Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Dir: Irvin Kershner
1980
*****
My favourite of the series so far and as open minded as I am I'm pretty sure it will remain so. Irvin Kershner was an over looked director whose career seems overshadowed by his massive successes and box office flops in large franchises. I would ask everyone to really concentrate on the compositions in his films to fully understand how great a director he really was. The Empire Strikes Back has odd splashes of incest, deception and good old fashioned revenge and of course the infamous 'I am you father' bit - Soap Operas have been ripping it off for years and for very good reason. It's thanks to Star Wars' continuing story that we now have terms such as 'Snow Level', sci-fi, whether it be movies, TV, games or comics, would never be the same again. We're introduced to Lando (Billy Dee Williams), Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch) and best of all Master Yoda (played by Frank Oz he is). One film is lucky to feature one iconic character, Empire Strikes Back has a whole cast of iconic characters. Lucus gets a lot of stick, especially after his reworkings of the originals and the not so great prequels but you have to give him credit here. He knew Kershner (his old film professor from film school) was the best man to direct. He bucked the trend and put his money where his mouth was and invested his own cash, something a Hollywood producer rarely did. It paid off. It wasn't a sure thing by any stretch but he managed to orchestrate one of cinema's greatest achievements. The original Star Wars: A New Hope was something special, Episode V took the franchise to further places than anyone thought possible. A rare example of a sequel exceeding the greatness of the original.