Fellman's Movie Reviews

Star Wars: Episode 5 – The Empire Strikes Back is the fifth chapter in the Star Wars franchise and the second movie in the original Star Wars trilogy. It brings back Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher in their signature roles as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia, and introduces some new characters like Billy Dee Williams as Han Solo, and Frank Oz as the voice of Yoda. James Earl Jones reprises his voice as Darth Vader. 

Empire didn’t do as well as the original Star Wars did at first. Critics thought it was too dark and had more mature themes than the first lighthearted Star Wars movie. But after a little while, the movie caught on. Not surprisingly because of the reveal of Darth Vader being Luke’s father at the end becoming one of the most iconic plot twists in cinema history.  

But aside from that, it was the first time that you started seeing the full force, no pun intended, of a Jedi’s powers. Vader was choking people in the first movie. But he wasn’t moving things with his mind and appearing as a ghost or anything. That was a whole new thing in Empire. This was a whole new level of Jedi powers. And once again, you know all this stuff now. It’s common knowledge that Jedi can do this stuff. But back then, you had no idea even what a Jedi was, let alone that they could do all this magic space wizard stuff. 

The special effects took a big uptick too from Episode 4 to Episode 5. The production cost from the last movie to this movie went from $5 million to $30 million. And you can obviously see it when you watch the battle scenes on Hoth and sets used near the end of the movie on Bespin. It’s a much more expensive movie than the first Star Wars. Tattooine was a desert planet. There’s not a whole lot going in the desert. 

And Mark Hamill actually took fencing lessons for his lightsaber battle with Darth Vader at the end. That’s why it looks so crisp and real. Because he wanted to do all of his own stunts himself. You have to admire that in an actor. He didn’t want to be IN the swordfight, he wanted to HAVE a swordfight. That’s Jedi material right there. 

And Empire has some of the best lines in the entire Star Wars franchise. Darth Vader reveals “I am your father”. Leia says “I love you” to Han and he says “I know”. In fact, most of the best lines are Han’s. “They didn’t even ask me any questions…” It’s just a classic moment in Star Wars.  

So, yeah. Go and see Star Wars: Episode 5 – The Empire Strikes Back. It’s widely regarded as the greatest sequel ever made, as well as being the 13^th highest grossing film in the United States. If that isn’t reason enough to make you want to go see it, I don’t know what else to tell you. And as always, may the force be with you…