Poll: Why is "The Empire Strikes Back" more highly regarded than "Star Wars"?

[dogenzakaminion]

I like Star Wars more than Empire just because it works as a standalone movie. Looking at all three originals they comprise a nice 3 arc story structure but Star Wars has that in itself. You cant watch Empire or Jedi as standalone movies, you need the trilogy for it to make sense. I do however think that looking at the series as a whole, Empire is the best sequence, while not necessarily the best movie.

 

[Talaris]

For me it has to be IV. Perhaps it's partially due to nostalgia of it being the first I saw (and for a long time the first I owned), but also it felt much more of a spectacle, especially through the eyes of a child. The Battle of Yavin looks incredible, even more so considering the age it was filmed and the budget they had to work with, which was considerably less than V.

You felt a greater sense of comradery between the characters and determination to succeed; yes that's why V was brilliant and bold by taking apart these relationships, but the audience would never have been invested in Vs hardships had they not been well established in IV. Hence as a film in its own right, IV is the superior, and V is the best example of a sequel done right.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm pretty opinion-less these days back as a kid Return of the Jedi was my favorite. I like the Jabba arc, Leia in the metal bikini, Luke fighting the Rancor, the Sarlaac fight, Yoda fading to black, the speedbiking in Endor, Luke's fight against Darth, Darth killing the Emperor, Han leading the Ewoks in a last stand, the uppity All Lived Happily Ever After ending... it was all pretty scenic and triumphant. I'll recognize that watching Empire right before Return was a huge plus because of the momemtum gathered.

 

[ecoho]

i actually liked episode 2 the most. Why? Because more happened in it the any of the other prequels. As for why i like it better then the origenals, astedics. the prequels look better and were made with better tech. now if the tech matched the writeing my vote would go of course to the empire strikes back but after watching though the origenal trilligy again the speical effects are just.....sad.

 

[pspman45]

I think its because now that we've been thoroughly introduced to each character, Empire Strikes Back spends the time that was spent introducing everyone to characterizing them, using the downtime to explore the characters rather than just explain more about the universe the film takes place in.
other than that I would say that the locals are a bit more exciting, asteroid belts, snow planets, and beautiful cloud city compared to deserts, the few moments on Yavin 4, and the lot of time spent in the crowded corridors of the Millenium falcon and the Death Star.

 

[Buizel91]

I'm one of the rare ones that actually like the prequel trilogy, my favourite of the entire franchise being episode 2, then 3 and 5 closely follow.

I suppose it's because (even though i saw parts of A New Hope) it was the first of the franchise i watched fully. To this day i still love watching the Battle of Geonosis.

And Yoda and Dooku's Battle for me is one of the best Lightsaber battles ever.

Having said that, The battle of Hoth, Luke and Darths battle and the big reveal in the 5th film are awesome, and i definitely enjoy watching it.

 

[Buizel91]

i actually liked episode 2 the most. Why? Because more happened in it the any of the other prequels. As for why i like it better then the origenals, astedics. the prequels look better and were made with better tech. now if the tech matched the writeing my vote would go of course to the empire strikes back but after watching though the origenal trilligy again the speical effects are just.....sad.

Yey! i'm not alone! *hugs*

Probably another reason why i like prequels to, They look a lot better, however the original trilogy (with all the editing that's been done) doesn't look to bad...but compared to ep 3, they are a little silly.

 

[Spade Lead]

I chose Episode 6 for it's grandiose starship battle, but the truth is, If I hadn't had to watch Episode 3 every day at work for 6 months straight, it would probably still be my favorite.

 

[Mikeyfell]

From a directorial, writing and editing standpoint it was the better movie.
The story had a far more emotionally involved tinge to it, not to mention the biggest shocker ending ever.

They were both excellent movies but Empire was put together with more technical skill.

 

[nohorsetown]

"Empire" had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets.

Heh, cool - first time I've ever said this online:

"I see what you did there!"

OT: It's probably regarded highly because it's relatively dark, and dark is cool. Plus, the eternally-popular Lando and Yoda and Boba Fett are all introduced in Empire; I never understood the Fett appeal myself, but he's a badass or something. Lando is pretty well-developed for his small amount of screen time, and Yoda is perfect - I'd take ESB Yoda over flippin-around-with-a-lightsaber Yoda any day. Plus, there's the "I Love You" / "I Know" bit, the big Vader-father reveal, the hand.. I dunno, it seems kinda obvious that Empire would be the fan favorite. I agree with the OP, tho, that A New Hope is awesome, and it may be more of a "perfect movie" than Empire, if analyzed in a vacuum.

 

[7moreDead_v1legacy]

Gurgh, picking one of the first 3 is a tough one...I think Empire would take it, mainly due to the fact it was the one I enjoyed the most when I was younger...Damn choices.

This thread however did remind me of this http://youtu.be/dGOVbXF7Iog

xD

 

[Theminimanx]

Maybe it's just that I'm tired of traditional stories after seeing them so many times, but I like the unconventional story of Empire. Plus, I always prefer a focus on characters in my stories. Which also explains why I think that most of Jedi isn't all that great, but everything having to do with Luke, Vader and the emperor is absolute brilliance.

 

[Something Amyss]

I saw the movie on its original release, way before it became episode IV, so it still comes naturally to me to ignore the episode title.

Hey, remember when it was actually considered trivia that the title of "Star Wars" was "A New Hope?"

Good times.

