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Revisiting Star Wars: "The Empire Strikes Back"
This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is a movie where I remember certain segments with crystal clarity, but completely forget about others. This isn't a lead in to how, actually, I actually hate the movie now. If anything, I appreciate how many things this movie was able to do at once, and I completely get why many (including, sometimes, me) consider this the best Star Wars film ever made. Even though apparently on release, people didn't believe that Vader was actually Luke's father and they had to have Obi-Wan confirm it again in Return of the Jedi. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
The thing that sticks out to me the most is how funny this movie is. Like, there are moments where it's basically slapstick. I mean, at one point Yoda literally cackles and hits R2-D2 repeatedly with a stick. For the drama of it all. In general, C-3PO and R2-D2 have a reduced presence in this film compared to the last one, but they make every second of screentime count. C-3PO's bits in particular where he comically, and accidentally, annoyed the other characters served as an excellent shroud for pivotal plot reveals such as the Falcon's damaged hyper drive, and Vader's presence in Cloud City. Also, I'm not really sure you could classify the middle stretch of the movie with Han and Leia as anything else but a romantic comedy of errors. The whole segment doesn't seem to serve any other purpose except to bring those to characters closer together, and its obvious the decision to go with this pairing rather than Luke and Leia was the right one.
I was also continuously impressed with how good this movie looks. I could count the number of "late 90s Lucas meddling with bad visual effects" instances on one hand, and its obvious that this film is the one that's been tinkered with the least, and for good reason. Everything from the set design, to the lighting, to the character design in this was absolutely spot on. I found myself coveting every outfit Han wore in this film, which is something I never do watching movies. Hoth and Bespin are also radical departures from Tatooine and Yavin 4, serving up color palettes and architectural design that shares little in common with the previous film but still feels distinctly part of the same universe.
I was also impressed with the films willingness to separate their main characters at various points in the movie, and write Han out of the final act entirely. Lando is also a major success at creating a sympathetic scoundrel character in the same vein as Han, and executing their arcs completely differently. (And I did enjoy how its very easy to read every scene where Lando flirts with Leia as him actually flirting with Han). Experiencing Yoda again gave me a bit of whiplash considering what he was like in the Prequels, and only makes me appreciate the middle ground they landed on with his characterization in The Last Jedi. The train sequences, heavily paralleled in both the prequel and sequel trilogies, feels like a very appropriate sequence to hit in the middle chapter of the saga.
The crown jewel of this movie, though, is easily the duel between Luke and Vader. There's a reason it's an iconic moment in pop culture. The choreography is much more interesting than the duel between Vader and Obi-Wan in the previous film. The lighting and set design also makes it visually fun to watch outside of the novelty of seeing two glowing sticks hitting each other. Though this also leads me to the part of this movie I'd forgotten until now: the ending. Luke willingly falling to get away from Vader is a visual that's burned in my memory, but Leia and Lando's resuce of Luke, and the force connection scene between Vader and Luke were parts that I absolutely adored. I guess when your movie is an embarrassment of riches, stuff is going to fall through the cracks.
I also watched the movie's deleted scenes for the first time, courtesy of Disney+. Two cut scenes between Leia and Luke marked with romantic tension are funny in a very twisted way to watch now, and again I'm thankful that they went with Carrie's chemistry with Harrison in the final version. It's also obvious how meticulous they were constructing that romance, considering key scenes of theirs have alternate takes. Honestly, the only cut material I think is a loss for the film is the Wampa stuff. I completely get and support why they cut it - it did look very hokey and bad - but I wish they'd found a way to make it work because it would've made the first fifteen minutes of the film not seem so disconnected from everything else (and not just like a way to write Mark's injuries into the script). The bit where C-3PO rips the sign off the door is also very funny and I get why people know about that specifically.
