Review: Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The greatest sequel since The Godfather: Part 2."
★★★★
When he had the idea for Star Wars, he originally had an idea for one long film that contained what we now know to be the original trilogy. But when writing the first film, he took the first part only, and got rid of the middle and third chapters, which he saved for later incase he was able to make a sequel or two. When "Star Wars" became a big hit, George Lucas decided to make the two other films he planned to make. But instead of Fox producing it, he wanted to produce it, to make sure he got the sequel rights and merchandising rights. However, while he was in the process of optaining the rights, he was fighting legal battles with the Writers Guild of America. Unlike most movies, George Lucas put his credits at the end of the movie, instead of the beginning, which was considered untraditional, so they find Lucas over $250,000. Fustrated enough, Lucas paid the fine and produced "The Empire Strikes Back" out his own pocket.
Since Lucas was paying for the film and due to the stress he dealt with in the previous film, he decided not to direct "The Empire Strikes Back." He hired Irvin Kershiner, Lucas' old mentor at UCLA, who was also a mentor to Franics Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. Kershiner originally said no, because he didn't think he could take on a project like that, as well as believing the film might fail because sequels are never really as sucessful as the original. Kershiner eventually agreeded when Lucas promised him that he'll stay in Califorina to oversee the work at ILM and only fly down whenever needed while Kershiner would go to film in Norway and London. Now that all of that was taken care of, filming could begin.
The film starts out on the ice planet called "Hoth." The Rebels are hiding out there after three years after the destruction of the Death Star. The Empire eventually tracks down the Rebels after an Imperial Prope Droid was able to transmit the coordinates before getting shot down by Han Solo (Harrison Ford). The Rebels have to try and defend their base but were unsucessful after the Empire destroyed the Shield Generator. Our heros split, Han Solo takes Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to meet up with the Rebels. However the Falcon's hyperdrive is damage and they need a quiet spot to fix it. The spot they chose is inside a space slug's mouth which they thought was a cave. Han later suggests to go to Bespin, where his buddy Lando is to help fix the ship.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) takes R2-D2 to the Dagobah system to learn the ways of the Force, like his father before him. There, he meets a little green creature named, Yoda, a mysterious little creator that even George Lucas has no infomation on him. Yoda was the most important special effect to get right in the movie. Lucas said that if "Yoda" didn't work, the picture doesn't work. Most of the story settles down on this creature, which an extensive knowledge of the Force. He was been training Jedi for 800 years. Yoda was originally planned to be a monkey named "Minch," but that didn't work. Thankfully, IPTV was across their studio where Jim Henson and his company were working at. So, George decided to pay Jim a visit and tell him the idea of Yoda. Jim liked the idea and decided to help him out. Together, with the help of puppet designer, Stewart Freeborn, were able to create Yoda. All that was left was a puppeter and his voice. Jim Henson was originally going to play Yoda, but was busy, so he suggested his partner and lifelong friend, Frank Oz. George hired him and Frank was able to create Yoda's voice and control him.
After Luke sees a vision of his friends being tortured, he heads to Bespin without completing his training. The third act of the film takes place on Bespin, in a flooting city called, "Cloud City." Han meets up with his friend Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), to fix the Falcon, but it turns out that Lando has "made a deal with the devil," Darth Vader (David Prowse). This results in Leia getting tortured and Han being frozen in Carbonite under Vader's orders to test if a human can surive being frozen. "Carbonite" was used a means to travel among the stars before hyperdrives were invented. The idea of Han being frozen was George's idea. Unlike Mark and Carrie, who signed on for two more movies, Harrison wasn't sure, so George froze him, incase he didn't want to return. The film ends with a duel between Vader and Luke and the group escaping. It ends on a cliffhanger.
"Empire" takes what "A New Hope" does and expands upon it. The story is more deep, it's also a darker film because it doesn't end on a happy note, but on a cliffhanger. The special effects are much better, than universe is expanded as well as the lore. New characters and locations are introduced. But it offers us a sense of wonder and charm. Irvin Kershiner was the right choice to direct this film. I wish he directed another Star Wars film, like the prequels, for example. His style of directing is different to Lucas'. Kershiner tells the actors what he wants but allows to express themselves, Lucas knows what he wants, but doesn't often say it. He's much more quiet on set and isn't patient when directing, hence why the stress came in, other than micromanaging everything.
This film is easily considered to be one of the best sequels ever made. As well as being considered as the best Star Wars film. Another piece from Mr. Lucas' brilliant and artistic mind. It's my favorite out of the six films.