STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (SPECIAL EDITION)
A film review by Michael Redman
Copyright 1997 Michael Redman
**** (out of ****)
Oddly enough, I had forgotten much about this middle film of the Star Wars trilogy so seeing it on the big screen again was an unexpected treat. The darkest and arguably the best of the films suffered from the second-act syndrome when you had to wait three years for the next movie. It works much better as a part of the whole.
Everything goes wrong in this one. The rebels are on the run. Han Solo is captured by the bad guys. Luke fails to complete his Jedi training, loses a hand and gains a father (You already knew that, right? I'm not ruining anything for you, right?) =97 none of which are good things. The ending is just the opposite of the triumph of "Star Wars". The Dark Side may just come out on top.
There aren't as many changes from the original as the Special Edition of the first film featured. A few fixes here and there, short new scenes and a punched-up soundtrack are fairly unobtrusive and make it easier to watch the film rather than be pulled into the "What's New" game.
Now I'm looking forward to "Return Of The Jedi" even with those terminally cute fuzzy things.
[This appeared in the 2/27/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ]
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