The Empire Strikes Back was a lot better than the original film to which it was a sequel in a great many ways.
1) It focused a lot more on the deuteragonist Han Solo than the first movie did 2) It developed the relationship between Han and Leia (even if it still tried to force Luke into a love triangle with them, which doesn't work for these characters.) 3)It introduced Yoda who was an engaging character and an entertaining trickster mentor 4) It built upon the menace of the villainous Darth Vader 5) While the first movie had the followers of the Evil Empire call themselves followers of The Dark Side and this movie keeps that, this film does a much better job with it, turning the Dark Side into a metaphor for how corruptible even our heroes are 6) This movie introduced the Emperor 7) I know that it's one of the most well-known twists in cinematic history and as such most of us (myself included) knew what the twist was before watching it but I think the plot twist at the end was quite well done The Flaws 1) The forced love triangle of Luke, Leia and Han 2) C-3PO is as annoying as he was in the first movie (if not more so.)
I can live with this movie's conclusion being used as a set-up for the next movie because at the time franchise films were so rare that certain problems are inevitable and shouldn't be held against them.
All in all, it's a decent film. It's also much better than the first movie.
1) It focused a lot more on the deuteragonist Han Solo than the first movie did 2) It developed the relationship between Han and Leia (even if it still tried to force Luke into a love triangle with them, which doesn't work for these characters.) 3)It introduced Yoda who was an engaging character and an entertaining trickster mentor 4) It built upon the menace of the villainous Darth Vader 5) While the first movie had the followers of the Evil Empire call themselves followers of The Dark Side and this movie keeps that, this film does a much better job with it, turning the Dark Side into a metaphor for how corruptible even our heroes are 6) This movie introduced the Emperor 7) I know that it's one of the most well-known twists in cinematic history and as such most of us (myself included) knew what the twist was before watching it but I think the plot twist at the end was quite well done The Flaws 1) The forced love triangle of Luke, Leia and Han 2) C-3PO is as annoying as he was in the first movie (if not more so.)
I can live with this movie's conclusion being used as a set-up for the next movie because at the time franchise films were so rare that certain problems are inevitable and shouldn't be held against them.
All in all, it's a decent film. It's also much better than the first movie.