I think you're probably right about Empire being a fan favourite because it's more serious, which would also explain why I don't quite 'get it.' It's kind of like the Mass Effect series - I enjoy them as fun space opera but I've never taken them as seriously as many fans do, and I feel the same way about the Star Wars movies - a few scenes aside they're fun and adventure to me, not even close to dark and serious.

Empire and Jedi are pretty serious, though. And even Star Wars is fairly serious, albeit more infused with adventure and camp.

I think why I like Episode V over IV is the fact that we really see the characters start to grow. Sure, there's some growth in the first, but not as much. I also think Yoda playing the buffoon to test Luke, then switching to super serious face is pretty damn great. The cave sequence, one of the biggest moments of the crucial theme that Luke could end up like his father, the anger of Vader, Han's relationship with Lando.

Hell, C-3PO getting torn apart always brings a smile to my face, but that's neither here nor there.

They probably could have done this with a less serious film and I would still like it more, so I don't think it's the tone. I think it's the character arcs and growth.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I find it funny that the ending of Empire gets so much praise and no one ever mentions Jedi's ending. Sure, there were ewoks, but you also have the redemption of Darth Vader, which, in my opinion, was done very well. Compared to Empire's ending, it is far more meaningful. Empire had a downer ending, yes, but what is the point of it? Jedi's ending was far more meaningful in comparison.

True, however I'd argue that Empire and Jedi compliment each other for this reason. By having the 'down' ending in Empire the 'up' ending in Jedi seems all the sweeter.

Yeah, I agree. Actually, I'm thinking now that it might not be a good idea to compare the overall quality of Star Wars movies, as they are part of a single series. It seems a more potent strategy to look at how each film contributes to the whole. I mean, some people might say that Empire's lack of character introduction due to it's being a sequel makes it better, and while it may be more interesting for that reason, A New Hope was necessary to achieve that. It's ability to build on previous lore and knowledge is due to its status as a sequel and that doesn't necessarily make it a better movie. To decide whether that movie was any good, we have to decide what a good sequel should do, not what a good movie should do.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

My personal favorite is Return of the Jedi because it has the best action sequences of all three movies but yeah, Empire is easily my second favorite.

I would chalk that largely up to it having the sharpest script and tightest plotting of the three films, Han and Leia banter brilliantly, Yoda is hilarious and Luke & Vaders confrontation is fantastically dramatic.

 

[Phuctifyno]

But... for me it sags a bit in the middle. Yoda doesn't really come into his own until the prequels and so in Empire he's mostly just a slightly annoying muppet, and the end is uneven in that while Luke gets the aforementioned awesome confrontation with Vader, the rest of the main characters just run around blasting a few stormtroopers.

This paragraph, I think, summarizes your problem understanding people's appreciation for Empire.

Yoda: Muppet >>>>>>>>> CGI, - any place, any time. Yoda jumping around looking like a video game in Clones was the stupidest thing in the whole series. The whole point of him being a feeble little muppet was to show that the power of the Force was spiritual, not physical. Yoda should never have been shown to hold a lightsaber because he doesn't need one.

"Your weapons. You will not need them."

This is one major point that draws a lot of people to favoring Empire. We get small glimpses of telepathy and mind-control in the first Star Wars, and Vader and Obi -Wan talking about it solemnly, but it's mostly treated like a super power (though not to the degree of the prequels). It's Empire that establishes what the Force really means, and not just in the tiny fictional universe of Star Wars, but on a real, relatable, human level. It took the fun, pulpy, adventure story that Lucas laid out in the first film and turned it into something meaningful. And it's through Yoda that we learn all these things - he has no "coming into his own" to do beyond that.

As for the second part, the rest of the main characters shouldn't be doing much more than running around shooting bad guys at that point in the film because that would upset the balance of drama. Those characters and their plotline already hit their emotional peak when Han was frozen, and if it kept rising, it would interfere with the emotional peak of Luke's fight and Vader's reveal. Leia, Chewy, and the rest fight a battle that slowly becomes more and more hopeless, and clinches out just as the Luke/Vader fight starts to wrap, letting the audience sink into the realization that this movie isn't going to have as happy of an ending as the last one. It is one damn well-constructed sequence.

 

[DaftPivot XXX]

I'll be cast into the fiery pits of frowned-upon-opinion hell for this, but Phantom Menace is by faaar, my favourite. It introduces great Jedi Masters such as Qui-Gon Jinn and the council members, seeing Obi-Wan in action is worth the watch alone. Now I'm a bit young and wasn't fed off of the Star Wars original trilogy nostalgia bottle so I can't see why anyone would prefer geriatric, sad looking, on death's door Yoda over ass-kicking master of the force Grandmaster Yoda. Nor do I understand any hatred for silly Jar-Jar when the originals had a droid of questionable sexuality (C-3PO) and Ewoks. Now maybe some people don't like twiddly awesome action scenes and prefer the old men who look like it's their first time playing flashy sticks, but at least the prequels made lightsaber fighting a thing, like... something to fear and gaze in awe. I apologize for that, but after two pages of prequel hate the storm had to be unleashed.

But now that I've dealt with that... I don't really know why it's more highly regarded than Jedi. I thought both films had merit, but only as the predecessors to the universe truly unfolding. I'll respect the great acting, dialogue and writing bla blah blah, because I love those movies. But in the end (For me) they only supplemented watching the prequels and brought it to a nice close.... or not so close because y'know... episode 7. Now of course, this is all opinion and I apologize in advance for any undue hatred towards you backstabbing pretendsies Star Wars fans... I joke. Kind of. Not really... -_- It's probably just a product of my being born late, I can't help it.