

STAR WARS EPISODE V: EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by John Sylva ([email-masked])   
Rating: A

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Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison
Ford), C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels), R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), and Chewbacca (Peter
Mayhew) all return for the sequel to the best movie of all time (as of yet
anyway).  Everyone says sequels are bad, huh?  Not when it's a Star Wars movie!
 Empire Strikes Back is one of the best sequels of all time, almost meeting the
standards the first film set.  In Empire Strikes Back, we are informed that
Darth Vader (Voiced by James Earl Jones, David Prowse in costume) is obsessed
with finding Luke Skywalker.  Currently, Luke is with Leia, Solo, Chewbacca,
C-3P0, and R2-D2 at the ice planet of Hoth, in which they are fighting a battle
against the empire which wants to capture the young Skywalker.  Vader believes
that Luke can be a great help to the dark side, because he is very powerful,
and the "force" is with him.

Luke is summoned during the snow battle by Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) that he
is to find a Jedi warrior named "Yoda" in the "Dagobah System."  Of course,
this means nothing to Luke, so he must bring R2-D2 along with him on his
journey to Dagobah.  Once arriving there, he learns that Jedi training is very
difficult.  Yoda, voiced by Frank Oz, is a very wise, old creature that will
guide Luke through his path to become a great Jedi warrior.  Yoda and Ben
Kenobi both believe that Luke must be trained to become a Jedi and to fight for
the good side, before Darth Vader and the evil Emperor try to summon him to the
dark side.

Meanwhile, Han Solo, Princess Leia, C-3P0, and Chewbacca must stop at a city in
the clouds, called Cloud City, where an old friend of Han's lives.  Lando
Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), Han's friend, becomes a main character as he
tags along for all of the crazy adventures.  From here, Darth Vader starts
getting involved with Luke and the others.  We get into the same sort of theme
as we did in A New Hope, only not quite as good.

The special effects in Empire Strikes Back are up there with the stunning
effects of A New Hope.  We get to see some new creatures and ships this time
around, which were very interesting and original.  The space scenes in Empire
Strikes back were done much more nicely than in the original, giving more of a
variety of set pieces.

Empire Strikes Back seemed much more mature than A New Hope in many ways.  This
is both good and bad.  On the good side, the acting performances, especially
from Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, are so much better and more realistic than
their performances in the first film.  Harrison Ford was just as brilliant as
he was in the last one.  Billy Dee Williams, who is appearing in his first Star
Wars movie, made an impact on the film.  In my opinion, he was a wonderful
edition to the saga.  On the bad side, Empire Strikes Back wasn't as much fun
as A New Hope.  It was a lot more serious, and didn't seem to have the same
charm that A New Hope had to it. 

Another way that the Star Wars series matured in Empire Strikes Back is the use
of set design.  Many of the settings in A New Hope seemed a little incomplete,
but in Empire Strikes Back, we are taken through wonderful, realistic worlds
with great settings.  Cloud City and Dagobah in particular stood out visually
from other set pieces.

The Star Wars Special Edition version of Empire Strikes Back includes a much
better film technically, with beefed up special effects, sound, and some new
images here and there.  The special effects seemed a lot more realistic in this
version, and so did certain creatures that roamed among the worlds in Empire
Strikes Back.  The Special Edition is certainly the way to go.

The Bottom Line- Sequels are terrible?  I don't see how you can say that with
this original, terrific sequel.