Subject: REVIEW: STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (SPECIAL EDITION) (1997)

From: [email-masked] (Michael Redman)
Date: 3 Apr 1997 15:43:36 GMT

STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (SPECIAL EDITION)
                       A film review by Michael Redman
                        Copyright 1997 Michael Redman

**** (out of ****)

Oddly enough, I had forgotten much about this middle film of the <I>Star
Wars<I> trilogy so seeing it on the big screen again was an unexpected
treat. The darkest and arguably the best of the films suffered from the
second-act syndrome when you had to wait three years for the next movie.
It works much better as a part of the whole.

Everything goes wrong in this one. The rebels are on the run. Han Solo
is captured by the bad guys. Luke fails to complete his Jedi training,
loses a hand and gains a father (You already knew that, right? I'm not
ruining anything for you, right?) =97 none of which are good things. The
ending is just the opposite of the triumph of "Star Wars". The Dark Side
may just come out on top.

There aren't as many changes from the original as the Special Edition of
the first film featured. A few fixes here and there, short new scenes
and a punched-up soundtrack are fairly unobtrusive and make it easier to
watch the film rather than be pulled into the "What's New" game.

Now I'm looking forward to "Return Of The Jedi" even with those
terminally cute fuzzy things.

[This appeared in the 2/27/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana.
Michael Redman can be reached at [email-masked] ]