Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot.
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back continues the epic story of the Rebel Alliance’s attempt to overthrow the despotic galactic Empire.
Background from Episode IV (Star Wars) – [Episodes 1-3 can be discounted as they weren’t made until years after The Empire Strikes Back]:
Luke Skywalker is a young farm dweller on the planet of Tatooine who becomes embroiled in a mission to stop the evil Darth Vader and his Imperial chums from becoming impregnable galactic tyrants. Their ultimate weapon – the Death Star – can destroy planets, so destroying it is going to be no easy task. However Luke, along with old Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, and mercenary Han Solo and his walking carpet Chewbacca must somehow combine their abilities to do so. Luke begins to learn the ways of “The Force”, an energy field created by all living things that the Jedi Knights can draw power from – unfortunately, so can Darth Vader….
The Story Continues…
At the start of The Empire Strikes Back, the Rebel Alliance, fresh from their victory in the last film, have a new secret base on the ice planet of Hoth. It’s not quite as secret as they hope however as Darth Vader is hot on their heels, but apart from wanting to crush the rebels he also seems to have taken a special interest in young Luke Skywalker… For the rebels, it’s not about wining a glorious victory this time – it’s a simple matter of survival…
The Empire Strikes Back introduces several new characters, including The Emperor (if you thought Darth Vader was eeeeeeeeeevil, just wait till you see this guy!), Yoda (small green wrinkly thing, old and cantankerous but far more than meets the eye), and Lando Carlriseon, a buddy of Han Solo… well, sort of buddy… well, they haven’t killed each other yet… These characters certainly make the film more interesting, and I’d forgotten until a recent re-watch just how funny Yoda could be!
Everything that made Star Wars enjoyable is here, only more so. Director Irvin Kreshner maintains an excellent balance of action, humour, and characterisaion, all of which are superior in The Empire Strikes Back compared to the first film, while having a somewhat darker tone overall. The romance between Solo and Leia picks up considerably (i.e. they fight most of the time) and a strange little love triangle is formed, to good comic effect at times. The droids R2-D2 and C3PO still provide extra comic relief, with Anthony Daniels (the voice of C3PO) prattling on endlessly – until he gets blasted into a few dozen pieces, anyway. Use of “The Force” is much more manifest in the battle sequences involving Luke this time. The storyline is progressed well with obvious questions remaining to be answered in the next film, without the feeling that this film is not complete in itself.
The effects are superb for the time and again don’t look at all shoddy by today’s standards. The battle on Hoth remains one of the most memorable battle sequences in any film, well to me at least. The various space ships and land-based scouting and war machines are imaginatively designed and there are one or two strange creatures lurking about which look convincing enough. Again, John Williams provides a superb musical score that captures the mood of the film perfectly; indeed it defines the mood of the film on many occasions. The acting remains top notch (people are often cruel about Mark Hamil’s performance as Luke Skywalker but I really don’t see much wrong with it!), while Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) provide the best performances, as indeed they do throughout the original trilogy. (Then again, they do have the best characters so that probably helped!)
If you liked Star Wars, you’ll love The Empire Strikes Back. Yeah so you’ll have already seen it in that case, but still… This is not only my favourite film of all the Star Wars films so far, it resides at no.2 in my Top Ten Science Fiction Films of All Time - notwithstanding that it’s more space fantasy than science fiction, of course! :-D
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