2. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Movie:
Empire takes the basics from
A New Hope, and blows them up ten-fold, providing a deeper exploration of the galaxys conflict, setting, and players. It was such a huge trendsetter for blockbuster filmmaking, that its innovations have become cliché by virtue of everybody deciding to copy them. The primary example of how to successfully upgrade a one-off hit into a full-blown franchise,
Empire is the dark middle chapter to end all dark middle chapters, complete with an awesome cliffhanger. Remember that? When a cliffhanger would actually make you excited about spending more money on something you love? The battle of Hoth, Han getting frozen in carbonite, and the dramatic revelation of Lukes parentage havent lost their impact even thirty years later, probably because most everyone agrees this is the best written, best directed film of the bunch (sorry, George). Its got everything: suspense, laughs, action, even a swoon-inducing love triangle... which
Return of the Jedi deciding to make weird and confusing.
What It Says About You: Your favourite thing about the
Star Wars universe is the characters, and by
Empire, theyre all present and accounted for (Admiral Akbar does not count). You love the introductions of Yoda and Lando, but its the evolution of Luke and the gang from stock cutouts to actual people thats most memorable, with Hans sacrifice at the end confirming he had carbonite cojones to begin with. The high adventure from
A New Hope is still here, but its more complicated, mature, and satisfying, which is how you like your entertainment to be. It doesnt matter that the story is incomplete; the journey is more important than the destination, and
Empire is the journey that made
Star Wars into an everlasting icon too everlasting, as it turns out. Youre the first to point out how terrible the prequels are, and it doesnt matter how much of Disneys money he gives to charity (as it turns out, almost all of it), Lucas is still a hack who wants nothing more than to ruin your childhood. The only reason you have to watch the other movies is to come up with an explanation for how Luke learns to be a Jedi in the time it takes most people to get a library card.
Favourite Star Wars Accessories: Timothy Zahns Thrawn trilogy,
Shadows of the Empire for the N64
Soundbite:
Actually, Vader never says Luke, I am your father."
Favourite Movies:
The Dark Knight,
Terminator 2: Judgment Day