Movie #9: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Movie #: 9
Movie Title: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Year Released: 1980

Director: Irvin Kershner
Notable Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Frank Oz, Alec Guinness

Short Description: After the rebels have been brutally overpowered by the Empire on their newly established base, Luke Skywalker takes advanced Jedi training with Master Yoda, while his friends are pursued by Darth Vader as part of his plan to capture Luke. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #11
Ranker.com: #13
Lifed.com: #12
Empire.com: #3
FilmCrave.com: #13
FlickChart.com: #2

Note: This is the last movie on my list to appear on only six of the top 100 lists I used to compile the 251 movies I’m watching.



Date Watched: 12/9/2016

Grade: 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding)
Adjusted Grade: 5 out of 5 (Exceptional)

Rationale: Take the best parts of Episode IV: A New Hope, improve the acting (I'm looking at you, more refined Mark Hamill), add in two of the coolest characters in the entire Star Wars saga (Yoda and Lando Calrissian), add in three of the more popular locations in the Star Wars universe (Hoth, Dagobah, and Cloud City), give us a longer, better choreographed battle between Darth Vader and the good guy, then top it all off with one of the greatest twists/cliffhangers in cinematic history and you end up with Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. I still personally believe A New Hope has the most miniscule edge over The Empire Strikes Back, but I can easily see why The Empire Strikes Back is generally considered to be the best Star Wars movie there is.