- It is a testament to the greatness of The Empire Strikes Back that much of what people traditionally identify with Star Wars actually comes from this, the second film in the series. I'm thinking, to choose a few examples, of the Imperial March, Yoda the Jedi Master, and the infamous "I am your father" quote. There are less than a handful of truly great sequels out there, but The Empire Strikes Back certainly qualifies as one of them. More visually striking and better-directed than Star Wars, the film is probably most notable for how dramatically different in tone it is from its predecessor. Instead of playing to win, those plucky rebels have now been reduced to striving not to lose.
- The action revolves around Darth Vader's (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) monomaniacal quest to destroy the scattered rebel fleet and to capture Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). If you have somehow gotten this far in life without knowing why he's after Luke, I'm certainly not going to ruin the surprise for you now. At any rate, the film follows the Rebels, now led by the increasingly powerful Skywalker, that incorrigible "scoundrel" Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and the determined Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), as they are relentlessly driven from their various hiding places throughout the Galaxy with the usual supporting droids and wookiees in tow. As was the case for the previous film, the sets and locations are unfailingly impressive, whether they are used to depict a barren ice planet, a treacherous asteroid field, an overgrown swamp world, or even Lando Calrissian's (Billy Dee Williams) floating city in the clouds.
- Despite the fact that the film can essentially be summarized as a sequence of chase scenes (with a dash of humorous Han/Leia romance thrown in for good measure), The Empire Strikes Back undeniably provides the Star Wars series with some of its most memorable moments. One such occasion is Luke's encounter with the Jedi Master Yoda, a wizened green hermit whose small stature belies his 800 years of teaching experience. With a tremendously expressive face and mannerisms befitting of an aged martial arts guru, Yoda beats out even E.T. for the (admittedly obscure) title of film's greatest puppet. As both Yoda's voice and puppeteer, Frank Oz amazes with his ability to conjure playfulness, propriety, and even foreboding from this strange, withered, little creature.
- Luke's other memorable meeting, of course, is his fated confrontation with the villainous Darth Vader, whose masked countenance is all the more intimidating now that we've seen how he accepts apologies. Their extended lightsaber battle, which takes place throughout Cloud City's tangled mechanical intestines, consists of equal parts magical swordplay, vastly improved from the first film, and the sort of harshly uninviting silence that the later films distinctly lacked. That said, the greatest scenes in The Empire Strikes Back are those that expertly weave together Irvin Kershner's direction and the music of John Williams to depict Vader's unrelenting march through space, a thrilling chase through an asteroid field, or The Millennium Falcon's ominous arrival in the clouds. For my money, the Star Wars Universe doesn't get any better than that.
- Although I neglected to mention them all by name, all of the old favorites are back from the first film. Also, John Ratzenberger!
