CT The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary

Not only is this my favourite SW movie, it's my favourite movie full stop. Greatest motion picture ever made.

 

May the Fourth be with all of you ESB fans!!

 

Yeah ESB is my favourite of all of them.

So many great Vader moments, the introduction of the emperor and the Imperial March...

 

Empire is a film that could be watched weekly and it would still hold up. It's just that good.

 

TESB really is the definition of a superior sequel; the production value, storytelling, and well, everything was cranked up so visibly from ANH. Every scene can be called iconic, and my absolute favorite shot is just Vader, standing still in silhouette at the top of the steps in the carbonite chamber--"The Force is with you, young Skywalker...but you are not a Jedi yet." Still gives me chills.

Hell, this is arguably where Vader became the classic villain we know him as. He was still great in ANH, but he was a lot angrier than the stoic bad guy many imagine him as, and spent a lot of it as Tarkin's side. Here, he's undeniably in charge, takes no crap, and gets his own immense imposing space vessel.

Still, I'll be probably giving my rewatch on the actual 40th anniversary day on the 21st.

 

I mostly agree with the above, in terms of Vader being big bad here, but technically he's not the ultimate "big boss" of the Empire, he's still clearly deferential to the Emperor.

 

True, although the Emperor is still mostly in the background here (though the fleeting glimpse we have of him is chilling enough, with ruthless Vader immediately making himself reverential), and it's Vader driving the efforts of the bad guys through the plot, up to the occupation of Cloud City, freezing Han, and so on. Then come ROTJ and it is Sheev himself who takes over...

 

'May'. May-be something's on its way.

 

I first saw TESB on VHS when I was 6. Unfortunately, I knew the plot of the entire OT by then and the twist didn't have a huge effect.

Great movie though. I really enjoy the battle of Hoth and the duel between Luke and Vader is timeless.

 

I rewatched it today, and while im not a huge fan of some the things they added in the Disney+ version of ANH (maklunkey ) I have to say the enhancement of the quality and color is insane!! Empire was always such a beautiful movie, and now with the new touch-ups it's just breathtaking.

 

Saw the Special Edition on VHS, after first watching ANH of course.

TESB was my favourite of the three, although I liked them all for different reasons.

 

Sublime perfection from start to devastating finish.

 

Happy Anniversary, "The Empire Strikes Back". I can't believe 40 years have passed since its release.

 

It is hard sometimes to articulate exactly why I think The Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars film of all. And I mean best by a country mile. I think it is miles out in front of all the others, even A New Hope, which I am also extremely fond of.

We often use the idiom “lightning in a bottle” to describe that one-time capture of something quite magical or unique, and I think that The Empire Strikes Back fits that description to a tee.

It is the amalgamation of a great director, great cast, great characters, great story and drama, great special effects, great production design and cinematography and a really great musical score that comes together to create something truly wonderful.

When I think of what makes the perfect sequel, I always believe that it should honour and respect the source material, but also expand it and take it in new directions. It should enrich the lore and rules set down in the first, adding to them, but in a way that is organic and does not contravene them. The Empire Strikes Back does this with aplomb. It takes the events of A New Hope, and builds on them, deepening the story and characters, and taking us further into what “the Force” is.

The only other movie I can think of that does this as well is perhaps James Cameron’s “Aliens”, which takes Ridley Scott’s masterpiece and honours it, but at the same time builds on it, expands it, takes it in a completely new direction, but never at the expense of the first. They can sit side by side and one follows on from the other in an organic way.

Star Wars is space opera, and I think that The Empire Strikes Back is the most operatic of them all. It is pure opera. It has the feel of a stage drama. After the Battle of Hoth, which is an example of subversion done right, with the climactic battle actually at the beginning of the movie, it then becomes a much smaller, tighter movie. It is a dramatic two hander, with Luke’s training on Dagobah with Yoda and the Empire chasing Han and Leia through space to Cloud City.

Those locations are almost dreamlike. One the one hand we have Luke down in the swamp among the roots of the massive gnarled trees, an obvious soundstage set but which actually adds to the surreal quality, and the ethereal Cloud City, a beautifully realised McQuarrie metropolis of gleaming spires and white, art deco promenades. Yet beneath the façade is the nightmarish, industrial level and the infernal machine of the Carbon Freeze chamber. It is glorious stuff.

So like a stage melodrama then, all the characters come together at the end for the last act, and that’s when the movie’s knockout blow in terms of plot is delivered.

