'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)' REVIEW: Arguably One of the Best Sequels and One

Continuing on my influx of 'Back to the Review' Star Wars reviews and now we've come to the best one of them all. 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)' is the sequel to the successful Star Wars (1977) and this time instead of George Lucas directing, we now have Irvin Kershner at the helm. What more can I say about this film? Everybody knows that this is the best one of them all. I just want to give my two cents on this, so lets get to it. I'll say once again that these reviews will be spoiler heavy and will contain crucial plot points, so be warned.

The film is set 3 years after the first Star Wars film and now the Rebel Alliance is hiding away from the Galactic Empire on the snow planet of Hoth. I just want to say that I love this setting that the film starts out with. It's my favorite map in the game Star Wars: Battlefront II and I've loved it ever since. So, the film starts out with Luke Skywalker getting captured by a Wampa. Once again the film doesn't quite start out with a bombastic action sequences as it establishes character and character relations. Luke has been training with the force, Han Solo is conflicted whether to leave the rebellion to settle his debts and General Leia has a romantic interest in Han. The banter between Han and Leia is engaging and develops the chemistry between them very well. Back to Luke, he's seen hung upside down and his Lightsaber is just beyond his reach. He manages to use the force to attract the Lightsaber and I love it when it happens as the music swells up. He slices the Wampa's arm and escapes. Luke is then saved by Han and more character development ensues.

We once again see the Galactic Empire, but this time they are in larger numbers. Like every other Star Wars fan, I love the Darth Vader theme song which totally emphasizes the danger of Darth Vader. The score for all these films are classic worthy, thanks to the talented John Williams. The Galactic Empire then attacks the rebel base in Hoth with larger weapons such as the AT-AT. Obi-Wan's force ghost speaks to Luke and tells him that he should go to the Dagobah system to meet the wise Jedi Master Yoda. Meanwhile Han, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3P0 manage to escape from Hoth on the Millennium Falcon, but Empire Tie Fighters chase after them.

Luke reaches the swamp planet of Dagobah and he meets this small old green fellow who resides on the planet. At first, he's actually pretty funny. I laugh every time Luke gets annoyed at the little guy for making a mess. We soon learn later that the little green fellow is in fact the Jedi Master Yoda and Luke's force training continues. What makes this film seem better than the first is that Luke is now training with a much older and wiser Jedi than Obi-Wan.Anything Yoda says can be used for any situation throughout life such as the line "Do or Do not, there is no try" and "Wars not make one great". I truly agree that Yoda is one of the best movie characters of all time.

Back to the group on the Millennium Falcon, Han decides to meet up with his old friend Lando Calrissian (played by Billy Dee Williams) in the Cloud City on the planet of Bespin. At first Lando is extremely friendly with them and Leia becomes very suspicious of that. By surprise, Darth Vader catches them off guard and tortures Han Solo in order for Luke to see the visions and leave his training with Yoda to go to them. Before Han gets frozen, he and Leia express their love for each other in the best way possible with Leia saying "I love you." and Han replying "I know.".

Luke arrives at the Cloud City and confronts Darth Vader and learns a terrible discovery. We all know the twist. It has been referenced in pop culture and has been a joke in countless forms of media. But still, to this day I still find the signature twist kind of surprising as there hasn't been any major suggestions that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father throughout these two films. Luke understandable decides to attempt suicide, but he gets saved anyway. In an earlier scene Yoda says that there might be another Skywalker to bring balance to the force and that might or might not be Leia as she senses Luke's in danger and saves him from the Cloud City with Lando's help. The film ends with a cliffhanger making everyone eager more than ever for the final installment of the Star Wars Original Trilogy.

You know what I'm thinking. This is the best Star Wars films ever, no doubt about it. It's much darker and emotionally resonant, but still manages to wring a certain amount of fun. It's signature twist is still effective even after seeing the film more than once. It's not just a great Star Wars film, but a near-perfect film in general.

'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)' is most definitely an A+