Last night we watched The Empire Strikes Back, the next movie in the Star Wars chronological timeline after the original Star Wars (aka A New Hope).
This is not a review and it isn’t meant to rain on anybody’s opinion of this movie – it’s simply an attempt to articulate my own feelings about it. Your mileage may most definitely vary.
I saw The Empire Strikes Back in the first week of its release in theaters in May 1980. I was living in a small town at the time and no one I knew there was a Star Wars fan, so I went to see it on my own and without being spoiled for its plot twist (also remember there was no internet at the time). I was so blown away by what I’d seen that I went back within a few days to watch it again.
Warning! Spoilers Below (if there can be such a thing as spoilers for a movie released in 1980).
What I Liked
Han and Leia. Banter and sizzle, aggravation and attraction. We got it all in this movie.
Han and Luke. I’d forgotten that it was Han who searched for and saved Luke on Hoth. Their interactions in the beginning of the movie were more heartfelt and caring than I’d remembered and revealed a lot about their relationship.
Luke. Still oh-so-earnest, but perhaps a little less naive than in the first movie. I had the feeling that he felt more heartbroken that Obi-Wan hadn’t told him the truth about Vader, than he felt betrayed (and this is how he differs from Anakin – who would have felt angry and betrayed if it had happened to him).
Lando Calrissian. What can I say? I love Lando and his friendship with Han and Chewie (and eventually the others). He wasn’t happy about the betrayal he felt forced into making, but he had more than just himself to worry about. And then just when you thought he was going to rationalize and turn away, he shows that he’d already been thinking about how he was going to do what he could to make up for his actions.
The Story. Let’s get the twist out of the way. At the time, no one saw it coming. As soon as the scene with Luke in the cave on Dagobah happened, I should have guessed, but I’d be lying if I said I did. There were audible gasps from the theater audience (including me) when Vader said, “I am your father.” That one revelation had a ripple effect through all of Star Wars, changing my perspective of everything. It was a masterful turning point, and I still can’t believe they pulled it off.
Taking risks. The death of Obi-Wan in the first movie was a signal that perhaps we couldn’t count on characters being safe, but two words from Yoda hammered that home: “There’s another.” Talk about upping the stakes for our protagonists (and yes, there are multiple protagonists) because now there were no guarantees. Any one of them could be killed off at any time.
George Lucas also did a very clever thing in giving us an action sequence at the beginning of the movie. He got the action out of the way early for those who were expecting it – then he let the movie settle down into the character-driven storytelling that’s, frankly, the real appeal of Star Wars for me.
What I Was Ambivalent About
Splitting the Story. I think George Lucas took a huge risk by splitting the action between two different storylines for a good portion of the movie. I don’t know how he would have told the story he wanted to tell otherwise, and it paid off this time. But then, he did the smart thing and handed his story draft to Lawrence Kasdan to polish AND he turned over the direction to Irvin Kershner – more than anything, I’d say those two decisions were crucial to how good this movie is and to its ultimate success. I’m not so much ambivalent about how the story was split up as I am amazed that it worked so well.
What I Disliked
Honestly? Not a damn thing.
Conclusion
I hadn’t rewatched The Empire Strikes Back in years and frankly, it’s even better than I remembered. It ranks right up at the top of my list of Star Wars movies. The only thing that keeps it from being #1 is the fact that I don’t believe it can stand alone, not like the first movie. Just as you can’t really read Tolkien’s The Two Towers on its own and be satisfied, you can’t watch The Empire Strikes Back and think, well then, that’s the end of the story. But if you look at the trilogy as three acts of a single story, then this is the middle act – and it sets up the last act (The Return of the Jedi) brilliantly.
