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Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - George, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Rated ***(**)
I agree with any of a number of previous reviewers: Would somebody PLEASE take STAR WARS away from George Lucas before he ruins it completely?
Like Francis Ford Coppola, who messed with THE GODFATHER trilogy over and over again trying to "perfect" it, Lucas keeps coming back to the original STAR WARS trilogy and adding enhanced effects and formerly deleted scenes.
In what is now known as STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, (let me catch my breath a minute, please), Lucas decided to "enhance" the film by inserting extra dialogue in several scenes, apparently in order to strengthen the film's connection to the prequels. He should have done it the other way around when Episodes I, II, and III were first released. This attempt at backward compatibility just proves that time travelers should never try to change the past. Fortunately, the changes aren't jarring.
Lucas also decided to expand the scenes with the Wampa Ice Creature on Hoth. These changes ARE jarring. The updated Ice Creature doesn't look anything like the original, and the quick intercuts don't hide the disparity. The fact that Lucas chose to "improve" the creature despite having to retain the original footage doesn't demonstrate his creativity, it demonstrates his hubris. Why not just replicate the original? Clearly, his desire to make the change overrode any considerations of film continuity and audience expectations.
This is the kind of thinking that brought us the ridiculous Jar-Jar Binks and his race of Rastafari amphibians in THE PHANTOM MENACE. George Lucas isn't really trying to give us a better cinematic experience, he's just totally into playing with his favorite toys. It's a form of selfishness.
The same goes for the rest of his changes. Lucas decided to make the battle scene explosions more "dramatic," do a score of other little tweaks, and clean up the print. Lucas has done this so many times over the past three decades that it's now impossible to figure out which film is the "real" THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Of all the questionable "improvements" he's made, cleaning up the print is the only worthwhile effort. Most of the added scenes add nothing to the film, the "extra" dialogue is interesting but unnecessary, and some of the changes (like the Wampa Ice Creature) actually degrade the movie.
Fortunately, this two-disc set contains the original theatrical release with all the nicks and imperfections it was born with. The print's a bit dim, and the special effects are showing their limitations after twenty-seven years, but this is THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK that will remain THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. It is what it is, and it never needed changes. Given the immense amount of material that has grown up around STAR WARS since it was first released, Lucas would have been smarter to release one or the other or both versions as he did, but added an Extras disc with all kinds of "The Making Of.." and "The Legacy Of..." goodies. I was disappointed that this isn't that set.
I was twenty when THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK debuted in 1980. At age 20, this now-classic movie became and remains a favorite of mine. It is arguably the best of the six STAR WARS films, because it takes the STAR WARS universe completely out of the realm of pulp science fiction. The appearance of Yoda and his Zen-like philosophy of The Force changes the entire tenor of the sextology. The Force ceases to be a kind of parlor magic useful for tricking Imperial Stormtroopers and becomes a form of bushido. The Jedi become Samurai, imbued with all of that caste's Warrior Ethos.
I never became a "Jedihead" (the original tag for the STAR WARS version of a Trekkie), but I did become a student of Zen and the martial arts. My personal decision was not at all made because of STAR WARS, but the films certainly brought such concepts into the mainstream consciousness.
The STAR WARS films are not CITIZEN KANE IN OUTER SPACE. Overall, they are not "great" films, but they are true "classics." THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in particular engages the viewer. Entertaining, exciting, and yet contemplative, the film makes you want to keep coming back for more, the true basis of success and the core of meaningfulness for any story.
The STAR WARS universe is clearly derivative. THE LORD OF THE RINGS has a "Dark Lord." STAR WARS has a "Dark Lord of the Sith." Lightsabers are yet another nod to the film's Sword & Sorcery roots. Yoda is a short green Sensei, straight out of the 1970s TV show KUNG FU. STAR WARS' "Corellians" appear in Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION as "Korellians", and "Han Solo" is also there as "Hari Seldon." The space war elements are a mishmash of STAR TREK, FORBIDDEN PLANET, AMAZING STORIES, pulp fiction, and a hundred other sources. George Lucas was able to take these well-used pieces and combine them into something that is both very original and yet archetypal.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK carries the sci-fi retelling of the Mythos of the young Hero a step farther. Having been initiated into the Mysteries by Obi-Wan, Luke is now called upon to take up the discipline his craft requires. Immature and impatient, he ignores his Master Yoda's advice, and makes his own determination that his training is complete. However, he is unready, unready to face his external enemy (Darth Vader), and unready to face his even more potent internal enemy (his own impulses toward the Dark Side).