The acting is the best in Episode V, and whilst remaining true to the pulpy, republic serial type roots, the dialogue is delivered naturally. Irvin Kershner says on one of his commentaries (and I paraphrase in case I get it slightly wrong) “I had to make the audience believe that these are ordinary people, in an extraordinary place, but who have all the same emotions we do. Love, hate, fear, jealousy…”

John Williams' score is probably the best here, with incredible themes and motifs which showcase the Empire, Yoda and Leia. The hairs on the back of my neck still stand up when Yoda lifts the X-Wing out of the swamp, and his theme rises to a crescendo during that beautiful shot of the ship floating over the water. Or the soaring choral voices, harps and flute used when the Falcon approaches Cloud City. The score is incredible.

The Yoda puppet was a triumph, and his "luminous beings" speech still rates as the best dialogue in the entire saga, bar none. That stuff borders on poetry.

Vader is at his wicked, scheming best throughout, and the silhouette of him waiting in the Carbon Freeze chamber for Luke is just iconic.

Or maybe it is just because I was six years old when I saw it, and The Empire Strikes Back left an indelible mark on my soul for all time?

Whatever it is, probably a culmination of all those things, this movie is sublime to me, and is just a perfect, perfect thing.

 

I think I can honestly say that TESB is the only episode out of the original six that's never been my personal favorite.



No, I mean it.



I swear, it's true. Scout's honor!



Look, it's not because I ever thought it was subpar. It's an intelligent, powerful and beautifully made film that as a stand-alone movie experience (not stand-alone story, just movie experience) is surpassed in this series only by ANH.
(From ROTJ onwards, the movies took on more of a serial feel (which is not in itself a bad thing).)



Awesome. Now, the reason why I always preferred the other episodes is that I found the story in them more rewarding, for different reasons. TESB is an essential part of the journey and I've always enjoyed it a great deal, but at the same time, it's a little less plot driven than the others, so there's not quite as much story for me to delve into, which is what I love to do.



Again, though, it's a film that I've had a great time with over the years. It's a wonderful journey into the psyche of a great cast of characters that greatly enriched the Star Wars mythos by fleshing out its Force lore, introducing Yoda and merging Father Skywalker with Darth Vader, among other things... and to tell you the truth, Star Wars as I know it helped shape me into the person I am today.
I actually owe a lot to this movie.



Yes indeed. So thank you for these 40 years, TESB - and Happy Anniversary!!

 

I saw it in June because it didn't get to my city until then and I saw it 15 times in a theater but I'm not sure if I'm counting in the re release in that number - I've forgotten. Oh, wait, 15 and a half - friends and I got out of Cannonball Run 2 and then snuck in to Empire, just as the Falcon was flying into Cloud City. If we didn't have a movie to see on a particular weekend, "hey, let's go see Empire again."

I love the Luke and Han parts in the beginning, I love Han and Leia, Chewie throughout, Lando, Admiral Piett ::g::. I wore that soundtrack out (as a Bee Gees fan, that it was on RSO Records, which was their label, made it even better). Luke will always break my heart with "will they die?" There is a point in the duel when Vader pops back in - it doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, I STILL jump. The cinematography is amazing. It's just such a lightning in a bottle movie.

 

I remember, after seeing ANH as a kid, thinking Han and Luke didn't like each other. So the fact that they got on so well in the sequel was really strange to me, and I looking back I have wonder if that was my bias/dislike toward one of them that instilled that thought in me.

 

not only the best star wars, not onlt the best space fanscey(or sci-fi) but the best hing on a screen to exist

 

I'm not a big OT fan, but ESB is definitely my favorite of the trilogy. Cloud City is such a beautiful, ethereal locale, and the duel between Luke and Vader is sooo good. The entire duel holds up 40 years later. The Battle of Hoth is exciting and this is Luke at his best. More experienced than ANH, but still young and learning. The imagery in this film still astounds me. I would like more development between Luke and Leia, especially given the following movie's revelation, and I'm not big on the Han/Leia romance, but this film is a treasure.

Oh and Vader is at his best in this film. The suit looks so good.

 

Happy 40th anniversary to "Das Imperium schlägt zurück" (the german name) (though it wasnt released in germany until December 11 1980).



I remember watching it for the first time as a 10 year old in 1997 at home on my small personal tv through a rented VHS tape of 95 THX edition and I was just in AWE the whole time. The cliffhanger was killing me. I've watched the rented tape 3 or 4 times back then and couldnt wait to get my hands on the next movie to experience the ending.

As someone who values every SW movie for the stuff it brings on the table and never doing any rankings of the movies I cant say its my favorite of the franchise cause they all are. It has some of the most iconic moments though and I cant wait when I have the time to really experience it again...

Love the movie...LOVE STAR WARS!

 

Empire became my favorite long before i knew a lot of other people feel that way. i don't really remember having a strong reaction to the Vader reveal though.