilliant writing right there. The original line was called: “I
love you too.” But writers knew Han wasn’t that kind of person to say that. So
obviously changing it, not only making it a million times better, but also
giving more characterization to Han’s character. That’s the same exact response
I say to a lot of people when they say they love me.
Darth Vader - Now look, we all love Darth Vader. It’s not a theory, its reality.
He’s one of the greatest cinematic villains to ever be shown on the big screen,
but that’s only because this movie came out. Before then he’s just a guy with a
black suit that’s evil and walks around doing his own thing.
In this movie, he is a thousand times
more menacing than he was from Star Wars. You can even see the tone and voice
of his character change. For example, he’s a dude that yells a lot in Star
Wars, fights old men normally, drives a TIE Interceptor, attack X-Wings and
Y-Wings and takes out fat people and guys with porn star mustache.
In this movie, he is a calmer yet way
more evil character than he was in Star Wars, and instead of being angry and
all, he stays cool, but proceeds on giving you hell.
You can even feel him having that power
within him, and he is basically much scarier in front of the generals and
soldiers around him. You can feel everyone’s fear when he comes around, because
he’s that powerful. If the generals mess him up, they will die. If they fail to
do what Vader wants them to do, he will kill them. Yes, we’ve all seen the
force choke in the first star wars movie, but this movie is the first time he
does that, calmly, murdering his generals without thinking about it, and of
course not raging about it. He continues to kill his generals left and right,
and promotes captains left and right.
 |
| "You have failed me for the last time, Admiral." |
The special effects - When comparing the sequel to the very first movie, in just a time
of three years, the special effects have gone so much better than the first
one. The first movie’s special effects don’t suck, and they of course aged
well, but The Empire Strikes Back had special effects we still see today in
movies of our time, but of course, sometimes actually looked better.
Cinematography - As I said in The Force Awakens review, J.J. Abrams had the eyes of
very good cinematography. Now of course, there is a brilliant man before him
who also had the same eyes: Irvin Kershner. My god, the wide takes and shots,
the use of panning around the characters, the great look and view of sets and
shots, and of course, longer takes and shots instead of choppy editing, looked
really good in this movie. Rest in peace, Irvin Kershner, you’ve given us a
legacy from you we wanted.
The oppressive power from the Empire - As the title of this movie suggests, the Empire does indeed strike
back. You’ve never felt this kind of power from them in the first star wars
movie. In Star Wars, yes, they are bad guys. In the second movie, you can truly
feel the oppressive power within them, and they have that kind of power to push
the Rebels back with so many elements of surprise. They’re like: You took out
our death star, you’re all literally dead. But hey, it doesn’t matter, we’re
building a Death Star 2.0 anyway.
The battle of Hoth - Probably the first battle that doesn’t start in Space but on a
planet, the battle of Hoth is great for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is
the first battle we have witnessed the empire defeating the rebellion. You see
the rebels get crushed down to the core, and the empire is not giving a crap
about it. The Empire really doesn’t want them to win.
This battle is great because every other
character is doing something. In Death Star Assault from the first movie, it’s
a great sequence, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no multiple subplots around
it; it’s basically an air fleet taking on a space station. Cool.
In this movie, Luke Skywalker guides an
Air Fleet to fight walking camels from the Empire called AT-AT Walkers. Awesome
battle, and the AT-AT really gave the rebels hell. Princess Leia is ensuring
that all the ground staffs and soldiers have evacuated from the planet because
Princess Leia knew they were losing already, and she doesn’t want to risk
losing another valuable life in the Rebellion. Meanwhile, Han Solo is trying to
evacuate Princess Leia to somewhere really safe, to stop the Empire from
getting their hands on her again.
See, it’s an amazing sequence. It is also
great, since it’s not the climax of the entire movie, but more or less an entertaining
first act battle.
The use of the Force - As the movie kept expanding, it also expanded the use of the force.
Yes, now there is more than just using mind tricks are choking people with your
mind. You can levitate and move things that is away from your reach by using
your mind.
This is an awesome ability shown in this
movie, as you can truly see it used for a lot of times, as it is necessary as
well to keep the story flowing. The first use of it was when Luke was stuck in
the snow, and the lightsaber is from his reach. He reaches out, calms himself,
and you see the lightsaber in the snow shuffling within, as you can see Luke
call the lightsaber to him. It is such an amazing scene, not only because I’ve
never seen this kind of ability used in the first star wars movie, but also
because you can tell Luke didn’t succeed in doing it at first. He had to try it
out a few more times, and this also shows Luke is on the path of being a good
Jedi… like his father. That is something I will talk more about later.
John William’s new addition to the Star
Wars Score - John Williams updated his soundtrack
of Star Wars by adding more awesome soundtracks to his music. The Imperial
March is absolutely iconic music. In the first Star Wars movie, all there was
were low monotone music for the empire. The asteroid field sequence is
brilliant as well, and it gives a sign of adventure and brilliant flight of the
chase. And finally, Yoda’s theme, showing you the calmer and mellower side of
Star Wars, as well as the beauty within Yoda. And speaking of Yoda, let’s talk
about…
Yoda - Please
give me a minute, before I talk about the greatest Star Wars character in
history.
Yoda is, honestly, the best thing about
the entire Star Wars Saga, and all it takes for him to be that famous among
many other characters was the fact that there is a voice actor (Frank Oz), and
a puppet. Yet we all love him because he’s the one who taught Luke all the
wisdom, and everything he also said that helps us in life.
