4

7

8

After the unprecedented success of A New Hope it would be a surprise if Lucas DIDN’T make a sequel. This was not an idea he had because the first movie made him some money, though. Star Wars was meant to have multiple chapters, and the initial success made possible what was already designed.

The Empire Strikes Back expands the Star Wars story; it’s more like reading the next chapter rather than a whole new book - with the understanding that there will be a third chapter. Thank goodness. If the story had stopped here, Star Wars would have fizzled. In fact, there is no real end. It’s like Lord of the Rings or a TV show with “To be continued” at the end, no resolution, just a cliffhanger.

In a number of ways this is my favorite of all the Star Wars films. I still remember being a child at the theater looking up at the lumbering AT-AT’s (the huge, 4-legged Imperial walkers) tromping like juggernaughts through the snow as the panicked rebels desperately try to figure out how to stop them. They were so enormous on the screen, so naturally animalistic, and so formidable that I was forever awed. To this day I harbor a fascination with them.

As I grew I began to appreciate the film for additional reasons, a key one being that it breaks the mold of the conventional movie formula. I quickly grew bored with the bumbling villains in so many of the kids' cartoon shows I watched especially after I started reading literature like Lewis and Tolkien. Movie antagonists were usually more formidable, but to see one beat down the heroes so severely really caught my attention at a young age. I like seeing the bad guys whipped in the end with good things happening for the heroes, but having the Empire win here adds so much more to the overall story. They aren't just know-nothing baddies to be beaten; they are truly formidable and will require real heroism and sacrifice to bring down.

The heroes aren’t untouchable in Star Wars. Luke loses a hand, Han is imprisoned in solitary confinement taken to the extreme, and by the end of the movie the rebels are reaching deperate points (which become more evident when they put all their eggs in the "blow up the Death Star with Palpatine on it" basket). There is no triumph like the end of A New Hope, but there is clear determination. Luke and the others have not given up hope, they will press on to victory in the next episode. It is that hope and determination in the face of despair that make it different from the typical everything-is-perfectly-fine-at-the-end type movie but without being dismal.

Another plus is director Irvin Kershner’s focus on characters. There’s a great duel between Luke and Vader, space battles, and ground attacks, but a lot of the movie deals with Luke in Jedi training and having to make difficult decisions, Leia and Han slowly developing a romance, Vader and Boba Fett conspiring to capture the heroes, and Lando gambling with his friend’s life as he tries to out maneuver the Empire. So maybe Mark Hamill overdoes it towards the end with the whole “Nooooooo!!!” bit, but I think for the most part the performances and developments are solid.

The stop motion and blue screen shots are not flawless. Compared to Attack of the Clones the effects here are dated. However, they are still innovative and impressive - miles ahead of other movies from that time and still better than some I've seen.

John Williams’ score does every bit as much this time around as it does for the previous film. It adds a majestic quality that even the best visuals could not achieve on their own. Existing themes are revisited and new ones expand the repertoire. The "Imperial March" plays for the first time, one of my favorite pieces of music ever, to set the stage for the menacing Empire.

Morality

We're watching combat so there is violence, but it's not at all graphic. There is little to no blood and no lingering on the dying. The exceptions are a wampa shown eating its tauntaun meal, cutting open the belly of another tauntaun to stay warm in its guts, and Vader cutting off Luke's hand.

There are at most 1 or 2 questionable words.

Though there is romance, none of it is sexual in any way.

Spirituality

Episode 5 adds a depth to the trilogy that a single action-adventure movie could not have. It adds a touch of the way things really work (meaning bad things happening to the good people) while everything is still ultimately working towards a triumph over evil in the end. There is hope and the promise of something ultimately good for those that love God. Good will ultimately overcome evil, and God will one day make his earthly creation perfect again.

I think that regardless of religious beliefs, most people like good, heroic endings to their movies – it’s part of why the blockbuster action genre continues to be so popular. There’s a clear evil, a clear hero, and the good guy comes out on top. Seeing that gives many of us hope in a world where good people are beaten down by corrupted power, where innocent civilians are savagely beheaded by monsters passing themselves off as human, and where brave soldiers are blown up by some misguided fool who thinks he’s going to get his own harem in the afterlife. That doesn’t happen to Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenneger, or Jackie Chan. We like seeing that triumph.

I'm no different. At the drop of a film canister I can name off any number of heroic action flicks that I enjoy specifically because I like seeing the bad guys getting their butts handed to them. Ultimately Star Wars delivers that as well, it just does so with a story that brings pain to the heroes, pain with which we can identify. I think that's one reason Star Wars hit home with a lot of viewers. Struggle and triumph are great, but when we can suffer through pain with the protagonists and still come out victorious suddenly maybe the junk we're facing in life doesn't seem quite so scary.

Jesus took on pain most of us can't even imagine. Tortured and mocked he suffered a criminal's execution though he was innocent. And yet even beyond death he was victorious. And what is even more amazing is that he offers us a chance to share in his victory. Will we join the side of those who would see him defeated or will we join him in his tiumph over all that's bad in the world – even death?

Final Thoughts