Written by Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan
Producers Gary Kurtz
Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz
Music John Williams
Cinematography Peter Suschitzky
George Lucas kicked off the Star Wars saga in 1977 with Star Wars (later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope), and it changed science fiction for good. It proved the genre could be fun for everyone, and that big scope, adventure, and a lovable cast could launch it straight into the heart of pop culture. Three years later, in 1980, the sequel The Empire Strikes Back arrived. Critics were mixed at first, but it has since become one of the most revered films in all of cinema.
Set three years after A New Hope, the film follows Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he trains to become a Jedi, while Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) hunts the Rebels across the galaxy, chasing Luke’s friends Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) in the hope of drawing Luke out. It works for a few reasons: it deepens the old characters, introduces great new ones, and tells a more complex, meaningful story.
Everybody gets a chance to shine. Luke is no longer the whiny farm boy who just wanted to run into Tosche Station for power converters. He’s a young man wrestling with the complexities of the universe and the balance between good and evil. Hamill really grows into the role and sets the bar for plenty of future protagonists.
The romance between Han and Leia is one of the crown jewels of this film and the whole saga. They traded a few flirty barbs in the original, but it’s here that their relationship gets explored and becomes truly compelling. The dialogue is great, and their exchange at the climax is one of the most iconic in film. Ford and Fisher deserve real recognition, because their chemistry is so believable that it’s easily one of the great screen romances. Fun fact: the “I know” was reportedly Ford’s own ad-lib.
Darth Vader, whom I’ve called one of the greatest villains in film history, only strengthens that case here. Unlike the first film, Vader is let off the leash. When a subordinate fails, he uses just a sliver of his power to end them, as poor Admiral Ozzel and Captain Needa learn the hard way. He cuts through the Empire’s top brass like tissue paper without missing a beat. Vader is truly a force to be reckoned with, and the film never shies away from his ruthlessness. Jones’s commanding voice only sells it, and it helps land one of the greatest lines and twists in film history. (And no, it’s not “Luke, I am your father.” It’s “No, I am your father.”)
The newcomers include Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian and Frank Oz as Yoda. Lando is the Baron Administrator of Cloud City and an old friend of Han’s, a scoundrel and former owner of the Millennium Falcon, which he lost to Han years earlier. He’s strikingly similar to Han, which makes him interesting, because he’s a glimpse of what Han might have become if he’d never gotten mixed up with Luke: a smuggler with little honor. Luckily, Lando gets a bit of redemption in the story, enough to push him into protagonist territory. Both are great additions to the ever-expanding Star Wars universe.
Yoda is introduced as a goofy swamp hermit, far too silly to be anything but a nuisance to Luke. Once Luke’s impatience gets the better of him, we learn he’s actually a Jedi Master who reluctantly agrees to train him. It’s wild that a puppet can feel so alive and so wise, especially when Oz, who also performs Miss Piggy, is behind it. Yoda’s lines are fantastic and add to the film’s reputation for memorable, quotable dialogue, and he’s a perfect example of practical effects done right.
Beyond the characters, Empire serves up an emotionally complex story with plenty of thrills and twists, with a range of feelings from joy to devastation. Unlike its predecessor, it doesn’t end on a happy note. Han is frozen in carbonite, and the heroes are scattered, leaving you wondering what happens next and whether your favorites will make it. John Williams’s score helps too, and it’s where we first hear the Imperial March. The real stakes and drama set it apart from everything else in the franchise.
There have been plenty of Star Wars sequels since, but none has done more for the franchise than Empire. It’s about as perfect as a movie gets, with so much to chew on, and it never fails to give me one of the best feelings a movie can. It does what a sequel should, building on what made the original a classic. With great acting, dialogue, and truly iconic moments, The Empire Strikes Back is not only one of the best sequels ever made but one of the best films ever made.
