Revisited - Empire Strikes Back (1980)

This was and still is the best Star Wars movie of all time. Nowadays we have the prequels and the new trilogy and still this movie lives up even though its 40 years old. That's crazy to think that this movie that inspired a generation of creators was made 40 years ago. This film aged well with it's fantastic story telling, visual and practical effects, and of course the fight scene the shocked the world between Luke and later to be know as his own father, Darth Vader. The movie I'm of course talking about is none other than Empire Strikes back, the second film in the Star wars franchise and the fifth episode of the Skywalker Saga.

The Empire Strikes Back, also known as Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner and written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas. Produced by Lucasfilm, it is the second film in the Star Wars film series (albeit the fifth chronologically) and the sequel to Star Wars (1977). Lucas conceived Star Wars as a single film but split it into parts after his drafts became too long. Following the success of Star Wars, Lucas hired Brackett to write the sequel; after Brackett's death in 1978, he outlined the Star Wars saga as a whole and developed the script himself before hiring Kasdan.

Lucas chose not to direct due to his obligations at Industrial Light & Magic and handling the financing, and passed the duty to Kershner, his former professor. Filmed from March to September 1979, The Empire Strikes Back faced a difficult production that included actor injuries, a set fire, and fines from the Writers and Directors Guilds of America. The initial budget was $18 million, but ballooned to $23 million by the time production concluded, making it one of the most expensive films ever made at the time.

The Empire Strikes Back premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on May 17, 1980, and was released in the United States on May 21, 1980. The film became the highest-grossing film of 1980. Though it was met with divided reviews, it is now regarded as the best film in the Star Wars saga and one of the greatest films ever made. Retrospective reviews laud its screenplay, direction, musical score, visual effects, action sequences, emotional weight, and performances of the cast (particularly those of Hamill, Ford, Williams, and Oz). The film has grossed over $547 million worldwide from its original run and several rereleases. Adjusted for inflation, it is the second-highest-grossing sequel of all time and the thirteenth highest-grossing film of all time in North America.

Three years after the destruction of the Death Star,[b] the Rebel Alliance, led by Princess Leia, has set up a new base on the ice planet Hoth. The Imperial fleet, led by a merciless Darth Vader, hunts for the new Rebel base by dispatching probe droids across the galaxy. Luke Skywalker is captured by a wampa while investigating one such probe, but manages to escape from its lair using the Force and his lightsaber. Before Luke succumbs to hypothermia, the Force spirit of his deceased mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, instructs him to go to the swamp planet Dagobah to train under Jedi Master Yoda. Han Solo discovers Luke and manages to keep him alive by keeping him under the body fat of his dead Tauntaun mount, and the two are rescued by a search party the following morning.

The probe alerts the Imperial fleet to the Rebels' location. The Empire launches a large-scale attack using AT-AT walkers to capture the base, which forces the Rebels to evacuate. Han and Leia escape with C-3PO and Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon, but the ship's hyperdrive malfunctions. They hide in an asteroid field, where Han and Leia grow closer amidst tension and briefly kiss. Several bounty hunters, summoned by Vader, assist in searching for the Falcon. Meanwhile, Luke travels with R2-D2 in his X-wing fighter to Dagobah, where he crash-lands. He meets a diminutive creature who reveals himself to be Yoda; after conferring with Obi-Wan's spirit, Yoda reluctantly accepts Luke as his apprentice. Luke learns more about the Force from Yoda, who lifts his X-wing out of the swamp using the Force.

After evading the Imperial fleet, Han's group travels to the floating Cloud City on the planet Bespin, which is governed by Han's old friend Lando Calrissian. Bounty hunter Boba Fett tracks the Falcon and, with Vader, forces Lando to hand the group over to the Empire. Vader plans to use the group as bait to lure Luke, intending to capture him and turn him to the dark side of the Force. Luke experiences a premonition of Han and Leia in pain and, against the wishes of Yoda and Obi-Wan, abandons his training to rescue them.

Intending to hold Luke in suspended animation by imprisoning him in carbonite, Vader selects Han to be frozen as an experiment. Han survives the process and is given to Fett, who plans to collect a bounty on him from Jabba the Hutt. Lando, experiencing a change of heart, frees Leia and Chewbacca, but they are too late to stop Fett from departing with Solo. They fight their way back to the Falcon and flee the city. Meanwhile, Luke arrives and engages Vader in a lightsaber duel that leads them over the city's central air shaft. Vader severs Luke's right hand, disarming him, and tempts him to embrace his anger and join the dark side. Luke accuses Vader of murdering his father, but Vader reveals that he is Luke's father. Horrified, Luke drops into the air shaft and is ejected beneath the floating city, where he hangs from an antenna. He reaches out telepathically to Leia, who senses him and persuades Lando and Chewie to turn back. After Luke is brought aboard, they are chased by TIE fighters towards Vader on his Star Destroyer, but R2-D2 reactivates the Falcon's hyperdrive, allowing them to escape.

Luke rejoins the Rebel fleet and his severed hand is replaced with a robotic prosthesis. Lando and Chewbacca begin their quest to save Han, as the other rebels watch the Falcon depart.

All in all, the film as a whole isn't perfect. It has it's flaws and some due to it being 40 years of course but besides it still hold ups to this day. The vision that George Lucas had and how he drove this film and franchise like a passion project of his is both amazing and awe inspiring. This film has inspired directors, writers, parents, kids, etc. When a film has such a impact on pop culture and the world as a whole it is worth noting it and of course revisiting the film for the hundredth time over. This has been Revisited, thanks for reading. Ricardo signing off.