Directed by Irvin Kershner, Written by Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, Music by John Williams, Stars: Han Solo: Harrison Ford, Luke Skywalker: Mark Hamill, Princess Leia: Carrie Fisher, Lando Calrissian: Billy Dee Williams, C-3PO: Anthony Daniels, Darth Vader: David Prowse/James Earl Jones, Boba Fett: Jeremy Bulloch, Obi-Wan Kenobi: Alec Guinness, Yoda: Frank Oz, released by Lucasfilm Ltd and 20th Century Fox. 1980 (Special Edition released in 1997)

There's something of a history between myself and this movie, being that it was the first flick I ever saw, so naturally I have kind of a subconscious affection for it, not least that it's a Star Wars movie, which, to me, are the most beautiful and wondrous films ever made. Now I'm not going to go through the story of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Unless you're some kind of cave dwelling penguin living in Antarctica, chances are you'll have seen this flick, or know something about it. But, in case anyone who is reading this hasn't seen this, beware, because spoilers are ahead.

Themes
Now the first thing most people say about Empire is 'the darkness factor'. Now I'd agree with this in some part, it is a very dark movie, both in spirit and on film, and the one scene that personifies this is on the swamp planet Dagobah, where Luke, training under Yoda, senses a presence of evil in a dark cave. Knowing what he has to do, he asks what is in there. 'Only what you take with you.' Replies the Jedi master. This can be taken as two things. Firstly, directly after that line, Luke puts on his holster and belt, to which Yoda says 'Your weapons, you will not need them.' This is the first level as to take the 'Only what…' line, as Luke takes his weapons, there will be something inside the cave that will become because of his need to have something to defend himself, or even attack, pointing to the significance of one of the main lines that separate the Jedi and the Dark Side, which Yoda explains when he says 'A Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defence, never for attack.' The second level on which the 'Only what…' line can be taken is on a purely spiritual level, where Luke is taking all of his hesitation, his demons and his fears into the cave, which are all manifested into a pure spirit of evil, which takes the form of Darth Vader. Thus, when Luke decapitates the Dark Lord, and his helmet reveals the face of the young Jedi, it can be seen as: 1; the physical manifestation of all of Luke's fears, in which he literally fights himself, and: 2; the realization that Vader is Luke's father, which could possibly be seen as a premonition of the later conflict when the truth is revealed on Bespin.

That whole scene shows the pure essence of Empire, how it is all about revelations. With the first of the original trilogy, Episode IV: A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977), George Lucas used it as a vehicle to set up the whole Star Wars universe, the backstory and history of the conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion, and setting up the characters, serving two purposes as one, an introduction, and two, a fully self satisfying movie in its own right, which on its own, serves as a wonderful picture outside the frame of the Star Wars saga. So now, after all the characters and their motivations have been introduced, along with the other incidental elements such as locations etc., Empire serves to flesh out the characters, and set up new obstacles for them, i.e. revelations.

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