The second act of the original Star Wars trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back is a thrilling adventure that expands the franchise’s lore in new and interesting ways. There’s plenty of heroism to be found here, along with clear delineations between good and evil. But violence is darker, some suggestive dialogue crops up, and the Force remains theologically murky.
It is a dark time for the Rebellion …
The Death Star may have been destroyed, but the evil Empire remains. The heroic Rebel Alliance has been chased to the edge of the galaxy. Still, they fight to keep the fire of freedom alive amid the cold confines of the desolate ice planet of Hoth.
Luke Skywalker fired the shot that took down the Death Star (with a helpful assist from the Millennium Falcon—not to mention the mysterious Force). Now, he’s a soldier of the Rebellion and an aspiring Jedi knight.
Princess Leia Organa tries to stay one step ahead of the Empire’s seemingly endless legions, all while holding the ragtag Rebel force together. Oh, and trying to figure out the simple task of how to liberate the galaxy.
Han Solo became a Rebel hero by chance but chose to stick around out of loyalty to his freedom-fighting friends (and his interest in a certain princess). But a pesky bounty on his head has him rethinking that decision.
However, their plans are put on hold when an Imperial probe droid stumbles upon their secret base.
Faster than you can say “I have a bad feeling about this,” the dastardly Darth Vader comes knocking at their door—along with half of the Imperial fleet.
Now, it’s all Luke, Leia and Han can do to simply survive, as they flee the pursuing Empire. Luke heeds the call of a ghostly Obi-Wan Kenobi to learn more about the Force from an enigmatic Jedi master, Yoda. Han and Leia are less fortunate, seeking sanctuary with Lando, a pirate-turned-politician who’s an old frenemy of Han’s.
With the Rebellion teetering on the brink of destruction, their journeys will take them from asteroid fields to swamp planets to a city in the clouds—where a shocking revelation awaits …
Our heroes share a deep bond of friendship, and they willingly risk their lives to protect one another. When Luke gets stranded in the frozen wastes of Hoth, Han braves the bitter cold to save him. When Luke learns that Han and Leia are in mortal peril, he rushes to their aid, unwilling to let them suffer to keep himself safe. Following Luke’s fateful battle with Darth Vader, Leia returns to rescue him.
Lando initially betrays Han and Leia. But following a change of heart, he gives up his political position and status to help save Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO from the Empire.
Yoda (and a spectral Obi-Wan) encourages Luke to resist the Dark Side of the Force and to reject hate, even when confronting an enemy. The members of the Rebel Alliance fight to overthrow the oppressive and unambiguously evil Galactic Empire, with many sacrificing their lives in the effort.
The spiritual content of Star Wars pretty much begins and ends with the mystical energy field known as the Force. Of the three original films, The Empire Strikes Back gives us the most detail on this mysterious power through Yoda:
“Life creates [the Force], makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you: here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
While Christians can certainly relate to the idea that we are more than mere flesh and blood, the Force shares more in common with chi and the Taoist principle of yin and yang rather than the Christian theology of the spirit. The Force is impersonal and can be used for both good and evil purposes—the light and dark even seem to be “in balance” with each other (a concept hinted at here and insinuated more in later Star Wars entertainment). This runs in contrast to the Christian belief that, to paraphrase St. Augustine, evil is merely the privation of good.
On the flip side, Yoda’s description of the Dark Side of the Force sounds similar to the Christian understanding of sin, portraying it as seductive and corruptive.
We see characters harness the Force’s supernatural power throughout the film. Yoda uses it to reclaim Luke’s starfighter from the depths of a swamp. Luke lifts (smaller) objects as well and even sees visions of the future. Obi-Wan returns from the grave to counsel Luke as a sort of Force ghost.
Access to the Force is not limited to benevolent Jedi, either. Darth Vader wields the Dark Side of the Force to strangle underlings and telepathically hurl objects at Luke during a duel. He and the Emperor are able to sense a “disturbance” in the Force. Characters communicate across distances through the Force.
A character references “destiny.”
Han and Leia share a “will they, won’t they” relationship through most of the film. Han is clearly interested in moving in a romantic direction. They flirt and share a few passionate kisses. And while they do have feelings for one another (Leia eventually declares her love for Han), some viewers may be a bit uncomfortable with Han’s brazen pursuit of the initially resistant princess.
Additionally, some of the pair’s interactions are a little more suggestive than you might remember. When Leia remarks that Han holding her isn’t enough to get her “excited,” he wryly replies that they “don’t have time for anything else.”
While Han and Leia’s relationship is the film’s main romantic focus, Leia and Luke have some romantic tension, too. To get back at Han for his teasing, Leia gives Luke a deep smooch (which, as revealed in Return of the Jedi, turns out to be a big “oops!”). Later, Leia appears to give Luke a light kiss on the lips.
Lando flirts with Leia and doesn’t hide his attraction to her. Luke is seen in a tank of healing liquid effectively in his underwear.
