Star Wars Episode Breakdown: How The Empire Strikes Back Is the Best Sequel In Movie History

In a galaxy far far away...

The proclaimed best sequel movie of all time happened.

Star Wars Episode IV was an overnight success when it first dropped in 1977, introducing us to a memorable cast of characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3PO, and most importantly the best movie villain of all time, Darth Vader. Its follow up is now known as the best Star Wars movie in the franchise and a benchmark to all sequel movies in general.

Star Wars Episode IV was a happy-go-lucky journey in the typical hero-quest format but this time in outer space. It was a movie that brought a lot of new things to the genre, from technology to terminology to a whole invented galaxy, it had a huge impact. Episode V explored a deeper darker story, both literally (if you haven't noticed, it had a cooler and darker colour tone than the previous movie) and figuratively. It started off with our hero, Luke Skywalker, being knocked off his Tauntaun in the frozen planet of Hoth by a yeti-esque creature who then dragged him away to eat him. This entire movie was basically about the heroes inches away from death. Nothing good happens to any of them in this movie. After a movie of harsh training, asteroid belts, a malfunctioning Millenium Falcon, betrayal, and a giant space worm, things just got worse for them. Luke lost a hand and found out the big baddie of the series is his dad. Han got frozen in Carbonite. Leia had to watch the man she loves get frozen in Carbonite after she lost the base of her operations in Hoth. C3PO was taken apart in some sort of droid torture dungeon. Chewie watched his best friend and literal life partner encased in Carbonite (this is painful if you know about a Wookie's life debt).

It soon started a trend where the second movie would be about the storymakers torturing their characters as much as they can to create a big impact on the next one where they prevail.

What makes The Empire Strikes back so beautiful is the story. We see our heroes seperated as they try to fulfill their own goals, the most changed one being Luke who went from a simple farmboy to a jedi in training in Dagoba with Yoda. We see his struggle, as he tries to control and manipulate the force without falling to the dark side. It's interesting to watch the hero who was supposed to be on the light side, feel the pull to the dark side. And then we have the obvious chemistry of Leia and Han which is exactly how you create a romance, not that mess called Reylo from the sequel series. We see Han paying for his past dues at the end, about how he found friendship and even love after a life of smuggling with Chewie, never settling in one place long enough or having anyone else except the Wookie. And then Leia, who started off the series as a damsel in distress, we saw her became a fierce general who with no hesitation would put herself in the front lines. She's smart, sassy, witty, and an overall feminist queen. We're introduced to Yoda, the wise jedi master who appeared a bit of a joke at first but later revealed to be the epitome of wisdom. The lines of good and bad started to blur out more with the betrayal of Lando who wasn't exactly bad but sold out our heroes to Vader.

However the most defining part of the movie was shocking twist at the end. It's a twist that many consider to be the best plot twist in history, where it's revealed that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker, the jedi knight who fathered Luke (and as we find out later, Leia).

No Star Wars movie could ever live up to this one. It's Star Wars at its finest, it's sad to see the quality drop from this movie compared to the shithole that is the Last Jedi.

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