I was hoping to get through Return of the Jedi tonight as well, but I was so burnt out so I only manged to do the first two. I wish I had the time to put all of the films on my 4K TV instead of streaming pieces of them when I can on my phone, but honestly I feel like it's more important that I get through everything else tomorrow so I'm not panicking last minute on premiere day. I already have enough things to stress over with that.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is a movie where I remember certain segments with crystal clarity, but completely forget about others. This isn't a lead in to how, actually, I actually hate the movie now. If anything, I appreciate how many things this movie was able to do at once, and I completely get why many (including, sometimes, me) consider this the best Star Wars film ever made. Even though apparently on release, people didn't believe that Vader was actually Luke's father and they had to have Obi-Wan confirm it again in Return of the Jedi. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
The thing that sticks out to me the most is how funny this movie is. Like, there are moments where it's basically slapstick. I mean, at one point Yoda literally cackles and hits R2-D2 repeatedly with a stick. For the drama of it all. In general, C-3PO and R2-D2 have a reduced presence in this film compared to the last one, but they make every second of screentime count. C-3PO's bits in particular where he comically, and accidentally, annoyed the other characters served as an excellent shroud for pivotal plot reveals such as the Falcon's damaged hyper drive, and Vader's presence in Cloud City. Also, I'm not really sure you could classify the middle stretch of the movie with Han and Leia as anything else but a romantic comedy of errors. The whole segment doesn't seem to serve any other purpose except to bring those to characters closer together, and its obvious the decision to go with this pairing rather than Luke and Leia was the right one.
I was also continuously impressed with how good this movie looks. I could count the number of "late 90s Lucas meddling with bad visual effects" instances on one hand, and its obvious that this film is the one that's been tinkered with the least, and for good reason. Everything from the set design, to the lighting, to the character design in this was absolutely spot on. I found myself coveting every outfit Han wore in this film, which is something I never do watching movies. Hoth and Bespin are also radical departures from Tatooine and Yavin 4, serving up color palettes and architectural design that shares little in common with the previous film but still feels distinctly part of the same universe.
I was also impressed with the films willingness to separate their main characters at various points in the movie, and write Han out of the final act entirely. Lando is also a major success at creating a sympathetic scoundrel character in the same vein as Han, and executing their arcs completely differently. (And I did enjoy how its very easy to read every scene where Lando flirts with Leia as him actually flirting with Han). Experiencing Yoda again gave me a bit of whiplash considering what he was like in the Prequels, and only makes me appreciate the middle ground they landed on with his characterization in The Last Jedi. The train sequences, heavily paralleled in both the prequel and sequel trilogies, feels like a very appropriate sequence to hit in the middle chapter of the saga.
The crown jewel of this movie, though, is easily the duel between Luke and Vader. There's a reason it's an iconic moment in pop culture. The choreography is much more interesting than the duel between Vader and Obi-Wan in the previous film. The lighting and set design also makes it visually fun to watch outside of the novelty of seeing two glowing sticks hitting each other. Though this also leads me to the part of this movie I'd forgotten until now: the ending. Luke willingly falling to get away from Vader is a visual that's burned in my memory, but Leia and Lando's resuce of Luke, and the force connection scene between Vader and Luke were parts that I absolutely adored. I guess when your movie is an embarrassment of riches, stuff is going to fall through the cracks.
I also watched the movie's deleted scenes for the first time, courtesy of Disney+. Two cut scenes between Leia and Luke marked with romantic tension are funny in a very twisted way to watch now, and again I'm thankful that they went with Carrie's chemistry with Harrison in the final version. It's also obvious how meticulous they were constructing that romance, considering key scenes of theirs have alternate takes. Honestly, the only cut material I think is a loss for the film is the Wampa stuff. I completely get and support why they cut it - it did look very hokey and bad - but I wish they'd found a way to make it work because it would've made the first fifteen minutes of the film not seem so disconnected from everything else (and not just like a way to write Mark's injuries into the script). The bit where C-3PO rips the sign off the door is also very funny and I get why people know about that specifically.
I was hoping to get through Return of the Jedi tonight as well, but I was so burnt out so I only manged to do the first two. I wish I had the time to put all of the films on my 4K TV instead of streaming pieces of them when I can on my phone, but honestly I feel like it's more important that I get through everything else tomorrow so I'm not panicking last minute on premiere day. I already have enough things to stress over with that.