Classic mythic elements abound: Luke has a mysterious birth, a hidden twin, and a direct blood link to the Evil he is trying to overcome (as the son of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader). He suffers a horrific wound (the loss of his hand), is forced to face the Darkness within himself, and must decide how to confront his Enemy who is also his Dark Father.
A far more sophisticated story than the straight-ahead STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is so mythic and archetypal that it suffers none of the "beginner's jitters" of A NEW HOPE. Although the first film had some really bad acting by the background characters and a few missed beats here and there, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK brings forth the best from all the cast (including even Yoda who, despite his very real humanity, is, after all, a puppet). The story sustains itself through it all.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK even survives Lucas's post-theatrical obsessive-compulsive changes to remain a modern classic.
FIVE STARS FOR "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK", THREE STARS FOR LUCAS' "IMPROVED" VERSION.
Rating:  - Good Movie
I have the whole series of the Star Wars movies and I enjoy them very much.
Rating:  - Wonderful!!!!!!!
This is an master piece and one should watch it. The star war series is a must have. Love the story and the way the film draws your attention...Love the cast.
Rating: - I have a good feeling about this...
This is easily the best of all the Star Wars movies. For once we have the right balance of action, mystery, humor, romance and swash-bucklingness, if that's a word. The dialogue is crisp and smart (Han steers the ship into an asteroid field. Leia: You don't have to do this to impress me!) The acting this time is actually quite good, particularly between Ford and Fisher. The special effects are incredible, but they serve, rather than overwhelm, the story. (Oddly, there are a few moments that look fake, such as the bits with the taun-tauns, but George chose not to redo them.) This one is closest in style and content to the old-fashioned movie and radio serials, which is what the whole thing was supposed to be based on. The first ten minutes are a little wobbly, as it seems to be trying to find its tone, but things soon pick up, and the evacuation from Hoth has to be one of the best moments in the whole series, climaxing in a Millennium Falcon that won't start. ("Would it help if I got out and pushed!?") I know in the past I've said it might have been better if George had just given us one movie and been done with it, and artistically for his career it would have been, but at least, before the franchise got stale, we got this wonderful, smartly-done fairy tale directed by the very underrated Irvin Kershner.
Here, as in the other DVDs featuring before and after versions of the original trilogy, George chose to give us terrific-looking enhanced-for-widescreen-TVs redos (among the best-looking DVDs I own, if not THE best) and unenhanced original versions. Fortunately for me I have an upscaling DVD player and television, so it doesn't look *as* bad for me as it does for a lot of other people here, but still, this is just George being spiteful--there was no reason for this. The commentary track is terrific, and justifies this purchase alone if you're a big fan. We hear from most of the major creative forces, including director Kirshner, the only Star Wars director who really "got it" as far as I'm concerned. (And the one Lucas was most upset with initially, thinking he was taking too long and doing too many takes. But the quality shows. Could you imagine the love scenes between Han and Leia directed by Lucas? Actually you don't have to; just watch Attack of the Clones.)
It's hard to "recommend" or "not recommend" something like this. It has its built-in audience--it's doubtful anyone buying this has never seen the film before. It is nice to have the two versions side by side to compare what's new, however, which is why I chose to go this route.
(P.S.: George, who the heck is "Lando Clarissian"? Also, Venus isn't a gaseous giant; it's a rocky planet like earth. You folks will have to listen to the commentary track to understand what I'm talking about.)
Rating: - BEST MOVIE EVER
Best Star Wars movie! No wait, best movie EVER!!!!! Ironically GL didn't even direct it.
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