Star Wars Saturdays: "The Empire Strikes Back" and the brilliance of Yoda
Read this review, you must
On Saturdays, we’re going through the entire STAR WARS saga in episodic order, a series that will include a number of pieces that have never appeared online before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). We continue today with the second film in the original trilogy, and a movie that needs no introduction, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Enjoy…
The Empire Strikes Back
1980, Dir. Irvin Kirshner
Excerpt from a Blu-ray review published September 22nd, 2011
How does one make a satisfying sequel to a film that is, by most standards, perfect? That’s the challenge George Lucas, Irvin Kirshner, Lawrence Kasdan, and the rest of the Star Wars cast and crew were faced with when making The Empire Strikes Back, and their legendary response to this challenge has since set the standard by which all blockbuster sequels are judged. The Empire Strikes Back continues Lucas’ space opera in splendid fashion while throwing the pacing, structure, and tone of its predecessor out the window.
While the first Star Wars built up to big battle scenes and action beats, Empire instead begins with its largest set-piece, and from there splits the characters up in separate adventures across the galaxy. In what was certainly a shocking move at the time, the film then takes on a much more measured pace, spending as much time on Luke’s training and Yoda’s philosophy as on Han Solo’s thrilling attempts to keep the Millennium Falcon and its passengers out of danger. Tonally, the film is far darker and more introspective; instead of repeating the triumphant ending of its predecessor, the Empire wins this round without difficulty. That’s where the brilliance of The Empire Strikes Back lies, of course: in the last act, Luke, Han, and Leia all face their darkest hours, but it is within these terrible moments that they all learn the valuable lessons they’ll need in order to stand a chance against the evil of the Empire. Luke’s confrontation with Vader humbles him and demonstrates the validity of Yoda’s teaching; Han learns the meaning of being selfless before those he loves when finally confronted with a situation he cannot run away from; and Leia’s leadership skills are put to the test time and time again as her icy exterior begins to melt away.
First and foremost, The Empire Strikes Back is a character study. We have already gone on a grand adventure with these heroes, so why try to replicate that formula? Once our heroes leave Hoth, the set-pieces are more focused on character drama; the action functions like the songs in musicals, moments where the characters open up in way they couldn’t under normal circumstances. Of course, Empire is as apocalyptic as it is introspective, establishing the standard many blockbusters would later follow of going darker and deeper for the second installment. In 1980, the film was criticized for this decision; today, it is considered not only the best Star Wars film, but one of the all-time great movies for those exact same creative decisions.
Special attention must be given to the material on Dagobah, where Luke goes to train under Jedi master Yoda. These scenes may be my favorite material in the entire franchise, and Yoda is a big part of that. It is nearly impossible to fathom what a remarkable technical achievement Yoda was, is, and forever shall be. He is ‘only’ a puppet, but that is genuinely hard to tell when simply watching the movie. Frank Oz and company crafted a creature capable of a myriad of facial expressions and emotions, and on-set, they brought him to life just as a real actor would. Yoda emotes beautifully, and there is never a moment when he looks like anything less than a real creature. Combined with Oz’s amazing vocal performance, Yoda is perhaps the most awe-inspiring achievement in the Star Wars universe. Just look at the scene where he describes his hesitation about Luke:
“Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away ... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless.”
Not only is that a masterfully written speech, the rare bit of Star Wars dialogue that stands on its own as gorgeous, flowing prose, but I truly believe that Yoda’s delivery of this speech is the best bit of acting you’ll find in the entire Star Wars saga. That a puppet could deliver such a powerful moment is mind-boggling. With the possible exception of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, no CGI creature has ever come close to rivaling what Frank Oz and his team pulled off with Yoda.
But when all is said and done, Yoda is just one perfectly executed element in a film full of groundbreaking accomplishments. The original Star Wars was perfect; The Empire Strikes Back is a far darker, more introspective, and ultimately, even better movie. It is such a rich bit of filmmaking that after a thousand words I haven’t even touched upon the most iconic bit, the startling “I am your father” revelation. Then again, I probably don’t need to; if you’ve seen The Empire Strikes Back, you know why it’s brilliant, and if you haven’t, you’ve already gleaned its impact through cultural osmosis. Few films penetrate the consciousness of popular culture as deeply as this one.
We also devoted an entire episode to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on The Weekly Stuff Podcast a few years back, so here is that episode again for posterity’s sake:
All STAR WARS SATURDAYS Pieces:
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