Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
by Irvin Kershner
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mark HamillDirector: Irvin Kershner
Brand: Star Wars
Producer: Gary Kurtz
Producer: George Lucas
Writer: George Lucas
Producer: Jim Bloom
Producer: Rick McCallum
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan
Writer: Leigh Brackett
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-12
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Darth Vader is Luke's Father
Summary: 5 Stars
Although it lacks the easily identifiable yearning for adventure that made Star Wars, Episode IV - A New Hope such a success, The Empire Strikes Back tackles the hard work of "what happens after we win the big battle." The Empire isn't defeated by a long shot, and this story picks up with the Rebellion on the ropes, hiding out and trying to regroup after their surprising victory at the Death Star.
Many scholars have pointed to Star Wars as a cinematic interpretation of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen Series). Well, it is in The Empire Strikes Back that this becomes the most pointed and effective. Han Solo romances Princess Leia as he reluctantly becomes the noble hero that he has been mocking his whole life. Luke Skywalker LITERALLY journey's to an isolated cave to find his true calling, and then LITERALLY has to confront his father. Couple these heroic cycles with fantastic action sequences, great new characters and some of the most compelling special effects ever realized in cinema, and you have a film that reaches the greatest heights that the Star Wars series would reach. Best of all, it ends on a downbeat cliffhanger, bringing it all back to the old-fashioned Hollywood serials of old.
"Will the intrepid heroes be reunited? Will the dastardly Darth Vader succeed in dominating the galaxy? Will C-3P0 ever get any respect? Star Wars will return in 3 years with: The Return of the Jedi!"
Oh, and best of all, of all the Star Wars movies this one suffers least from the "Special Edition" treatment. The Wampa scene is a little more explicit, lacking the great subtlety of not showing the monster, and the pacing is broken up near the end with a pointless scene of Vader flying in a shuttlecraft. But otherwise even George Lucas has respected this film and kept the changes light, and mostly just cleaning up the already stellar effects work.
More Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition) reviews:
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Summary of Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
For the first time ever and for a limited time only, the enhanced versions of the Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi will be available individually on DVD. Plus, these 2-Disc DVD's will feature a bonus disc that includes, for the first time ever on DVD, the original films as seen in theaters in 1977, 1980 and 1983.The 2006 limited-edition two-disc release of The Empire Strikes Back is not only the first time the movie has been officially available by itself on DVD. It marks the first-ever DVD release of Empire as it originally played in theaters in 1980. What does that mean exactly? The film is without the various "improvements" and enhancements George Lucas added for the theatrical rerelease in 1997 as well as the DVD premiere in 2004. So no more of Ian McDiarmid (the Emperor) replacing Clive Revill with slightly revised lines, or Temuera Morrison rerecording of Boba Fett's minimal dialogue.
What do you lose by watching the 1980 version? Dolby Digital 5.1 EX sound, for one thing (only 2.0 Surround here), and digital cleanup. But for home-theater owners, the biggest frustration will be from the non-anamorphic picture. On a widescreen TV, an anamorphically enhanced (16x9) picture at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio will fill the screen with the exception of small black bars on the top and bottom. The original edition of Empire, however, on a widescreen TV will have large black bars on the top, the bottom, and the sides unless you stretch the picture (and distort it in the process, especially considering the substandard picture quality). If you're watching on a standard square-shaped (4:3) TV, though, you won't notice a difference.
Yes, it's true that serious home-theater lovers who want spectacular sound and anamorphically enhanced picture can always watch the 2004 version of the movie also included in this set. But chances are good that they already picked up the trilogy edition of all three films, so their decision to buy the 2006 two-disc edition depends on how much they want the original film. The official LucasFilm stance is that this is an individual release of the 2004 version of The Empire Strikes Back, and the 1980 version of the film is merely a "bonus feature." Common speculation is that the only reason the original versions are seeing the official light of day at all is to undercut the booming black market for the laserdisc version. Star Wars fans will have to decide for themselves if that's worth the purchase. --David Horiuchi
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