The Empire Strikes Back

Before The Empire Strikes Back, a “good” sequel rarely came around. While The Godfather Part II did win the Oscar for Best Picture, most sequels, especially those in the still rarely respected sci-fi genre, never met their full potential. Fans anticipated their return to the galaxy set far, far away, but even then, they had to question: “How does one top Star Wars?” Simple: Go darker and bigger. One of Lucasfilm’s ways of doing that was ironically by one of the smallest, purest characters in the series: Yoda. This was an engineering marvel with his wide range of facial expressions coupled with Frank Oz’s puppeteering on the sets built for his exchanges with Mark Hamill; it proved from there on that not all movie stars were going to be human.

​Besides just Yoda, there were many other massive visual effect spectacles the movie theater had never seen before. The Battle of Hoth alone is one of the most elaborate practical special effects symphonies in cinematic history, with its stop motion work on the AT-AT walkers and ship flying techniques from the first movie used once again, but this time in a bright snow environment instead of against the black of space. After going through this roller coaster of an experience, topped off perfectly by Vader saying, “No, I am your father,” everyone knew this new shift in Hollywood was only going to grow in maturity.

PG (LV)
Sci-fi/Fantasy
2 hr. 4 min.

Watch it for FUN.
Watch it to feel HAPPY and AFRAID.