We start him out by seeing him as a
really funny and cute character. You just really liked him for who he is. After
Luke failed his test for being a brat in front of him, he takes on this calmer,
more master-like character. After that, every scene, Yoda is in, he steals the
entire show. Everything he said were so real and also very influential. “Do, or
do not…there is no try.” That is a quote I’ve heard from him, and I’ve always
been doing that in my life to this day.
From the prequels, I hated the idea of
Yoda with a lightsaber. Yoda does NOT need a lightsaber. He is a Jedi master,
and I get it, everyone needs a lightsaber, but the thing is, possession is
forbidden. Yoda is not the character to fight in duels, he is also a very
peaceful character, who believes The Force is way better than having a
lightsaber or a good old blaster at your side. That is also what makes his
character great. He even told Luke on his second test, you don’t need that
lightsaber. Put it down and face the danger in there.” But of course, Luke
fails every test.
The scene where Yoda lifts the X-Wing out
of the water is an amazing scene too. When Luke says: “You believe in the
impossible.” Yoda’s like: “Shut up and just look what I can do” and just lifts
that thing out of the water without trying a lot. When Yoda says: “That… is why
you fail.” I can’t help but laughing at that burn, also knowing that is a cold
cut that etched deep among Luke’s many failures.
Yoda is such an amazing character, and a worthy addition to the Star Wars saga.
Luke’s failures - Luke’s failures are actually really important in this movie. You
see a character learn from their mistakes, and you can see him learn from each
mistake he has made in this movie, and they are very important lessons from
him, since in the third movie, he has overcome most of those mistakes and has
become a really badass Jedi Knight. They are really important for this movie,
and you already hated the fact that Luke is screwing up every decision he has
made.
The Lightsaber Duel - Not only is this a lot better than the duel between Vader and
Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars movie, but it is a very necessary battle for
Luke to fight, before he does that in Return of the Jedi. Vader is basically
toying with Luke at the start of battle, saying things like: “You have learned
much, young one.” And Luke is obviously very rusty at this point. The final act
of this duel was particularly the most memorable, as Vader is basically done
playing with Luke. “Playtime is over, I’m going to cut something off…” As Vader
keeps slashing and slicing without giving Luke a single opening to hit Vader,
Vader cuts of his hand. Yes, this is the first time something biological that
cuts off, excluding Obi-Wan, because after the slash his body’s not really
there. I screamed when Luke’s hand got chopped off, I’ve just never seen that
in a Star Wars movie before.
The Duel is great, not only having better
blade laser designs, but also with better sound effects, wider shots and long
takes of the blades clashing with each other. The duel is a lot faster, and the
actors are obviously not having a problem with the lightsabers, as the reason
why the first Star Wars movie had the men being so slow because it is heavy. In
this duel, Vader’s holding the blade with one hand. Not heavy anymore. That's
just awesome.
I am your father - Han Solo has been trapped in Carbonite, he was sold to Jabba the
Hutt, Leia might as well not see him ever again, Luke loses his hands, can the
day get any worse? Well, yes, of course it does. And all this comes to just one
sentence said from Darth Vader:
“No, I am your father.”
That slapped the audience completely in
the face, and changed everything we knew about Star Wars. The audience was
crying and gasping, and to be completely honest, I also wasn’t expecting that.
I literally went like: “WHAT?” because I was totally unsure of what Vader has
said. And yes, Vader is not shitting; Vader is Luke’s father.
The audience had to wait 3 years to
actually uncover whether what Vader said was true or not, if it is just a way
to seduce Luke to the dark side. Unfortunately, it is; this adds something
extremely worthy in Return of the Jedi. Speaking of 3 years, let’s also talk
about…
Cliffhangers - the Audience left the theater slightly disappointed, not because it
is a terrible movie, but because they wanted to see more. The journey took a
dark turn, and not everyone had a happy ending at that time. They had to wait 3
more years before the next Star Wars movie comes out, and if I were me, maybe I
could have also felt the same way. However, the writers played it really smart
mainly because it is a way to suck people in for the next movie, to tell the
audience what is going to happen next. I thought it was really smart, and
there’s no end to the movie of The Empire Strikes Back.
(That is all, folks!)
It hooked me up as well, because it took a day for the next Star Wars movie to get on TV (I didn’t have DVDs back then, when I first watched Star Wars) but my father had to wait for this movie for at least 3 YEAR. Just imagine that for a moment. Yeah, it sucks to be you.
Conclusion
The Empire Strikes Back defines what
movie sequels should have been. It is a movie where it takes everything to the
next level, whether how dark the theme got, the characterization and
improvement of the characters… It is perfect in almost every way. I’m serious,
I was a hawk looking for flaws in this movie, but I seriously can’t seem to
find any. It is a fast-paced movie, with not a scene that stalls, it keeps
moving, and everything seems to fit in with this movie (not Maz Kanata motion
capture characters in a real world that seems fake, no.) I would have loved to
give this movie more than just a 6/6, but unfortunately, that’s the highest
rating I can give to any other movies.
The Pros - 16
Neutral - 0
The Cons - 0
Rating: CINEMATASTIC (6/6)
I am happy to judge what this movie is
like, and in no words, described this movie as moving and brilliant. Return of
the Jedi Review will be coming soon, and I’ll maybe start to rank the Star Wars
movies. I might be watching The Force Awakens again to see how well the movie
puts up with the other movies. I obviously haven’t taken in most of The Force
Awakens, since there isn’t a time the film stalled and I had to think about and
evaluate some good moments I missed.
But anyway, I might not be in long hiatuses
for these two weeks. I'll keep posting old movie reviews here. You'll really
like it.
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