Sir Alec Guinness once described the relatively tame violence found in the original Star Wars in an interview. He said, “People go ‘bang-bang’ and people fall over.” While there are similarly plenty of blaster bolts, explosions and bloodless, toy-soldier deaths in The Empire Strikes Back, the violence found in this film often feels darker and more intense than its predecessor.
The film contains perhaps the most famous dismemberment in cinema history: Vader lops off Luke’s hand with a lightsaber (fortunately immediately cauterizing the wound). Even when seen for the umpteenth time, that scene still delivers quite a shock. And moments later, Luke seemingly opts to kill himself rather than be captured Vader. (He allows himself to fall down a deep shaft that he had previously been trying to avoid. But he survives.)
In a dreamlike duel, Luke beheads his opponent with a lightsaber; the head falls free amid a shower of sparks.
Other characters (be they human, alien or droid) are imperiled. A character gets attacked by a yeti-like creature: The beast bloodies him and kills his Tauntaun, a camel-like mount. Someone nearly freezes to death. A pair avoids getting crushed by a cave-in. A pilot crash-lands on a planet. A space slug nearly devours a fleeing starship. A droid gets swallowed by a mysterious creature before getting spat back out. Another droid gets blown to bits by a blaster bolt. (He is later repaired.)
As mentioned, Darth Vader uses his Force powers to kill a few underlings. Han gets tortured by the Empire—though we don’t see any of it, we hear Han’s screams.
A character gets frozen in carbonite—a risky procedure that carries no guarantee of survival. (Fortunately, the individual survives the freezing process.) A variety of ships—and the characters manning those vehicles—get destroyed by laser blasts or asteroids. We see a monstrous creature eating bloody flesh off a bone while surrounded by carcasses.
After Han’s Tauntaun dies from exposure to Hoth’s dropping temperatures, Han slices open the mount with Luke’s lightsaber to keep himself and Luke warm through the night, and we briefly catch a glimpse of alien’s entrails. Someone compares navigating an asteroid field to suicide.
Han angrily tells someone that he’ll “see [them] in hell.” “Shut up” is used a few times. A droid makes a rude comment to C-3PO in an alien language.
Beyond that, there’s not much rude language to be worried about here—unless you’re bothered by unfavorable comparisons to stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herders.
None.
A devastating and shocking secret is revealed about someone’s … let’s say, paternal origins.
Luke is initially impatient with and unkind to Yoda. (He changes his tune once he learns the diminutive alien is the Jedi master he was sent to find.) Later, Yoda tells Luke not to help his friends so that he can remain protected from Vader and the Emperor.
R2-D2 ends up covered in muck and “spits out” a fair bit of sludge. We briefly see the back of Vader’s scarred head.
Under pressure from the Empire, Lando betrays Han and Leia. We hear that Lando was a gambler and might have “conned” his position of power from someone. It’s also implied that Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando in a game of chance.
Characters bicker and trade mild insults.
Considering the mammoth success of the original Star Wars film, it may be surprising to learn how dicey a proposition The Empire Strikes Back really was.
First, it was a sequel. At the time, sequels were not taken seriously by the viewing public—many follow-ups to successful films were nothing more than B-grade cash grabs.
Second, Lucas intended to finance the film himself with the profits from A New Hope—in part to cut out the Hollywood studio system he loathed and preserve his creative control over the franchise. But it left Lucas with a lot of financial risk, especially as the sequel’s budget ballooned.
Third, who would direct? Lucas had little interest after the first film’s adverse effect on his health. In the end, Lucas turned to Irvin Kershner, his old film school professor at USC. An unorthodox choice to say the least.
Beyond those production issues, there were a lot of questions surrounding the film’s story, too. While many now view The Empire Strikes Back as the zenith of the Star Wars franchise (including yours truly), it didn’t start out that way. While Lucas had some idea of where he wanted the plot to go, there were a lot of unknowns:
Would Han Solo die? (Stalled contract negotiations with Harrison Ford clouded his future as part of the franchise.)
Would Vader really be Luke’s father?? (A plot twist that may have arrived later in the creative process than Lucas would like us to believe.)
Would Yoda be played by a monkey??? (Yes, really.)
Fortunately for Star Wars fans, everything came together for a sequel that delivers all the whizbang, galaxy-spanning adventure of A New Hope with a deeper story that expands upon the characters and lore in exciting ways.
For many, given Star Wars’ cultural saturation, The Empire Strikes Back is pretty navigable. But in the interest of media discernment (which we always recommend here at Plugged In, even with movies we love), let’s acknowledge those content issues:
Sci-fi violence is a frequent occurrence and, while much of it falls under Guinness’ theatrical “bang-bang” categorization, there’s some darker action here as well—including dismemberment and a beheading. Han and Leia’s romance may be more suggestive than you remember. And the Force (most akin to certain Eastern spiritual concepts) is expanded upon in ways that get a little theologically thorny.
The Empire Strikes Back is a thrilling adventure that deserves its lofty reputation. But families will want to note a few content issues that cling to this film like a group of mynocks before making the jump to hyperspace.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
