The second chapter in the original Star Wars Saga, and fifth overall, The Empire Strikes Back, isn’t just universally accepted as the best of the bunch. It’s also regarded as one of the best sci-fi movies ever, let alone movies ever. When George Lucas decided to hand over directing duties to one of his old professors, Irving Kirschner, he couldn’t have known just how special Kirsch’ would make this movie.
Instead of focusing on all of the crazy space drama, he boiled it down to the characters and it wound up being not just the right move, but you’ll seldom if ever find a person who doesn’t like the movie. But here goes nothing, so punch it Chewie and check out 5 Reasons Empire Strikes Back Is The Best Star Wars Movie (& 5 Reasons It’s Not).
Best - Vader’s Unhinged
If you though Darth Vader was fairly terrible in A New Hope, just see how much of a sore loser he can be in Empire. It’s called The Empire Strikes Back after all, can’t really have happy-go-lucky bad guys.
Instead the Dark Lord is completely unhinged in his search for Luke Skywalker. He’s choking out all of his own men for their failures, hiring bounty hunters, torturing Han and taking over the Cloud City; and that was before he chopped off his son’s hand and left him for dead.
Not - Yoda and Obi-Wan Are Vague For No Reason
“Hey Luke, you might not want to head to Bespin, your friends are being tortured by your dad because you destroyed his prized space station!” While that doesn’t have a lot of panache, at least it’s an actual reason.
While “you’re not fully trained yet” is a very good reason to maybe not risk getting everyone killed, perhaps Luke might have fared better if he was the one hitting Vader with that knowledge. Seriously though, why are Yoda and Ben so vague about everything? Because plot that’s why.
Best - Han’s The Star
In the original movie, we were introduced to the coolest space pirate ever - Han Solo. While Empire does focus on both Luke training with Yoda and Han, Chewie, and Leia evading the Empire fairly evenly, Luke’s more of a co-star in this movie.
Most of the action in Empire focuses more on Vader hunting down Han and company allowed Solo to be the star of the movie, making everyone’s favorite smuggler that much more lovable.
Not - No Climactic Space Battle
The lightsaber duel between Vader and Luke is pretty epic. But most Star Wars movies end with at least portions of an epic space battle, a dog fight in the stars. Empire featured a lot of intense, harrowing action, but the end, if you didn’t realize there was a third film coming up (and an eventual three more following it up), the ending to Empire is pretty mundane.
Best - The Battle Of Hoth
At the time, a lot of special effects in sci-fi movies were done against black, because it was all taking place in space. For the Rebellion’s daring escape plan, The Battle Of Hoth, George Lucas and ILM worked double-time to create what is one of the hallmarks of the entire film saga.
With the Rebels seemingly outgunned by the giant walking AT-ATs, Luke, Wedge, and the rest of Rogue Squadron did their best to keep them occupied so the rest of the battalion could flee, and all eventually meet at the rendezvous point.
Not - Luke Kisses His Sister
It must have been nice to live in a time that Luke and Leia weren’t related. Besides planting one on him before they swing through the Death Star chasm, Leia smooches Luke big time in Empire. Of all of the changes and tweaks that Lucas has made over the years, sibling smooching remains a thing in the Star Wars Saga.
Luckily once the realized they were siblings, they stopped being role models for Jamie and Cersei.
Best - Meeting Yoda
Before we knew 854 different things about the Jedi and their history, any and every tony morsel seemed like we were receiving pieces of an epic tome. The Empire Strikes Back gave fans a huge morsel when Obi-Wan appeared as a Force Ghost and ordered Luke to find Yoda, his former master to complete his training.
Through the little green guy’s eyes and guidance, we learned more than we have ever have before and Yoda became an instant fan-favorite who over the years has become one of the faces of the franchise.
Not - Leia’s Magically Force Sensitive
In The Last Jedi, Leia is blasted right out of her ship. She uses a Force Cocoon of sorts to keep her alive and heads back into the wreckage of her ship. Plenty of fans cried foul at this moment for all sorts of reasons. But it’s also not the first time Leia exhibited and inherited and inherent communion with the Force.
As Luke somehow miraculously landed on the smallest weathervane in Bespin he called out to the Princess, who somehow was able to hear her brother and convince Chewie and Lando to turn the Falcon around - a little too deus ex machina for some fans.
Best - The Asteroid Field
On the run from a few Star Destroyers and a heap of TIE Fighters, Han does the only thing he can think of and pilots the Millennium Falcon straight into an Asteroid Field.
It’s a true showing of just how awesome Han is as a pilot and how fast he can think on his feet. It’s also a marquis sequence, with one of John Williams’ best tracks in the entire film.
Not - A Bummer Of An Ending
Besides not having an amazing space battle to close out the movie, like Dante says in Clerks, Empire ends on a real downer. Luke’s the one-armed bandit, Han’s a popsicle, and the Rebellion has been whittled down to a mere few shuttles.
Obviously, we all know that this was going to be resolved. But it was a bold move for a big-time franchise to have you leave the theater with such a sullen and defeated feeling.
Next: Star Wars: 10 Things The Last Jedi Borrowed From The Empire Strikes Back
