Many longtime Star Wars fan will likely concur that The Empire Strikes Back, the second movie of the original trilogy and the fifth episode overall, is the best of the lot. Directed by the late Irvin Kershner, the high octane space opera darkened the tone and divided our heroes as the Empire continually assaulted them. It featured dazzling space battles, imaginative worlds, snappy dialogue, and ended on an indelible, multi-layered cliffhanger.
With The Last Jedi set to hit the theaters in December, one wonders if the second installment of this third Star Wars trilogy will be as transcendent as Empire. Can it capture a similar spark by balancing the light and the dark? Will it leaving us breathlessly waiting for more with a nail-biting finale?
The key to a great second installment of any trilogy is deeper character development, surprising revelations, and plot twists that take the characters deeper into uncharted territory. The Empire Strikes Back delivered that all in spades. After Rebel forces fled from the ice planet of Hoth, our heroes splintered off in different directions. Luke Skywalker (with R2-D2 in tow) flew to Dagobah to receive his Jedi training from Yoda, while Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbecca, and C-3PO found themselves relentlessly pursued by Darth Vader through an asteroid field and beyond. Ultimately, love blossomed between the besieged Han and Leia, although they were torn apart when Han was frozen in carbonite and bounty hunter Boba Fett commandeered his body. Luke, lured into battling Vader under the ruse of saving his friends, confronted the shocking truth that the Sith Lord was his father. Vader also lopped off his right hand during their lightsaber duel.
There was so much more that made Empire great. There was the comedy and wisdom of the diminutive Jedi master Yoda who taught us about the power of the Force and mental fortitude. Solo proved that even scoundrels can be romantics. And composer John Williams served up his most memorable and heartfelt score for the entire series.
The Last Jedi has the potential to be another classic Star Wars film as he pits the Resistance against the First Order. It certainly has solid, malleable elements in place from the preceding film to exploit and shape into something mythic.
While it retreaded much of the plot of Star Wars: A New Hope, The Force Awakens tweaked the formula. Yes, Rey is the new Luke Skywalker, Finn somewhat the new Han Solo, Kylo Ren the new Darth Vader, and Princess Leia is still Princess Leia. But the dynamic has shifted a bit. Rey has both Luke's instinctive ability to use the Force and possesses Han's technical starship know-how. Unlike Vader, however, Ren is less experienced in the ways of the Force because of his anger management issues. Rey and Ren are strong but awkward adversaries who will be guided by stronger, wiser mentors before they inevitably face off again. (Many of Last Jedi's conflicts look set to mirror Empire's, but hopefully they will be twisted into something different.)
There are plenty of dramatic possibilities for The Last Jedi, especially as hinted at by recent trailers. Both Rey and Kylo Ren are going being trained to further their Jedi powers; hers to be unlocked and unleashed, his to be expanded. While Luke will train Rey, it seems as if he fears that the Dark Side of the Force may be insurmountable now. He's having a crisis of conscience – does he stay as a hermit away from another intergalactic war, or does he help the desert scavenger Rey to become a new hero? What has swayed his faith? We also need to learn about Finn's pre-stormtrooper life and how that factors into this.
Further, with Han Solo having been murdered by his son, one wonders who can take his invaluable place in the Resistance. Will it be fighter pilot extraordinaire Poe Dameron? And since Carrie Fisher died in real life, we know that Princess Leia will meet her end onscreen. Even if that had been written into the new series before her passing, we now know that tragic loss is coming. It is a question of how much emotional impact its portrayal will carry.
While the Star Wars universe has offered some shades of grey, its characters' loyalties have usually been well defined. You know who is good, bad or a scoundrel. But The Last Jedi trailers are teasing the possibility that Luke and Rey may not be the heroic shoo-ins we think they are, with the latter questioning her place in “all of this.” Even better could be the possibility that Ren, despite having killed his father, might still experience doubts about his ability to be the cold, calculating instrument of death that Supreme Leader Snoke desires.
Part of what made the recent spin-off movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story so compelling was how some rebels had to make tough moral choices in order to further their cause. Such a mindset could instill that darker tone that The Last Jedi is already promising. Despite its flaws, The Force Awakens was a rip-roaring ride that allowed some fans to fall back in love with the franchise, but to keep them engaged, the filmmakers need to dig deeper.
Unpredictability will be key. It seems apparent that Rey is either Luke’s or Han and Leia's daughter (although a different revelation would be intriguing). If she is Leia's offspring, she will be battling her brother, a scenario that is ripe for emotional turbulence. What will make audiences groan is the inclusion of another Death Star-type killing structure. Enough already. RIP, Starkiller Base – please don’t come back. A lack of such a powerful tool means that the First Order will need to create a new big threat against the Resistance.
The last topic to address here is world building. Empire brought us the unforgettable locations of Hoth (the ice planet), Dagobah (swamp planet) and Cloud City orbiting the gas planet of Bespin. On the flip side, the digitally overstuffed prequel trilogy conjured up densely layered environments that were immediately dazzling but did not linger in the mind's eye. The Force Awakens improved upon that, but let's hope that The Last Jedi creates exciting new vistas to enamor us with.
There are only a few weeks to go before we reconnect with Rey, Finn, Luke, Leia, and the universe of the new trilogy. The possibilities are exciting. Will the filmmakers deliver? They have the raw material to shape The Last Jedi into something majestic. Let's hope the Force is with them.
