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ChrisJarmick
Seattle, WA

Blew most away in 1980. Great popcorn munchin' movie.

5 star rating

a movie guru
Pros

    better acting, script, improved direction, pacing, better sfx for its time, Yoda !!!

Cons
    only Star Wars directed by Kershner

MAY
28
2007

Star Wars Episode 5 was the second installment of the Star Wars (1977) franchise.

The characters were better written and acted, the story had more meat to it and the special effects were the very finest in the land at the time.

It was structured even more like an old time Saturday Afternoon Western Serial than the first one was , but wasn't quite as utterly juvenile.

And it introduced us to Yoda, while keeping the best parts of the first one and adding other new elements to the mix--none of them going over board in the cute department.

If only Lucas and Kershner got along better so that Kershner could have continued directing future Star Was films.  

(Another Great Movie Sequel  #13  in the series)

The EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980 Directed by Irvin Kershner

Last edited on May 28, 2007



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I_comment_shdw24 Comments about ChrisJarmick’s Review

 


Fardreamer wrote on Jul 19, 2008 at 9:37PM

Hmm. Creative tensions probably did crop up, but considering that Irvin Kershner was involved for over two years with Empire, it's more likely that the differences of opinion were minor. I do know this much; Lucas paid $250,000 in fines to the Director's Guild and Writer's Guild so Kershner wouldn't be penalized for the whole "no credits in the beginning" fracas, but he (Lucas) left both unions in disgust, and understandably so.

ChrisJarmick wrote on May 14, 2008 at 10:56AM

Thanks Far. I know there was tension between some decisions Kersh made as a director and Lucas, perhaps you are right and it was just creative disagreements and not particularly serious or friendship destroying--regardless, Lucas has plenty of money to work with for the last pre-quel trilogy and in my opinion didn't do the best job he could.

Fardreamer wrote on May 13, 2008 at 3:25PM

Kershner and Lucas got along very well; their collaboration was good and their friendship dated back to the days when Kersh was Lucas' instructor at USC. Thing is, Lucas got into political trouble with the Writer's Guild and the Director's Guild because he had done away with traditional "main title" credit rolls so he could do the title crawls a la 1930s serials-style. Both groups threatened to fine Kershner and Lucas for not putting credits in the beginning of the movie; Lucas paid a hefty fine, but he then couldn't hire Steven Spielberg as the director of "Jedi."

Jolie wrote on May 29, 2007 at 10:38PM

Did I happen to mention how much I love the star wars triology+? Thanks for reviewing these!

Nicole wrote on May 28, 2007 at 4:49PM

I totally agree - Kershner far surpassed Lucas in the directing department. It's not Lucas's skill, as evidenced by the painfully lacking prequel trilogy.

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