Countdown to "The Rise of Skywalker" - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Hey guys, Chuck here. As we continue the Countdown to The Rise of Skywalker, let's take a look at arguably the most popular Star Wars film according to the fans: The Empire Strikes Back. Released in 1980, this entry of the Star Wars saga was directed by Irvin Kirschner, and has two main storylines that occur at the same time: Luke's Jedi training, and Han, Leia, Chewie, and 3PO trying to evade the Imperial Fleet.
The movie starts off on the icy world of Hoth, where the Rebels have been stationed since the end of the previous movie, due to the Yavin IV base being compromised. While on a routine patrol, Luke is attacked by a Wampa ice monster, and Han heads out from the Rebel Base to find him. After esacaping the Wampa cave, Luke sees a Force Ghost of Obi-Wan, who instructs him to go to Dagobah and find a Jedi Master known as Yoda. Han finds Luke, and builds a shelter to keep themselves safe until morning. When morning arrives, a set of Snowspeeders find Han and Luke and return them to base, where Luke is revitalized in a Bacta tank.
The Empire, meanwhile, have sent a series of probe droids across the galaxy to find the Rebels, with the probe on Hoth sending out a signal that the Rebels were on the planet. Darth Vader, who is relentlessly hunting Luke down, orders the fleet to make their way to Hoth, where the Empire sends out a battalion of AT-AT's to destroy the Rebel's shield generator. Luke leads the snowspeeder assault against the AT-AT's, while a ground force in the trenches is fighting the Imperial ground forces, all while the base is being evacuated. The Rebels are evacuated safely, however Han, Leia, and 3PO aren't able to reach Leia's transport, so they leave the base onboard the Falcon. Luke takes off with R2 in his X-Wing, and they head off to Dagobah. Luke and R2 arrive, and they sadly don't have a happy landing as the X-Wing crashes into the swamp. Luke sets up camp, when they meet an odd little creature, who offers to lead them to Yoda. After Luke starts to show signs of impatience, the little creature states that he cannot train Luke to be a Jedi, and that Luke isn't ready. It turns out that the creature was, in fact, Yoda the whole time, who does agree to train Luke in the ways of the Jedi. After facing several tests, including a cave where he confronts his innermost darkness, Luke has a vision of Han and Leia in danger, and he leaves before his training is finished to help his friends.
Meanwhile, Han, Leia, Chewie, and 3PO are being pursued by the Empire, but due to damage to the Falcon's hyperdrive, they are unable to jump to lightspeed. Han and co, however, are able to evade the Empire in an asteroid field, and hide deep inside of one of the asteroids. After getting out from the bowels of a giant space worm called an Exogorth, Han and Leia evade the Imperial fleet once again. Darth Vader, meanwhile, hires a group of bounty hunters to find the Falcon. Among these bounty hunters is the Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett (hey, remember how I mentioned him in my Attack of the Clones review? Well, this was that same kid that was cloned from Jango.). Han searches in the databanks for a safe place to hide, and he chooses the gas planet of Bespin, where Han and co. reunite with his old friend Lando Calrissian. Lando agrees to get his men to fix the Falcon's hyperdrive, however 3PO gets separated from the group, and then blasted to pieces by an unknown shooter. Unfortunately, Vader, Boba Fett, and the Imperial troops arrived just before Han and co. did, and they are taken prisoner. Han is then frozen in carbonite, where he is taken by Boba Fett to Tatooine, where he will be handed over to Jabba the Hutt. Luke arrives on Bespin, and has a confrontation with Vader, where he loses his hand in the duel, and Vader reveals a secret to Luke: Vader was Luke's father all along (while this was a surprise at the time this movie came out, Revenge of the Sith completely ruins this surprise for anyone who watched the Prequels first. Just saying.). Luke drops down from the platform, and enters a maintenance shaft and is expelled to the underside of Cloud City. Leia, Lando, Chewie, R2, and 3PO, on board the Falcon, arrive and rescue Luke, and they escape by jumping to hyperspace. After reuniting with the Rebel Fleet, Lando and Chewie head out aboard the Falcon to find Han.
The Empire Strikes Back was a surprise from start to finish, especially with the twist at the end that Darth Vader, the figure of evil that Luke thought killed his father, was Luke's father the whole time. While watching the Prequels first makes this less of a surprise, not doing so makes it more of a shock to the audience. So, depending on the order you watch these movies in, whether it's by release date or by timeline, that will determine how much of a surprise the reveal really is. I also really liked the locations of world's this time around, from the icy tundra of Hoth, to the swamps of Dagobah, to the gaseous clouds of Bespin, the locations seen in this movie really made it stand out from A New Hope. A number of the characters featured in this movie, like Lando, Boba Fett, and Yoda, have all had an impact on the saga as a whole due to their popularity from this movie, and I have no problem with that. Boba Fett was cool and mysterious (well, at the time, anyway), Yoda was a fun little character with tremendous power, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando was easily a highlight of this movie.
Much like with A New Hope, George Lucas has added some touch ups this film as well, but only with subtle additions, such as making the Cloud City scenes more lively and cinematic (whereas the theatrical version of this felt a bit claustrophobic), and adding the Wampa ice monster into the Wampa cave on Hoth, which adds more of the threat of the creature being there. The changes done in Empire weren't as significant, but they were there nonetheless.
