“The Force is with you, young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi yet.”

The 1980s was a decade that helped to revive science fiction in cinema. Whereas science fiction was only viewed as critical social commentary or something that appealed exclusively to “geeks” or “nerds,” Star Wars proved to people that science fiction was also a genre that could be fun, thought-provoking, and exciting all at once. During the 1980s, many films were released that were all those things, such as “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Blade Runner,” “TRON,” “The Terminator,” “Back to the Future,” “Aliens,” “RoboCop,” and “Predator,” just to name a very few. But to some, the 1980s science fiction film that culminates those three adjectives the best is the timeless and game-changing sequel to the original Star Wars film, “The Empire Strikes Back.”

“The Empire Strikes Back” was released to soaring levels of anticipation on May 21, 1980. Set about three years after the events of “A New Hope,” the film begins with the Rebel Alliance already finding itself in trouble. The former secret Rebel base on the planet Yavin IV has been invaded by the Galactic Empire’s forces, and Princess Leia, a royal leader of the Rebels, now leads a new secret base on the snowy planet Hoth. Luke Skywalker, the hero who blew up the Death Star, is outside the base riding aboard his Tauntaun investigating an object that landed nearby, likely to be a meteorite. Suddenly, Luke is attacked by a carnivorous snow monster called a Wampa, and it takes both Luke and his Tauntaun to its cave. In the cave, Luke eventually regains consciousness and finds himself hanging upside down with his feet frozen in ice. Using the power of the Force, Luke retrieves his lightsaber in the snow, which was originally his father’s, and severs the arm off the Wampa. Outside in a brutal snowstorm, Luke sees the ghost of his fallen Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, who tells him that he must go to the swamp planet Dagobah and continue his training under a Master named Yoda. Luke then succumbs to the cold and passes out.

Sent on a mission to retrieve Luke, captain of the Millenium Falcon Han Solo eventually rescues his friend and the two then return to the Rebel base with the help of a search party. Later, Han and his first mate Chewbacca discover to their dismay that the object that Luke was investigating earlier was in fact an Imperial probe droid dispatched by the Empire, which has revealed the base’s location. As a result, Darth Vader, one of the emperor’s menacing enforcers, commands and oversees an intimidating fleet on Hoth, consisting of many enormous mechanical AT-AT Walkers. While Luke and other Rebel X-wing pilots do manage to take down a few Walkers, the Empire’s deadly attack forces the Rebels to flee their invaded base. Luke and astromech droid R2-D2 travel to Dagobah aboard his X-wing, while Han, Chewbacca, Leia, and protocol droid C-3PO attempt to outrun Imperial forces aboard the Falcon.

Luke crash-lands his X-wing on Dagobah. While he is eating his dinner with R2-D2, an unexpected guest welcomes himself, a little green pointy-eared creature. Luke asks the creature if he knows Yoda, to which the creature responds that he can take him to his hideaway. Luke follows the creature into a small and cramped hut by a bog. In the hut, Luke questions the creature when he will see Yoda, but the creature tells him to have patience, for he will soon be with him. Agitated with Luke’s restlessness, the creature appears to start talking to himself, only for Luke to hear the disembodied voice of Obi Wan echoing throughout the hut, which persuades the creature to teach him, despite his reluctance. Luke then deduces that the creature has been Yoda all along, and he finally begins his rigorous training with him.

Meanwhile, the characters in the Falcon find themselves in several predicaments. First off, during takeoff into space from Hoth, the ship’s hyperdrive malfunctions, which prevents them from outrunning the Empire’s TIE fighters. After an exhilarating pursuit in an asteroid field, the Falcon hides in an asteroid crater. There, Han and Leia begin to fall in love and kiss, only to be rudely interrupted by C-3PO.

