Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition (1980)
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This second instalment of the 'Star Wars' series, directed not by George Lucas but by his former USC tutor Irvin Kershner, is the tautest - an extended ricochet from one incendiary set-piece battle to another which still finds time to attend to plot, pace and character. After the destruction of the Rebel base on icy Hoth, Han (Ford), Leia (Fisher) et al, escape in the Millennium Falcon, eventually finding dubious sanctuary in the city of Bespin. Meanwhile, Luke (Hamill) heads for the Degobah system to be schooled in Jedi lore by Yoda. These two plot strands dovetail in the final quarter, when Luke rushes to Bespin to save his friends and confront Darth Vader, ignoring Yoda's pleas that he finish his training and risking his own helpless conversion to the Dark Side. The 'special edition' restoration work is impressive, though there's barely a minute's worth of extra footage this time round. In fact, the film's reliance on stop-frame animation means that, visually at least, it hasn't dated quite as well as Star Wars. The dialogue, too, will have you chewing your fist in places. Fisher and Hamill are clearly relishing the challenge to Be More Feisty and the robot comedy, driven by an outrageously camp Threepio, is almost funny.Author: JO'C
Cast & crew
Producer: Gary Kurtz
Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 124 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now