Allo, allo, allo! Davie Portman here requesting all your feedback for arguable the greatest movie in the entire Star Wars franchise “The Empire Strikes Back”. Yes…we are finally here. After sitting through the prequels and Solo, we FINALLY get to review this movie!
Braden and I will be recording this on Thursday to put up on our free feed later in the week and we can’t wait to read all of your feedback!
Greetings!
The ESB has been so analyzed over decades that … I’ll simply add that ESB is for me, too, the best of the entire series.
The importance of John William’s score should not be overlooked. It really made the these early episodes. Iconic pieces for iconic images (such as Darth Vader looking out the window on the destroyer.) I remember my cousin bought the original Star Wars soundtrack album (which was a top-10 hit album in the US) when it first came.
Here is my reaction to tESB after watching all the Star Wars saga:
Life is cheap in that galaxy. Have you ever noticed how dispensable rebel fighters are? Poor Dak, getting crushed under foot…. We don’t really know if he was dead before getting crushed, but websites like Wookiepedia retcon that he was dead before getting crushed, probably to avoid this simple truth about Luke, a Jedi (in training), who failed to rescue him: The Jedi Are A Death Cult!
Wherever the Jedi go, masses of people die.
The Mandalorians are right in their assessment of the Jedi.
More Examples:
In this movie Yoda says: “The Jedi use the force for… defense, never attack.” However, the prequels showed that to be wrong (see Obi using the force to go on the attack in II and III.)
Yoda: “Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter”. Ok, so Yoda and the Jedi religion are drawn from a mix of Earthly beliefs, ancient gnosticism and animism. Again, the Mandalorians’ assessment of the Jedi being a cult is spot on.
As Luke scrambles to leave Degobah to help his friends and Yoda wants him to stay, Luke: “Sacrifice Han and Leia?” Yoda: “Yes!” Here again we see that the Jedi have no second thoughts about the death of whoever, even their friends. All must be sacrificed.
Star Wars is not really science fiction, it is cowboy-and-indians with a heavy dose of mystical religion. This has been discussed Ad nauseam in critical evaluations of modern fiction. Lucas spun a tale that is in no small part a search for a post-Christian worldview, in hopes of keeping magic (“the force”) alive. Unfortunately Lucas landed on a death-cult as his main set of characters.
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PS: When Vader gathers the bounty hunters, there is an IG-II, something which previous to watching The Mandalorian I would have completely overlooked.
Ahoy!
Hallo aus Berlin
I am probably in the minority, but I only slowly started watching the original trilogy after the prequels all came out but man did I love ESB. I will keep this short and sweet:
Ahoy
Best movie of them all. Always look forward to the beginning on the ice planet. Great story. Luke has to finish his training. He has to fight vader. And the line of the whole series. “I AM YOUR FATHER” this movie has it all. Boba fett. Han is frozen. Lando. For years growing up I thought this was the first movie. Just didnt remember watching star wars. That always messed with me. I could watch this movie every day for the rest of my life. 5 stars
Five star movie but the Yoda parts were nap time for me as a kid.
It’s not arguably the best. It is the best
While many laud this as the best Star Wars film groaning up it was always my least favorite of the original trilogy. I think that was because the good guys lose. As a kid I loved Return of the Jedi because they Rebels were victorious.
I agree 100% with this thought
Sorry had to post this here too
SPOILERS: