Movies MOVIES

The Empire Strikes Back (1990)

The best of the trilogy? That's what most reviewers argue, but I still prefer Return of the Jedi.

I guess I've never really got over my disappointment that The Empire Strikes Back ends on such a downbeat shot with the group looking out of the bridge of some big starship and Luke having lost his hand in a lightsabre fight with Darth Vader.

Admittedly, the film features possibly the greatest story-twist ever concieved. It's impossible to believe now how much of a shock it was to find out that Darth Vader was Luke's dad! Sorry to anyone who still doesn't know...

Still, The Empire Strikes Back provided us kids with probably the best of the Star Wars toys: the big walker thing, and that strange Yeti-creature of which Han Solo cuts the belly open and puts Luke inside to stay warm...or was it the other way round?

Still, it's not often that a trilogy comes along that sticks to the classic 3-act formula where the 2nd is where everything goes dark. Apart from Lord of the Rings, of course, but that's become a classic now as well.


Author of this article:



Contributors to this article:

  • There are no contributors yet

Do You Remember The Empire Strikes Back?

Do You Remember The Empire Strikes Back?

  • MissConduct
    on
    Return of the Jedi, could have trumped Empire had it not been for the awful marketing of the bloody Ewoks! The Dark Side, and the evil Empire as a whole, is - temporarily at least - shafted by some teddy bears! No wonder "Empire" stands out as the best, baddest and most shocking of ANY of the SW films - prequels, sequels or reboots!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    second of the original Star Wars trilogy,everything goes wrong for the rebels-Han gets frozen in carbonite, Luke gets his hand cut off and you find out Darth Vader is Lukes dad! Yoda and The AT-ATs were awesome!