Regarding the inner workings of the Empire, Darth Vader receives a holographic transmission from the Galactic Emperor himself, who informs him of a great disturbance in the Force. The emperor is worried that their new enemy, Luke, could become a Jedi. Vader urges him that if Luke were to be turned, he would become a powerful ally. Feeling that he would be a great asset to him, the emperor is assured by Vader that Luke will either join the Empire or die. Vader then calls a meeting of several bounty hunters, one of them being the notorious Boba Fett. Vader offers a substantial reward for whoever who finds the Falcon, and the bounty hunters all embark on their mission.

Eventually, Han and the others travel to a space colony called Cloud City that hovers above the gas giant Bespin. Cloud City is ruled by Han’s old friend, the charming and likable Lando Calrissian. While Lando is showing Han, Leia, and Chewbacca around, C-3PO hears the sound of a droid similar to R2-D2 in a hall closet and suspiciously goes missing.

Back to Luke and his training, Luke gradually becomes more and more proficient with his usage of the Force over an unspecified amount of time, as he is now much more capable of his knowledge. However, midway through his training, he experiences a nightmarish vision of Han and Leia suffering in pain in a city in the clouds. Despite Obi Wan and Yoda’s anxious pleas to continue and finish his training, Luke stubbornly leaves Dagobah with R2-D2 to go to Cloud City. In Cloud City, Lando describes to Han that he has made a deal with the emperor that will keep Imperial forces from entering his dominion. Immediately after that, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca are greeted to the sight of Vader at a dinner table, accompanied by Imperial Stormtroopers and Boba Fett. Turns out, Fett had tracked the Falcon to Cloud City. After Han is tortured by Vader, Lando explains to him that he was forced to comply with Vader’s terms and conditions, and that additionally, Vader has set up a devious trap to capture Luke, with Han, Leia, and Chewbacca as the bait. Chewbacca, trapped in confinement, reassembles C-3PO, who he found in dismantled condition while saving him from incineration. It is revealed that when C-3PO unwittingly went into the hall closet, he was shot by a Stormtrooper.

Vader plans to freeze Luke in a block of carbonite for his journey to the emperor. Although Cloud City’s carbonite facility is crude, he intends to test it on Han. After bidding Leia a final kiss and a somber goodbye in the carbonite chamber, Han is frozen, although he has survived the freezing process. Vader is informed that Luke has just landed in Cloud City, and leads Luke back into the chamber, where they engage in a gripping and intense lightsaber duel. Despite initially impressing Vader with his unexpected agility and stamina, Luke’s incomplete Jedi training later takes a toll on him, making his reflexes slow and sluggish compared to Vader’s. After Luke burns his arm with his lightsaber on a bridge, a furious Vader severs Luke’s right hand off, sending it and his lightsaber down into the depths of Cloud City. Vader urges Luke to complete his training with him, to which Luke vehemently declines. Vader then tells Luke that Obi Wan lied to him about the fate of his father. After Luke assures Vader that he killed his father, Vader discredits that and tells Luke that he is actually his father. In absolute horror, Luke screams, and Vader once again tries to persuade him to join him, overthrow the emperor, and rule the galaxy as father and son. Drained of all hope, Luke attempts suicide by falling off the bridge platform, flying hundreds of feet down into a tunnel, leading him to the bottom of Cloud City above the surface of Bespin.

Boba Fett has taken the frozen Han to Jabba the Hutt, a vile gangster on Tatooine that Han owes a considerable debt to. Despite failing to save him, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando, and C-3PO manage to escape Cloud City with the help of R2-D2, who repaired the hyperdrive of the Falcon, and plan to travel to Tatooine. While hanging above Bespin’s surface, Luke calls Leia’s name, which mysteriously channels to Leia’s consciousness. Leia asserts Lando that they have to go back and retrieve Luke, which they successfully do. Aboard a Rebel starship, Luke receives a new mechanical yet lifelike new hand, and watches Lando and Chewbacca journey to Tatooine aboard the Falcon. Uncertain of what the future entails for them, Luke, Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 all gaze out into space.

