Rocks that Move

#3. STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STIKES BACK (1980)
directed by Irvin Kershner
starring Han Solo, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Alec Guiness, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, David Prowse, and the voice of James Earl Jones

When that drum beat starts before the Oscar-nominated music begins, I cannot help but feel pure joy. The "Star Wars" movies are the ultimate films of my childhood, and "The Empire Strikes Back" is the ultimate "Star Wars" film. Never has there been a film where you say out loud so many times, "Man, I want one of THOSE!" or "Dude, I wish I could do that!" Even tonight as I rewatched the film, I kept thinking how much I wished I could just use the force to get the remote control for the DVD player, or chance the volume on my stereo. Unfortunately, the force is currently living with my mom (long story).

"Empire" is the very first movie I ever saw at the cinema (my folks preferred the drive-in). I was seven. My uncle took me with his kids, and we sat toward the very front. I can still remember looking up during the scene where Han is getting frozen in carbonite. There is a closeup shot where Darth Vader turns toward the screen, and I can still picture the gigantic image of his evil face towering above me like a horrific robot of death.

I loved it.

That was not my favorite part, though. I loved the Hoth scenes early in the film. Anyone who has not had to get up at six in the morning to start their old car in sub-zero degree weather cannot fully understand the emotion and tension that the ice planet can bring. The battle scene on Hoth is one of the all-time greatest battles in film history. The AT-AT walkers are so mechanical and menacing, though they seem awfully lumbering and impractical. They did the trick, though, so who am I to complain? I wanted the action figure of the AT-AT so badly when I was a kid, but it was too expensive. I still want one. They studied the movement of elephants to make them seem more realistic, but the fact is that they look more like dinosaurs. This, I am sure, is what attracted me to them as a kid. I loved dinosaurs. I still do.

"Empire Strikes Back" takes you from one extreme to another: from the frozen planet of Hoth to the humid jungle planet of Dagobah. Dagobah reminds me of Tallahassee in the summer. I would like to forget that the prequels ever happened. Don't like them. Yoda, particularly, reminds me of this. Compared to being a CG, as a muppet I find him much more... real. As a comic device, he is the best. I love his little battle with R2-D2 over the flashlight. "MINE! MINE! MINE!" As a Jedi-master, however, he is transformed into something amazing that only seems cliched now because it has been ceaselessly quoted and copied. If you can go back in your mind to your childhood and watch Yoda lift the X-Wing out of the lagoon, you will smile with glee. "I don't believe it," stammers Luke. Yoda replies, "That is why you fail." The force is like a simple religion, and it is an easy way for a child to grasp a small hold on life and what it is all about. Perhaps this is one reason children love the film so much. Yoda taps into their childish whims, but also touches their childlike desire to understand the world around them.

Meanwhile, out in space we get to meet Admiral Piett, the luckiest man in the Imperial command. First his superior officer is murdered by Darth Vader for coming out of hyperspace too soon when attacking Hoth. Piett is made Admiral, only to have one of his captains be murdered later for letting the Millenium Falcon get away. He is disgusted to find out that bounty hunters are employed. I always wished that the bounty hunters had gotten more screen time. They were really cool. In any case, Admiral Piett has the hyperdrive in the Millenium Falcon disabled, but R2-D2 saves the day. Admiral Piett's look of horror when the ship flies away is a small, easy-to-miss classic moment in the film. He is the luckiest man in the Imperial command, however, and Darth Vader quietly (except for his eerie breathing) turns and walks away.

What really sets this film apart from the other "Star Wars" films is the character development. Watching Luke grow up is frustrating, but much more complex and subtle then you realize, having seen it a billion times. The development of the relationship between Han and Leia is also well-done, romantic, and often humorous. "Who's scruffy looking?" They provide the most serious AND most funny moments in the film. It is a commonly stated story that Harrison Ford himself ad-libbed the line, "I know" instead of "I love you" before being lowered into the carbon freeze. His character was somebody to him, a "real" person, and Ford knew what Han would have said. The tension between Han and Leia is built up from the very beginning of the film, reachig a climax as Leia watches in despair as Boba Fett's slave ship flies away with Han's frozen body. The tension is never released... at least, not from her.

Tension is built up AND released in the movie's most famous scene: the battle between Luke and Darth Vader. If you can summon up the ability to forget "Return of the Jedi" and the prequels, to be seven years old again and seeing this for the first time... then Darth Vader is the ultimate evil; the greatest movie bad guy ever. Luke is so cocky. One of my favorite moments is when he says, "You'll find I'm full of surpises." Almost immediately after he loses his light sabre. Oops. The battle is suspenseful and magnificent, culminating in one of film's greatest scenes. Like Marlon Brando in the car with Rod Steiger in "On the Waterfront," or Judy Garland clicking her heals together in "Wizard of Oz," or Jack Nicholson breaking down the door in "The Shining," the climax of the battle has been copied and made fun of so many times that it is hard to take it seriously. It is easy to forget that it truly was a big surprise, just like the shower scene in "Psycho" or the end of "The Sixth Sense" were kept a big secret until the films were released. We have all seen the film so many times, or films mocking it, that it is easy to forget that Darth Vader's secret is one of the greatest secrets in movie history. Oh, to be seven years old again and seeing it for the first time...