The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
It was a dark time for the rebellion.
This article was originally published on FarFromProfessional.com (5/21/25).
Yet, there was still hope. After Han was transformed into a carbonite art piece; after Darth Vader sliced off Luke’s good hand and then revealed to him that he was his daddy; after Leia stole one more kiss from her catfish brother while he was lying on a bed, physically wounded and delusional, I still had hope that Rebellion would pull off the epic victory in the next movie. They would rescue Han from the clutches of that vile gangster, Jabba the Hutt. Hope against all odds is a theme across Star Wars lore, and it is pushed to the limits in The Empire Strikes Back. The second theatrical installment in the franchise is a more mature and emotionally intense story that delivers the impending and guaranteed response from the Empire. The audience expected this part of the story to go south for the heroes, but the Empire pushed the Rebellion to the brink of disaster in what is the perfect second act in the Original Star Wars trilogy is simply a perfect movie. Fans will argue which movie in the saga is their favorite, and Empire is often mentioned, for good reason. At forty-five years old, this movie still has the juice, baby.
In case you need a refresher—and shame on you if you do—the Empire has been chasing the Rebellion in the years after the Battle of Yavin (i.e. the end of A New Hope). It took them twenty years to build that first Death Star, and the Rebels destroyed it within a couple of weeks of its grand opening on Jedha. The Empire took that personally, and they scoured the galaxy to rub it clean of Rebel scum in the interim before one of their probe droids finally hit pay dirt on Hoth. This is where the movie begins, in the middle of a chase. The Rebels’ secret hideout has been spotted, so the Empire moves to crush them on Hoth, but is a step too late. Our heroes manage to escape, for now, and the movie rolls along from there, a well-paced, well-written, thrill of a time. The Empire Strikes Back is peak cinema.
The Score
Music is used in movies to enhance the onscreen moment, and no one has ever made greater movie moments with their music than John Williams. Mr. Hitmaker had already composed cinematic classics before he walked into the room like Jesus and hit George Lucas with “The Imperial March”, one of the finest pieces of music in his illustrious catalog. Empire’s score offers more than the bombastic pomp of Darth Vader’s walk up song. There’s the subtle power of “Yoda and the Force”; the tension underlying “The Departure of Boba Fett”; the “never tell me the odds” balls out space chase that is “The Asteroid Field”; and the tenderness of “Han Solo and the Princess”. That’s almost the entire damn score. As a bonus, you get the famous “Main Theme” and the “Finale”. This music is from a time when movies mattered, from someone who made movie moments hit harder. Thank you, John Williams.
The Narrative
The Empire Strikes Back pushes the story forward in captivating new directions. The good guys lose, but not for nothing. Limits are tested. Egos are checked. Lessons learned. The price is costly. The Rebellion lost a critical actor in Han Solo, and by default Leia’s focus has shifted to getting her dude back. Chewie lost his ace. Luke lost that aforementioned hand and discovered that Yoda was right about Luke needing more Jedi training. He also learned that his mentor, Obi-Wan, had lied to him by omitting a bit of the truth about his lineage. Luke knew he would need to switch up his strategy for the next duel with daddy, processing all of that in the medical frigate at the conclusion of the movie.
Lando only has around eleven minutes of screen time in The Empire Strikes Back, but if he is to join the Rebellion, then he too must suffer loss. Cloud City, his prized gas mining colony, lost to the Imperials. That’s a tremendous L to take, but Lando lost more than that when he betrayed his friends. He didn’t want to sell out his old buddy, Han, but what could he have done against Vader except get killed? Had that happened, our heroes would have been cooked. Lando made some moves and gained aura when he helped Leia and Chewie escape Bespin. A little mea culpa goes a long way, and Lando would have made complete amends had they caught up to Boba Fett in time, but the important thing is that our heroes lived to fight another day because of him. Lando played the hand he was dealt, and he managed to get out of it with his life and a new obligatory role with the Rebellion.
The Empire Strikes Back complicates the subject matter from A New Hope, adding layers to the characters as they change in the face of war, and it sets up for an epic conclusion in Return of the Jedi.
The Lore
Empire made its network television debut on Sunday, November 22nd, 1987, with a special introduction for the ages. These premieres were a big deal in the olden times. I was five, and my mom was savvy. She recorded the movie onto a VHS (“taped it”), and for the next half decade it was the only Star Wars movie I watched repeatedly. It was the first Star Wars movie I ever saw. It’s strange to start in the middle of the trilogy, but ESB is such a complete story that it can stand alone as a singular epic sci-fi adventure. With everything going on in this movie, and I haven’t even touched the introduction of new creatures, vehicles, and star ships. Because of the technological limitations of the time, these things were depicted using practical effects, costumes, and stop-motion animation. It is an incredible achievement, but the most captivating thing about Empire is the exploration of Jedi lore.
We learn more about what it means to train in the Force, and that the veil between the light and dark sides is thin. We get Yoda dropping gems on Luke in a swamp on Dagobah, calling the young boy on his bullshit and showing him that size matters not when you just believe. Empire Strikes Back shows us new Force powers, too. Obi-Wan has a life after death as a Force ghost. Luke, Leia, and Vader tap into Skywalker Force telekinesis. Yoda lifts a sunken X-wing out of a nasty lake with the Force. All of this begs the question, “What else can be done through the Force?”
“You will find only what you bring in.”
The Empire Strikes Back is the quintessential Star Wars movie. It has epic battles on the ground and in space, with blasters and lightsabers. It has the best dialogue in the saga, not a high bar but there are a few all-time lines in this one, most notably, “I am your father.” It has the music and the vibe, with practical effects that are somewhat dated but still effective. This is the visually stunning and emotionally intense sequel to the movie that changed pop culture, and it still looks incredible forty-five years later.