Among the general public and the Star Wars fanbase, “The Empire Strikes Back” is usually hailed as the greatest Star Wars film ever made. In many respects, it absolutely deserves that title. The main thing that “The Empire Strikes Back” does the best is expand the Star Wars universe. Through the Jedi training scenes on Dagobah with Yoda, more information is cleverly conveyed to the viewers about the Force, which was just merely explained by Obi Wan in “A New Hope.” The Force is shown more than only a massive energy field, but as a binding agent as well. Luke used the Force to communicate with Leia after his duel with Vader, which led him to safety in the care of his friends. The Force can also lead one down a dark path. It also is what caused Luke to have the vision of his friends suffering in Cloud City, which triggered fear and anxiety within him, prompting him to meet his ultimate demise. Besides acting as a crucial plot device, the Force is almost a two-faced character in the film, choosing to inflict either a negative or a positive outcome upon the characters.

Vader’s shocking reveal that occurs in the film’s third act is one of the greatest examples of a plot twist. This made “The Empire Strikes Back” a total groundbreaker in terms of cinematic storytelling, just as its predecessor did, albeit less unexpectedly. Before, plot twists could only be found in only a few movies and TV programs, notably in the original “Planet of the Apes” film and many episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” Since then, plot twists have become a norm in cinema so much so that they are now an expected trope.

Compared to “A New Hope,” the storyline of “The Empire Strikes Back” is significantly less linear and straightforward, favoring a more meandering and slower-paced plot to better embrace the arcs of its characters. Although there were rather diminutive sparks of romance between Luke and Leia in the first film (which would be just only a little less comfortable to watch after “Return of the Jedi”), Han and Leia have great chemistry together. Before they actually fall in love, Han and Leia bicker to each other, plaguing insult after insult. But, since the film slows down however after the battle of Hoth, their relationship can be fleshed out and developed more naturally and organically, akin to Anakin and Padmé’s in “Attack of the Clones.” When Han freezes in carbonite, Leia’s tearful facial expression and reaction to the whole situation is very raw and genuine, and viewers can easily sympathize with her. The parallel plot line with Luke and Yoda is also crafted like that as well. During his training, Luke voices the thoughts of the audience, saying to Yoda how all he wants from him is the impossible and how difficult the training really is. Unconventional from most master and apprentice relationships, Luke is also somewhat hostile towards Yoda, but not in the way that a teenager is hostile towards their parents. He still respects Yoda as a skillful Jedi Master, and Yoda is depicted exactly as that.

One aspect of “The Empire Strikes Back” that should receive more credit than it does is its cinematography. Contrary to popular belief, “The Empire Strikes Back” was not directed by George Lucas, but by Irvin Kershner, one of his film professors at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. While not the cinematographer, Kershner had most creative control over everything, second to Lucas. The angles that Kershner chose to shoot from truly broadens the film’s atmosphere, and makes everything pop out of the screen. For instance, during the opening Wampa sequence, the Wampa is never shown, at least in the original theatrical cut. Similar to how the shark is rarely seen in “Jaws,” the shadows and the sounds of the Wampa create a looming sense of fear and suspense in the viewer, which is scarier than just seeing it. Regarding the film’s lighting and colors, the final battle between Luke and Vader takes the cake. With the dark orange and blue color scheme in the carbonite chamber, Vader appears much more intimidating, and makes him look like a formidable opponent to Luke that he may not be able to defeat. All of these elements contribute to the film’s darker tone, yet it still retains the fun and enjoyability of its predecessor.

To praise the effects and the music is unnecessary, as it is a Star Wars movie. In conclusion, “The Empire Strikes Back” is an extremely immersive and imaginative film that takes its viewers on an unforgettable journey to a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. And while the film’s runtime clocks in at slightly over two hours, it is a film that perpetually sticks with its viewers. Just as it did in 1980, “The Empire Strikes Back” continues to dazzle people over today, whether they are watching it for the first time or for the thousandth time. Its courage to take risks and take the Star Wars saga in a new and unexpected direction paid off in the end, and that is why it continues to stand the test of time. Whether you are a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder or a fully trained Jedi Knight, you will find “The Empire Strikes Back” to be impressive. Most impressive.