REVIEW

Conventional wisdom has it that The Empire Strikes Back is the darker, more mature of the first three Star Wars films and certainly it's certainly a lot gloomier that its pantomime predecessor (our heroes are betrayed, separated, tortured, mutilated and given nasty shocks about their parentage). But is it any better?

There are some noticeable improvements - the dialogue is a lot better and the plot is more complex and involving, due in no small part to the fact that Lucas handed over the scripting duties, from his own story, to scriptwriters Leigh Bracket (her final work, having died in 1978 after completing a first draft) and Lawrence Kasdan. The chief problem the writers had, of course, is that they were being called upon to write a film that had no real beginning and no real end, just lots of middle. They make a brave stab at it, but there is the inescapable feeling that it's an incomplete work.

But it's also a much more ambitious work than the first film - the trials and tribulations faced by the heroes are still straight of out a 30s pulp novel by way of a 40s movie serial, but at least we get the feeling this time that they're being challenged, that there's a real sense of danger. In Star Wars, the lead characters attacked their adventures with such gung ho cheerfulness that one never really felt that they would come to harm. Here, Han Solo is tortured before being frozen alive, C-3PO is partially dismantled (though it doesn't actually shut him up - he was definitely outstaying his welcome by now), Luke Skywalker has a hand lopped off and Chewbacca and Leia end up in the less than tender hands of Darth Vader.

In Empire, characters are allowed to develop - despite their best efforts, the "good guys" don't always win, a surprisingly adult turn of events given the triumphalist wish fulfilment of Star Wars. The downbeat denouement finds the rebellion scattered, Solo in the hands of a bounty hunter, Luke recovering from his physical injuries but only just starting the battle with his psychological traumas and Leia coming to terms wit her feelings for Solo. All very grown-up stuff compared to the childishness of the first film.

The big "trauma" though was the shock revelation in the film's climax - diluted now thanks to its being over-analysed, at the time the disclosure that Vader was Luke's father was supremely effective and a genuine shock. Hamill actually makes a good effort of this one - unlike the hopeless reaction to the murder of his aunt and uncle in the first film, his despair here is actually quite moving and effective. It's impossible to see this bleak turn of events fitting into the cheery fairy-tale knockabout of the first film and more than anything shows the drift away from the cuteness and the determinedly lightweight approach of the first film. Lucas also found room for some tantalising hints about the future direction of the series, abandoning the clear cut, straightforward line taken in the first film - Yoda's "There is another" line had fans speculating for years until the mystery was solved in the third instalment, Return of the Jedi (1983).

With this new found - if ultimately rather superficial - maturity, comes a darker look, courtesy of veteran director Irvin Kerschner. Lucas' direction of Star Wars had been, at best, functional and often quite bland, simply filming whatever his designers placed in front of him. Kerschner adopts a very different look, with some very effective and atmospheric lighting complementing the stunning, expansive sets. Luke's light sabre duel with Vader in particular is excellent, filmed in the dimly lit recesses of Cloud City, bathed in unsettling oranges and deep, frigid blues. It was certainly a huge step forward for the series and the older Kerschner's experience and maturity leant the film the darker tone that makes it so interesting.

Less impressive are some of the visual effects which, curiously, were less effective than they were in the first film, though this may be a reflection of the film's more grandiose visual scheme. The much loved opening sequence, in which rebel pilots take on the Empire's giant AT-AT fighting machines is often marred by some very noticeable matte lines, as are scene of the Millennium Falcon's approach to Cloud City - scenes that were later rejigged by Lucas for the 1997 Special Edition, and this time we can understand why.

Sadly, for all its good points, The Empire Strikes Back retains many of the weaknesses of the first film. The acting is rather better this time round - Hamill and Fisher in particular are more believable - though the loss of Ford part way through tends to leave a void that none of the other leads, including newcomer Billy Dee Williams, are unable to fill. Jones is as menacing as ever as Vader, though Clive Revill, voicing the Emperor, has little chance to make much of an impact. The lack of another villain for Vader to play off - a replacement for Peter Cushing's Tarkin from the first film - was a mistake, leaving Vader to mutter ominously when he really should have been talking to someone else.

The cuteness embodied by R2-D2 in Star Wars is amplified by the arrival of fan favourite but, God is he irritating, Yoda - with his ridiculous speech patterns, mystical pronouncements and grating voice, he should have been laughed off the screen the minute he first appeared, but the fans loved him and he's been an immoveable part of the story ever since. If we're really honest, he never comes across as anything other than what he really is - a muppet with a silly voice.

The sequences in which Yoda trains Luke in the "ways of the Force" on Dagobah are tedious, easily the least impressive part of the film. Packed to the rafters with pseudo-mystical claptrap and an odd, would-be Freudian trip into the forests where Luke confronts his own dark side, it's pretty much meaningless and is only there to pass the time while other characters get on with the real story.

And on the subject of cute... In the first film, C-3PO and R2-D2 had been welcome comic relief, a sort of android Laurel and Hardy, whose prissy bitching and annoying squeaking had at least been amusing. Here, the campest robots in cinema history have less actual work to do in the story and consequently become deeply annoying - C-3PO in particular is infuriating and should perhaps have stayed dismantled.

Despite its flaws - and that unavoidable feeling that we're only seeing part of the bigger picture - The Empire Strikes Back was a major step forward for the Star Wars saga. The more intricate storyline, better developed characters and breadth of new ideas were a surprise for those of us who had been dissatisfied with the original film though, inevitably, these are the very qualities that alienate some fans, leaving them less than satisfied with the film.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008