![]() ![]() ![]() Significantly, Luke chooses death over the outstretched hand of the dark side and is eventully born again as a Jedi.īut Act 2 is never consumed by darkness. ![]() Magnificently visualised, the dizzying vertiginous terror of the moment encapsulating Luke's disorientation and horror at Vader's revelation of paternalism. Protruding out over the vast depths that are the hollow core of the Cloud City. Masterfully choreographed, their duel culminates on a thin gantry Then there is the devastating confrontation between Luke and Vader. With John Williams' breathtaking score and the dark red hellish lighting (the characters have arrived in Hell - this being the "second day" of the trilogy), the whole feel is of a Wagnerian opera: dark and epic. The film culminates in a whirl of emotional intensity and the infernal machine of the carbon freezing chamber. Bespin, the Cloud City, the most awesome of any of the Star Wars arenas, is a beautiful exterior with a dark heart. At once more graceful and melancholic than its predecessor, Kershner enhances the pensive mood of impending tragedy with an array of inhospitable worlds (we travel from the icescape of Hoth to the swamp of Dagobah to a sleek, sterile city in the clouds). Which is a good thing given the nightmare wrought for them by writers Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett. ![]() The actors too, reassured this was not some tinpot sci-fi quickie, have settled comfortably into their characters. No longer tethered by the need to establish this fabulous universe wrapped in the arcane mysticism of the Force, this is a film far more sophisticated, awe-inspiring and daring (what do you mean Han Solo stays frozen in carbonite?). Not a sequel as such, but the next part of a continuing story, Empire marks enormous progression both in terms of the mythos of the series and in the filmmaking quality itself. It's generally agreed that The Empire Strikes Back is the best film of George Lucas' initial trilogy (despite a latter-day shift toward the original's storytelling purity). ![]()
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