Phill Jupitus talks about The Empire Strikes Back

George Lucas may be regarded as an auteur, a man who changed the rules, a man who re-invented cinema, but it was his decision not to direct the first sequel to Star Wars that played a key factor in the movies' critical success, and perhaps the reason behind it being the most highly regarded Star Wars movie.

Enlisting his former film school professor, Irvin Kershner, as director and handing script (if not story) writing over to Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett, proved to be masterstrokes, allowing the franchise to travel beyond Lucas' own imagination and freeing him up to expand his ever-increasing production house, Lucasfilm.

The continuing story finds our heroes in a dark time. Struggling to fend off the Empire's attacks and in need of direction, the rebellion is forced to flee the hideout planet of Hoth as Darth Vader closes in on his quarry – Luke Skywalker.

While Han, Leia and the droids spend the movie in a cat-and-mouse chase with the Empire, Luke heads for the planet Dagobah to meet the exiled Jedi (puppet) master, Yoda, where he learns the ways of the force and prepares to face the dark lord, Vader.

The direction is assured and steady, less reliant on clever editing and the performances are streets ahead of the previous instalment, a testament to Kershner’s belief in allowing actors off the leash, shooting multiple takes and encouraging improvisation. A massive contrast to Lucas’ heavily storyboarded techniques.

The most notable improvements lie within the script – the exchanges between Leia and Solo, in particular, become charged, witty and touching. Rather than castigate Lucas for his inability to write dialogue as he did on A New Hope, Harrison Ford found himself improvising the best line in the movie: “I know.”

However, THE underrated member of the Star Wars crew is surely cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, whose vision created a far more atmospheric galaxy than audiences had previously witnessed, hinting at the dark route the trilogy was likely to take.

The special effects continue to push the boundaries (Lucas pumped his Star Wars profits back into the likes Of ILM and Lucasfilm, allowing for even more cutting edge approaches) as the action sequences themselves fit seamlessly within the story.

With an ending left wide open and a plot twist that was so closely guarded not even the actors saw it coming, The Empire Strikes Back remains, after four further sequels, the definitive Star Wars movie.

Rich Phippen