Star Wars: Episode V -The Empire Strikes Back [Theatrical Cut] (1980)

PG, even though it is a bit more brutal than Star Wars.   Like, they borderline torture Han Solo.  Threepio gets torn apart.  Luke decapitates Darth Vader, only to see his own face.  There's some mild incest, if you want me to stretch the PG rating.  Also, that entire final confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader gets pretty bleak.   Am I crazy, but is there some mild swearing as well?  PG.

DIRECTOR:  Irvin Kershner

I've sold my soul.  I have a specific moral code and I've broken that moral code.  Why?  Because I wanted to watch a movie that would never be available to me.  I know that every nerd out there knows that George Lucas basically said that the original cuts of the Star Wars movies would never be available post-Laserdisc.  That wasn't exactly true because one of the DVD prints of the movie offered a special feature which did a transfer of the theatrical cut on the second disc that wasn't in anamorphic widescreen. 

Now, I knew that the Despecialized Editions existed.  Some hardcore fans went and SOMEHOW (I really don't know how) remastered the theatrical cut of the movie.  Maybe they got an original film print against all odds and nerded out over every frame.  Well, the long-and-short of it is, they made high-def remasters of the original pre-Special Edition movies.  Well, my buddy said that he saw them and said that they looked incredible.  My kids (who have no attention span and I'm a little mad at them for not watching these movies with me) said that they wanted to watch all of the Star Wars movies (see?  I have every reason to be disappointed!).  Well, I caved.  I couldn't get a copy of the special features version of The Empire Strikes Back and I really wanted to see the Despecialized Editions.  And you know what?

He was right.  They look incredible.  I may be going crazy, but I honestly believe that they look better than the Disney releases of these movies.  I don't know how.  I was just marveling on how good they looked.  And I have to say, The Empire Strikes Back, the best Star Wars movie out there, looks stunning.  My moral code says that I only buy licensed products and I don't support bootlegs.  But gosh darn it did someone out there made a really great print of a phenomenal movie.  Now, I will step back a little bit.  I honestly think that the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back is the least offensive of the three special editions.  While I adored watching Empire in its despecialized edition, it's really not all that necessary.  I kind of like the Wampa change up and Cloud City looks rad with updated effects.  But can I tell you what kind of masterpiece The Empire Strikes Back is?

In terms of being a sequel, it does everything right. I don't know if I talked about this in the last blog, but I feel like I had this epiphany while watching this movie.  There is such a gulf between Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.  (Note: Dear Star Wars nerds.  I'm using "A New Hope" as its nomenclature simply to avoid confusion.  I mentally think of it as Star Wars as well.)   A New Hope is an incredible movie that, as a stand-alone, does everything that it needs to.  It would be weird to think that other Star Wars movies might not have existed, but whatever.  But Empire doesn't retread over anything.  It pushes all of these characters into places that they aren't used to being in while simultaneously staying true to these character archetypes.  I, about two hours ago, wrote a Sonic the Hedgehog 3 blog where I contended that the movie was entirely plot and very little with character.  I'm going to say that Sonic 3 is inverse to Empire Strikes Back because Empire is almost an entirely character driven film.  It's a character driven film that looks freaking incredible. 

I know that we live in a world that George Lucas has been hands off of Star Wars since the Disney sale.  But there was a time when there was a certain disdain for the stuff that Lucas had his mitts on.  I don't deny that the man was a genius.  He created something incredible.  But I always contended that Lucas worked best in collaboration, not when he's the sole driver of the vehicle.  Lucas provided Empire with the story beats, of which there are few.  The majority of the movie is the heroes on the run.  Luke gets a bit more plot (yet plot that is meant to deepen his character) by having him train on Dagobah for the majority of the movie.  But the rest of the people who rounded out Empire, like Kirshner directing, makes the movie feel more like a movie. In A New Hope, we're kind of left with archetypes of characters instead of fully formed characters.  Han is the standoffish type until the final moments when he makes the moral shift towards the Rebellion.  But with Empire, Han (who I contend might be the protagonist of the film) is far more complex.  He's dealing with consequences.  He's both roguish and vulnerable without seeming off on either front.  Contrast that with Leia, who is far more interesting in this movie than she was in New Hope, because she outright recognizes that Han is bad news.  Yet, she also sees that she is attracted to him and is forced to acknowledge that he's grown as a person.  She has that line between political leader and human being and it's really interesting to watch.

I also like that Empire makes Luke far more frustrating as a character.  We're meant to like Luke a lot.  We bonded with him on Tatooine as he learned about a much larger world.  But we also see some of his less attractive traits when he becomes more accustomed to a world that sees him as valuable.  I mentally think of Luke as the Hero of Yavin IV, despite the movie kind of downplays that.  But it also explains a lot of his entitled behavior all through these movies.  Whoever wrote Luke in Empire really toes this fine line.  He's obnoxious without ever becoming a bad guy.  Luke whines not because he's entitled, but because he believes that the world needs him to be this great Jedi.  It's what makes the Yoda sequences so compelling.  You want to slap him because you are on the outside and you understand that Jedi training takes time, mainly because that is the crux of Yoda's argument.  But from his perspective, he's leaving a cause behind that desperately needs his help.  It's not necessarily an ego thing so much as he understands that the appearance of a Jedi on the side of the Rebellion could turn the tide.  

I also have some other headcanon that fits into this entire characterization.  I wonder if this is an intentional choice, but I always say, at least in the original trilogy, whoever draws his lightsaber first is at fault.  Luke is warned by Yoda not to take his lightsaber into the cave.  In the cave, he's confronted by specter of Vader, who eventually reveals himself to be Luke's reflection.  But Luke is the one to draw his sword first.  When Luke slays the reflection, he thinks that he's won.  The reveal of the face is an accusation of Luke seeing himself as a fledgling Jedi as a weapon to be harnessed.  The decapitated head tells him that his violence is making him like Vader.  Yet, when he sees the actual Vader, he is so stubborn that he repeats his mistake.  He doesn't try talking with Vader.  He doesn't wait for Vader to draw his saber first.  He extends the blade first and he gets wrecked.  As much as Vader claims that Luke's skills are "Impressive", it always feels like Vader is toying with him.  

There are moments in Empire that the nerd in me has a hard time wrapping my head around.  There's such a cool moment when Luke leaves Dagobah in his X-Wing.  It's filmed gorgeously (and we have puppet Yoda...my favorite Yoda in this scene).  But I have to wonder how much Lucas planned these moments.  Obi-Wan Kenobi says, "That boy was our last hope."  And in the most dramatic fashion ever, Yoda replies, "No, there is another."  Now, I always read the kiss between Luke and Leia as "Lucas didn't really plan ahead."  But that line implies that Lucas knows that he has a needle drop for Return of the Jedi with the Leia reveal.  But even more so, the prequels kind of screws that line up for me.  Why is he informing Obi-Wan Kenobi that there is another if Obi-Wan knows about Leia?  It's a funny bit and, man, that moment slaps.  But it's such a weird moment in retrospect, thinking of all the bits that go into the movie.

Empire is such a good movie that I want to talk about it, but it's a movie that I want to actually have dialogue about.  Watching this movie for the umpteenth time, there are still things that I am unpacking about the movie that I've never thought of before.  And yeah, I broke my own rule.  But do you know what else?  I'm going to try to knock out the Despecialized Return of the Jedi before the end of Christmas break.  I'm excited about it.  As much as I give my older two garbage, the younger two were really into it.  So maybe I waited too long to get them involved.  Either way, Empire Strikes Back still destroys.