Come on, if you know me, did you really expect me to get all the way through this list without a single Star Wars movie? Well here we are, in runners up spot, we find the best Star Wars film, Irvin Kershner’s The Empire Strikes Back. We follow on three years from the events of A New Hope. The Death Star has been destroyed, but The Galactic Empire still lives, and it’s hunting down the scattered Rebel Alliance through the galaxy. After dispatching probe droids through out the many systems, they review findings from the ice planet Hoth, which leads Darth Vader to declare this is where the rebels are hiding. Whilst on patrol on the arctic tundra, Luke Skywalker is attacked by a Wampa, but eventually frees himself using the Force. As he slowly succumbs to hypothermia, Obi-Wan Kenobi appears before him and instructs him to make his way to the planet Dagobah to continue his learning of the Force from Jedi master Yoda. Han Solo saves Luke and after keeping him alive, they are rescued the following morning. The Empire launches a large scale assault on the base, primarily using AT-AT walkers to advance and destroy the Rebels defences. Despite efforts to fight back, the Rebels have to evacuate the base, with Han, Leia, C3-PO and Chewbacca escaping through an Imperial blockade of Star Destroyers with a malfunctioning hyperdrive and have to hide in an asteroid field. Vader calls upon a collection of bounty hunters to search for Han and the Millennium Falcon.
Luke heads to Dagobah with R2-D2 in his X-Wing to find Master Yoda. Yoda turns out to be a small green creature who reluctantly agrees to train Luke. Han takes the crew to Cloud City on the planet Bespin, a mining operation governed by his old friend, Lando Calrissian. Unknown to Han, bounty hunter Boba Fett has tracked them there and informs Vader of his location. Vader arrives and forces Lando to hand over the rebels. Vader’s plan is to use them as bait to get Luke to attempt to save them so they can engage in a battle and recruit him to the dark side of the Force. Luke sense this and despite Yoda and Obi-Wan’s spirit advising him not to go as his training is not complete, he heads off regardless. Vader’s plan for Luke tis to have him frozen in carbonite so he can be transported to his master, Emperor Palpatine. He tests the process on Han, who Boba Fett has claimed as his reward for assisting the Empire, and will transport him to Jabba The Hutt to collect the bounty on Han.
Lando frees Leia and Chewbacca, but are too late to save Han. They flee in the Falcon shortly after Luke arrives, despite Leia warning him it’s a trap. Luke tracks down Vader, engaging in a tense lightsaber battle before Vader gains the upper hand and delivers one of the biggest twists in cinematic history.
Now, a pointer. I love Star Wars, I grew up with it as a kid. I had VHS tapes of it, toys, would play games of it with my best mates and brother and cousins. It was a good chunk of my childhood. Obviously the latter years have been a mixed bag for fans of the series, but that is another discussion for another time. So why Empire, and not a New Hope or Jedi? Well, for me, this is fantastic cinematic experience. It is a darker film than New Hope, The Empire come across here as more unstoppable than before, even when they had a giant planet destroying space station. The effective crushing of the Rebel base early on is a sign of this, and the relentlessness of Vader in his pursuit of Luke and his friends is a driving force. We are introduced to more iconic characters and vehicles, who hasn’t spent time talking like Yoda? I would have loved to have been in a cinema when this was released to witness the twist, purely to hear the reactions, it is still one of the best twists ever committed to film.
Everyone pulls their weight in the acting department, though you can sense Harrison Ford’s growing reluctance to continue, and the fact that they froze him in carbonite, was as a way they could have written him out of a sequel if he didn’t want to return. Mark Hamill grows into the role of Luke, as does Carrie Fisher as Leia, fleshing them out more in their respective character arcs. James Earl Jones continues to imbue Vader with his wonderful voice, making him an even more dangerous foe for the Rebels, with an army of ships at his disposal and confidence in his ability to turn Luke to the dark side. John Williams returns to score again, his work synonymous with the franchise, and create even more memorable pieces, such as The Imperial March and The Battle Of Hoth. The film also benefits from Kershner’s direction, rather than George Lucas, he works a different style with focus on the characters and allowing to develop on screen. So do or do not, there is no try. Go watch The Empire Strikes Back, and enjoy it you will.
And so we come to our final entry, the movie which tops the list, a film more human than human…
Dan Dared 