Top 25 Favourite Films: #3 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Dir. Irvin Kershner, 1980)
#3. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Directed by Irvin Kershner, 1980
Star Wars, alongside Jurassic Park, is the first real franchise I remember being into-it was the mid 1990s, Lucas by now was already preparing the first of the three prequels, to which time has been surprisingly kind considering i dozed off midway through 2002's Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars was still this colossal hang-over from the 1980s, still this all-conquering titan of cinema with a colossal expanded universe. I remember Phantom Menace-heck, so does my unfortunate father, who still hasn't quite gotten over Jar-Jar Binks. But my enduring memory of Star Wars is, undeniably, with the original series.
So, you're probably thinking, why not choose either of the buttressing two films to Empire to go onto this list? Why not the film that started it all off in 1977, or the triumphant victory lap of Jedi? Here, we go a little into my own personal view on media, so you may have to bear with me. I was a strange kid-I remember being bitterly disappointed with the ending of fairy tales-ones involving wolves in particular, for some reason-that ended with idiotic plucky children/pigs etc winning the day when they should have been eaten. Perhaps that's why I've always liked the work of Roald Dahl, in which children, subversively meet sticky ends.
This is not to say that, as an adult, I relish any movie where the villain wins-heck, that itself has become a rather hackneyed trope, one that's become almost necessary in any series to build tension for the next installment, as Marvel's Avengers Infinity War proved, on the biggest of scales. What I like, as an adult, is a more reasonable version of what I wanted as a kid-ending where our heroes have to fight, and often sacrifice something dear to themselves, to win through in the end, and where our villains have every chance of tipping the scales in their direction.
In that regard, Empire is almost perfect. Luke and Leia end the film practically on the run, the Empire having scored a decisive victory on Hoth, Leia having lost one of her chief generals, and more personally her lover, Han Solo and Luke devastated by the discoveries he must now come to terms with, humbled, maimed and with his entire world view turned upside down. When the triumphs come in Return of the Jedi, and the latter film is, frankly, too overstuffed with them, they feel the sweeter, because we have been there with them at their lowest point and are with them at this high point. It is Campbell's heroic journey in a nutshell.
But, of course, Empire is more than simply the greatest shock-twist in cinema, expertly executed as it is. It does what at the time must have seemed impossible. It is better, in almost every regard than the original, from the nailbiting Battle of Hoth, a setpiece that recalls World War I and II films, with stop-start animation that still looks and feels impressive today, to introducing three of the best Star Wars characters (Lando, Boba Fett, and Yoda). Not only does it manage to improve on the technical aspects of the original, including denser space battles, improves lightsaber fights, and of course, Williams' score, where the iconic Imperial March is added to an already impressive set of motifs, but it expands on the universe of Lucas's film in every way.
Then, of course, there is the tone of Empire, its feeling of having matured and grown out of the original film, of all three of the main characters having grown into positions of authority, even if Harrison Ford's Han retains his cocky veneer, whilst Mark Hamill inbues Luke as a young man caught between his training as a Jedi and his role in the rebellion, which will eventually bring him onto a crash course with Darth Vader. The maturity, however, does not stop at the characters, but the entire sense of the film, from the practically opressive evil of the Empire-indeed, this is the film that cemented Vader as one of cinema's great villains, to the treachery of Lando.
Above all of this, of course,is the pervading power of the Dark Side of the Force, best encapuslated in a single scene on Yoda's planet of Dagobah, where Luke faces Vader in a dreamlike moment, only to find that behind the iconic helmet lies...himself. It's a scene that's as much troubling for Luke as it for the audience, a prelude for the conflict to come, so that by the time that the film arrives at their first encounter, which still stands as one of the best fights in the series, if not if speculative fiction cinema altogether, it is a tense and nervy affair, in which Luke seems seconds away from becoming, even before Vader intones his iconic, truly shocking line, what he fears most. In short, stark terms, Empire is a film about evil, temptation and failure, wrapped up in a sequel to a film that deals with practically polar opposites.
Nearly four decades later, Empire is still the greatest left-turn in cinema, a film in which our heroes lose, our villain is triumphant, and a world evolves, expands and becomes the first step in perhaps the greatest, and certainly one of the richest fictional universes ever created. But most of all, Empire is one of my favourite films of all time because, for lack of a better word, it is the high point of Star Wars, a nigh perfect mix of tone, character, action, and drama. But also, probably, because it has Boba Fett in it.
