Star Wars: The best moments from The Empire Strikes Back
By Nik Edlund
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back celebrates its 40th anniversary this week. Here are the best moments from arguably the best film in the entire saga.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is widely considered to be the best film in the entire saga. It’s a dark chapter where the bad guys ultimately come out on top, and it’s chock full of emotion and dazzling special effects.
The cream of the Star Wars crop also celebrates a big anniversary this week as it turns 40 years old. The movie holds up exceptionally well over that span and has aged like a fine merlot.
In celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, we figured it would be a good idea to look back and name its best moments. In a film that is basically perfect, narrowing this list down proved to be a tough task. That being said, here are the 11 best moments from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
The Empire Strikes Back best moments: Luke Vs. The Wampa
The Empire Strikes Back wastes little time getting into the action. It starts out with a probe droid landing on the ice planet of Hoth and soon we are reunited with Luke as he goes and investigates what he believes to be a meteor.
As he’s checking out the supposed meteor, he’s attacked by a giant snow beast known as the Wampa and is drug back to its cave.
This scene is amazing as it shows us one of the first real cases where Luke uses the Force. He’s hung upside down in the beast’s lair, as it has frozen his feet to the cave’s ceiling. Luke attempts to free himself from his dire situation but is unable to. In his rustling about, he’s gotten the attention of the Wampa who puts down his meal to see what all the ruckus is. As Luke is hanging there he notices his lightsaber nearby and reaches out with the Force to get it.
Just in the nick of time, the lightsaber comes flying out of the snow and into Luke’s outstretched hand. He quickly ignites the blade and cuts himself free. He then cuts the beast’s arm off and escapes into the snowy wasteland of Hoth.
This scene is amazing as it is full of tension and it inspired millions to attempt to retrieve a nearby object by reaching out their hands and using the Force.