Fans have debated which one was the best, between Empire and Return of the Jedi (which we'll be taking a look at next), but I tend to stay out of such debates, because I have no real interest in such things. However, I will say this: The Empire Strikes Back is a truly successful sequel to the first Star Wars film, and definitely deserves my rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guy next time when we take a look at Return of the Jedi as the Countdown to The Rise of Skywalker continues.
The movie starts off on the icy world of Hoth, where the Rebels have been stationed since the end of the previous movie, due to the Yavin IV base being compromised. While on a routine patrol, Luke is attacked by a Wampa ice monster, and Han heads out from the Rebel Base to find him. After esacaping the Wampa cave, Luke sees a Force Ghost of Obi-Wan, who instructs him to go to Dagobah and find a Jedi Master known as Yoda. Han finds Luke, and builds a shelter to keep themselves safe until morning. When morning arrives, a set of Snowspeeders find Han and Luke and return them to base, where Luke is revitalized in a Bacta tank.
The Empire, meanwhile, have sent a series of probe droids across the galaxy to find the Rebels, with the probe on Hoth sending out a signal that the Rebels were on the planet. Darth Vader, who is relentlessly hunting Luke down, orders the fleet to make their way to Hoth, where the Empire sends out a battalion of AT-AT's to destroy the Rebel's shield generator. Luke leads the snowspeeder assault against the AT-AT's, while a ground force in the trenches is fighting the Imperial ground forces, all while the base is being evacuated. The Rebels are evacuated safely, however Han, Leia, and 3PO aren't able to reach Leia's transport, so they leave the base onboard the Falcon. Luke takes off with R2 in his X-Wing, and they head off to Dagobah. Luke and R2 arrive, and they sadly don't have a happy landing as the X-Wing crashes into the swamp. Luke sets up camp, when they meet an odd little creature, who offers to lead them to Yoda. After Luke starts to show signs of impatience, the little creature states that he cannot train Luke to be a Jedi, and that Luke isn't ready. It turns out that the creature was, in fact, Yoda the whole time, who does agree to train Luke in the ways of the Jedi. After facing several tests, including a cave where he confronts his innermost darkness, Luke has a vision of Han and Leia in danger, and he leaves before his training is finished to help his friends.
Meanwhile, Han, Leia, Chewie, and 3PO are being pursued by the Empire, but due to damage to the Falcon's hyperdrive, they are unable to jump to lightspeed. Han and co, however, are able to evade the Empire in an asteroid field, and hide deep inside of one of the asteroids. After getting out from the bowels of a giant space worm called an Exogorth, Han and Leia evade the Imperial fleet once again. Darth Vader, meanwhile, hires a group of bounty hunters to find the Falcon. Among these bounty hunters is the Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett (hey, remember how I mentioned him in my Attack of the Clones review? Well, this was that same kid that was cloned from Jango.). Han searches in the databanks for a safe place to hide, and he chooses the gas planet of Bespin, where Han and co. reunite with his old friend Lando Calrissian. Lando agrees to get his men to fix the Falcon's hyperdrive, however 3PO gets separated from the group, and then blasted to pieces by an unknown shooter. Unfortunately, Vader, Boba Fett, and the Imperial troops arrived just before Han and co. did, and they are taken prisoner. Han is then frozen in carbonite, where he is taken by Boba Fett to Tatooine, where he will be handed over to Jabba the Hutt. Luke arrives on Bespin, and has a confrontation with Vader, where he loses his hand in the duel, and Vader reveals a secret to Luke: Vader was Luke's father all along (while this was a surprise at the time this movie came out, Revenge of the Sith completely ruins this surprise for anyone who watched the Prequels first. Just saying.). Luke drops down from the platform, and enters a maintenance shaft and is expelled to the underside of Cloud City. Leia, Lando, Chewie, R2, and 3PO, on board the Falcon, arrive and rescue Luke, and they escape by jumping to hyperspace. After reuniting with the Rebel Fleet, Lando and Chewie head out aboard the Falcon to find Han.
The Empire Strikes Back was a surprise from start to finish, especially with the twist at the end that Darth Vader, the figure of evil that Luke thought killed his father, was Luke's father the whole time. While watching the Prequels first makes this less of a surprise, not doing so makes it more of a shock to the audience. So, depending on the order you watch these movies in, whether it's by release date or by timeline, that will determine how much of a surprise the reveal really is. I also really liked the locations of world's this time around, from the icy tundra of Hoth, to the swamps of Dagobah, to the gaseous clouds of Bespin, the locations seen in this movie really made it stand out from A New Hope. A number of the characters featured in this movie, like Lando, Boba Fett, and Yoda, have all had an impact on the saga as a whole due to their popularity from this movie, and I have no problem with that. Boba Fett was cool and mysterious (well, at the time, anyway), Yoda was a fun little character with tremendous power, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando was easily a highlight of this movie.
Much like with A New Hope, George Lucas has added some touch ups this film as well, but only with subtle additions, such as making the Cloud City scenes more lively and cinematic (whereas the theatrical version of this felt a bit claustrophobic), and adding the Wampa ice monster into the Wampa cave on Hoth, which adds more of the threat of the creature being there. The changes done in Empire weren't as significant, but they were there nonetheless.
Fans have debated which one was the best, between Empire and Return of the Jedi (which we'll be taking a look at next), but I tend to stay out of such debates, because I have no real interest in such things. However, I will say this: The Empire Strikes Back is a truly successful sequel to the first Star Wars film, and definitely deserves my rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guy next time when we take a look at Return of the Jedi as the Countdown to The Rise of Skywalker continues.
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