Word: luke
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Luke learns enough, however, to give Darth Vader a spirited battle with his lightsword at the end of the film. But Vader proves a difficult foe to vanquish. That is just as well for the story because the Dark Lord is far more menacing in The Empire than he was in Star Wars, infused with hitherto unknown ambitions and desires, possessed of a mysterious past. There is a hint of a complex personality, and Vader, like all good villains, commands the screen whenever he appears, his black robes floating behind him like the shrouds of death. But once...
...many ways the new film is a better film than Star Wars, visually more exciting, more artful and meticulous in detail. As a special effects wizard, Lucas fairly dazzles the eye with his optical magic. In one scene, for instance, the walking tanks are impervious to ordinary weapons, and Luke and his band of intrepid fighter pilots are forced to use older methods. Circling the legs of one of the giant camel-like machines, a rebel fighter ensnares it, and it crumbles to the ground. On-screen that intricate maneuver takes perhaps 60 sec., but to put it there took...
...lavish and wonderful spread. The invention of Yoda alone would keep many film makers bragging for years. Lucas adds ice monsters, strange-looking beasts-half dinosaur, half llama-that can be ridden bareback, the city in the clouds, and at least one surprising twist of plot involving Luke and Darth Vader. Unfortunately, there are not enough of those other bubbles of fun and spontaneity that made Star Wars so memorable...
...clouds, for instance, Threepio blunders into a group of Imperial storm troopers. But the troopers are never seen, and only later, when the tape of Threepio's last words is automatically played back, does the audience realize what has happened to him. At the film's end, Luke and Leia suddenly find themselves safe aboard a rebel flagship. It will take a good memory-or a second or third viewing, a low rate of return for Star Wars cultists-to recall that the ship was supposed to wait for them at a predetermined rendezvous...
Almost everyone who creates a fictional world as rich as Lucas' identifies with one or more of his characters. In Star Wars there was a lot of Lucas in Luke, the wide-eyed farmboy who was always yearning for bigger things. In The Empire Yoda is his alter ego. Yoda's speeches might almost be called The Wit and Wisdom of George Lucas. Like Yoda, Lucas is a devout believer in the Force. Says Lucas: "When you are born, you have an energy field around you. You could call it an aura. An archaic description would...