"The root of the problem with The Empire Strikes Back is its complexity." -- Richard A. Blake, AMERICA "The best sequel since Godfather II." -- Gerald E. Forshey, THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY "There's no plot." -- Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr., COMMONWEAL "Unpromising!" -- Richard Combs, MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN "Lucas has been so preoccupied with the construction of mechanical amazements that he has perhaps forgotten there is more in Homer than epic battles, one-eyed giants, the song of the sirens and the whims of the gods." -- Robert Hatch, THE NATION "Luca's joke was first-rate!" -- David Denby, NEW YORK "I felt stretched and terrifically entertained-and convinced!" --THE NEW YORKER "The Empire Strikes Back is a technological triumph, a cornucopia of intergalactic tchotchkes." -- David Ansen, NEWSWEEK



May 21, 1980 "Technical virtuosity and entertainment ingenuity." -- David Sterritt, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR "Empire is an excellent addition to the science fiction genre." -- Tom Rogers, FILMS IN REVIEW "Richly imaginative, engrossing and spectacular motion picture from the redoubtable George Lucas." -- Charles Champlin, LOS ANGELES TIMES "No amount of lightness, however, can lift this movie out of the swamps of Dagobah." -- Robert Asahina, NEW LEADER "Far less entertaining than the first!" -- John Coleman, NEW STATESMAN