Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

The Empire Strikes Back is one of the most beloved, most quoted movies of all time, and is widely regarded as the best Star Wars movie of the entire series. While I enjoyed the movie and can appreciate what made it so special for people, I finished this one disappointed. Between some questionable character and plot choices, visual effects which I found somehow worse than A New Hope, and the high expectations I had coming into this movie, I feel like this is a step down for the franchise.

Let’s start with some things that influenced my opinion on this movie, because I can agree that in a different scenario this may have been my favorite. Firstly is the fact that all of the twists and turns that the plot takes are already known quantities. When Darth Vader told Luke that he was his father, this made people lose their minds. When Luke went looking for a Jedi master and came across this little green creature, I knew that was Yoda who was already trying to test the young wannabe Jedi. Secondly is the expectations I had going into this movie. Having not seen this film for many years, all I could truly remember were small bits and pieces, but I knew that this one was supposedly head and shoulders above the rest. It’s hard to live up to great expectations, so I feel like this brought every flaw up to the surface as I saw them.

Enough about the bad, and let’s get to what I liked about The Empire Strikes Back. While I may have taken it for granted while watching, this movie had some of the most iconic features in movie history. The plot twist of Darth Vader being Luke’s father gave one of the most quoted lines of all time (although almost always misquoted) – “No, I am your father”. This movie was the first time the Imperial March was heard. No music that I have heard on screen exemplifies power and fear more than this. And finally one controversial thing that I loved about this movie was Han Solo. I have heard others say that his character seems to have gone downhill during this movie but to me he was as cool as ever. Is there anything more badass than him saying “I know” when Leia yelled out that she loved him? Finally the development of Darth Vader was very impressive in the film, showing his real rise to power with General Tarkin no longer in the picture. He imposed his will on anyone and everyone, and if people weren’t going to do what he asked, they would pay the price.

Speaking of characters, however, I’d like to talk about the development of Luke and Leia. From the original film, I found these to be strong and inspirational characters. In The Empire Strikes Back, I found both to be constantly pouting, entitled, and frankly at times annoying characters. When Luke goes to see Yoda, the lack of respect that he shows the master is discouraging. Sure, I get that he wasn’t aware of who he is and that he wanted to get started right away, but have some respect for others Luke. Leia, on the other hand, didn’t make a strong choice once, and instead spent a lot of the time as a token female love interest for Han.

Rather than go on about some aspects that I didn’t enjoy, I would like to leave this here. I really did still enjoy the movie, and appreciate the impact this had on not only the remainder of the series, but on film and pop culture in general, but after being disappointed by the outcome I’m going to put this behind me and get ready for the next in the series. With no more giant shoes to fill, I’m hopeful that I can look past the cons of the future films and find more and more reasons to love this series.