Director: Irvin Kershner
Writers: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas
Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz
Runtime: 124 mins.
1980
With the possible exception of Rogue One, The Empire Strikes Back is the last Star Wars film to actively try something new. In the thirty-seven years since its release, the most successful film franchise of all time has completely failed to match Empire's innovation. Maybe part of the problem is that Empire was so successful at shaping the identity of Star Wars that everything thereafter necessarily returned to the same well.
That's the double-edged sword of making something iconic: forging a memorable identity for your property also means putting it in a box. And it doesn't get more iconic than The Empire Strikes Back. Consider how many aspects of it have been canonized and remixed over and over again in the form of video games, merchandise, books, other movies. Empire defined a generation.
It's easy to see why, looking back from our perch in the middle of the newest Star Wars trilogy. Empire is the best kind of sequel in that it expands on its predecessor with seeming effortlessness, something no other Star Wars movie has managed. Everything in Empire feels more epic, grander than before. Yet it accomplishes this without artificially inflating stakes by doing something dumb like giving our heroes a newer, bigger Death Star to tangle with (they'll save that trick for Episode VI... and Episode VII).
It's interesting that the overarching goals of our heroes are so nebulous in Empire. The film is in many ways about the process of finding your way when no obvious choice presents itself. Luke's Jedi training on Dagobah pointedly demonstrates this. Han and company are also lacking an immediate goal to marshal around beyond survival; their arc is almost entirely reactive, as they are pingponged around the galaxy with Vader and his ships in hot pursuit. The first forty minutes of the film are a breathtaking study in breakneck pacing, never letting our heroes out of danger for long enough to allow us any relief.
Everyone in Empire is confused, battered, desperate, and directionless. Even Vader's subordinates seem baffled by his decisions, though the great running gag of him choking his commanding officers to death keeps them from saying so. Danger lurks around every corner; we fear for the safety of our beloved characters.
This seems as good a time as any to make the following observation about the main characters of Star Wars: they may be beloved, but they're not very good as characters. They're not bad either, just flatly archetypical as written. Luke (Mark Hamill) makes all the dumb, hotheaded decisions that a character with his overdone arc is supposed to make. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) spends most of the runtime barking quips at his friends. Meanwhile, Leia (Carrie Fisher) barely counts as a character at all. Fisher certainly steals every micro moment she is given, but those opportunities are laughably scarce.
Yet we love these characters dearly, even though they are mediocre on the page and performed with charming adequacy. It's hard to determine at this point how much of that love is crusted up nostalgia, but I do believe that the characters of Empire would be engaging even without its legacy. The film does so much to elevate its characters. Paul Hirsch's masterful editing never allows for a false moment; despite the movie's 2+ hour runtime, we never have time to grow impatient with our heroes. John Williams' legendary score obviously helps too. It's hard not to empathize with or marvel at these people with Williams' orchestra conjuring pure movie magic.
Ultimately, so much of what works in Empire comes down to the little details. It's hard to think of a franchise that mastered world building the way the first couple of Star Wars movies did. Empire is an embarrassment of riches in that regard. No longer are we primarily limited to the aseptic corridors of the Death Star. Empire's scope goes far beyond that, still unmatched by other Star Wars entries. The oppressive cold of Hoth, set up expertly by Luke's run-in with the yeti, makes for a great backdrop to the meticulously-crafted opening raid (the first proper Star Wars battle we get to witness). Dagobah, too, uses its setting to maximum effect. One feels grimy just watching Luke and Yoda tromp through the swamp as all manner of snakes and creepy-crawlies slither around at the edge of the frame. Finally, the mining colony on Bespin is such a gorgeous piece of design that I am finding it difficult to put its beauty into words. The steampunk metal hell of the carbonite freezing room is an incredible example of action matching up with setting to spectacular effect. Vader and Luke's fight in this chamber is probably the best lightsaber fight in the entire series. The tense pacing, the shadowy set, the incredible sound design... again it's all about attention to detail--the way Vader swoops down a set of stairs like a bird of prey, or the way he parrots the Emperor's words from the beginning of the film during his climactic plea: "Search your feelings, you know it to be true."
That scene, by the way, is still absolutely stunning despite being parodied to death a thousand times over. Vader brutalizes Luke physically, emotionally, and psychologically over the course of the sequence. Whatever criticisms may be levied against Hamill's performance in general, he one hundred percent sells Luke's sorrow and desperation. The whole thing, from Vader's cat and mouse game, to the slicing of the right hand, to the cruel revelation, to the topple down the endless mechanistic chasm... it's a series of unexpectedly bold choices from a family-friendly popcorn movie.
To make such bold choices is a sign that the creative team on this film actually had something to say, and I congratulate Kershner for bringing it all together. I don't want to belabor my "Empire is the best Star Wars movie" point, but it's a matter worth examining that the world's biggest cash cow of a franchise has been to this point unable to recapture a glimmer of Empire's urgency.
4.5 / 5 BLOBS
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