...What?
Star Wars, alongside Jurassic Park, is the first real franchise I remember being into-it was the mid 1990s, Lucas by now was already preparing the first of the three prequels, to which time has been surprisingly kind considering i dozed off midway through 2002's Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars was still this colossal hang-over from the 1980s, still this all-conquering titan of cinema with a colossal expanded universe. I remember Phantom Menace-heck, so does my unfortunate father, who still hasn't quite gotten over Jar-Jar Binks. But my enduring memory of Star Wars is, undeniably, with the original series.
So, you're probably thinking, why not choose either of the buttressing two films to Empire to go onto this list? Why not the film that started it all off in 1977, or the triumphant victory lap of Jedi? Here, we go a little into my own personal view on media, so you may have to bear with me. I was a strange kid-I remember being bitterly disappointed with the ending of fairy tales-ones involving wolves in particular, for some reason-that ended with idiotic plucky children/pigs etc winning the day when they should have been eaten. Perhaps that's why I've always liked the work of Roald Dahl, in which children, subversively meet sticky ends.
This is not to say that, as an adult, I relish any movie where the villain wins-heck, that itself has become a rather hackneyed trope, one that's become almost necessary in any series to build tension for the next installment, as Marvel's Avengers Infinity War proved, on the biggest of scales. What I like, as an adult, is a more reasonable version of what I wanted as a kid-ending where our heroes have to fight, and often sacrifice something dear to themselves, to win through in the end, and where our villains have every chance of tipping the scales in their direction.
In that regard, Empire is almost perfect. Luke and Leia end the film practically on the run, the Empire having scored a decisive victory on Hoth, Leia having lost one of her chief generals, and more personally her lover, Han Solo and Luke devastated by the discoveries he must now come to terms with, humbled, maimed and with his entire world view turned upside down. When the triumphs come in Return of the Jedi, and the latter film is, frankly, too overstuffed with them, they feel the sweeter, because we have been there with them at their lowest point and are with them at this high point. It is Campbell's heroic journey in a nutshell.
But, of course, Empire is more than simply the greatest shock-twist in cinema, expertly executed as it is. It does what at the time must have seemed impossible. It is better, in almost every regard than the original, from the nailbiting Battle of Hoth, a setpiece that recalls World War I and II films, with stop-start animation that still looks and feels impressive today, to introducing three of the best Star Wars characters (Lando, Boba Fett, and Yoda). Not only does it manage to improve on the technical aspects of the original, including denser space battles, improves lightsaber fights, and of course, Williams' score, where the iconic Imperial March is added to an already impressive set of motifs, but it expands on the universe of Lucas's film in every way.
Then, of course, there is the tone of Empire, its feeling of having matured and grown out of the original film, of all three of the main characters having grown into positions of authority, even if Harrison Ford's Han retains his cocky veneer, whilst Mark Hamill inbues Luke as a young man caught between his training as a Jedi and his role in the rebellion, which will eventually bring him onto a crash course with Darth Vader. The maturity, however, does not stop at the characters, but the entire sense of the film, from the practically opressive evil of the Empire-indeed, this is the film that cemented Vader as one of cinema's great villains, to the treachery of Lando.
Above all of this, of course,is the pervading power of the Dark Side of the Force, best encapuslated in a single scene on Yoda's planet of Dagobah, where Luke faces Vader in a dreamlike moment, only to find that behind the iconic helmet lies...himself. It's a scene that's as much troubling for Luke as it for the audience, a prelude for the conflict to come, so that by the time that the film arrives at their first encounter, which still stands as one of the best fights in the series, if not if speculative fiction cinema altogether, it is a tense and nervy affair, in which Luke seems seconds away from becoming, even before Vader intones his iconic, truly shocking line, what he fears most. In short, stark terms, Empire is a film about evil, temptation and failure, wrapped up in a sequel to a film that deals with practically polar opposites.
Nearly four decades later, Empire is still the greatest left-turn in cinema, a film in which our heroes lose, our villain is triumphant, and a world evolves, expands and becomes the first step in perhaps the greatest, and certainly one of the richest fictional universes ever created. But most of all, Empire is one of my favourite films of all time because, for lack of a better word, it is the high point of Star Wars, a nigh perfect mix of tone, character, action, and drama. But also, probably, because it has Boba Fett in it.
...What?
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