Thursday, March 18, 2010

Two Crowning Moments of Heartwarming in “The Empire Strikes Back”

    esb2_mq_028

I have two favorite moments in Star Wars. Both are in "Empire."

1.  TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF ... THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE BEST AT, ISN'T IT?

My favorite moment, the one that gets to the heart of the entire saga, is when Solo's about to be frozen, Leia says "I love you," and Han says "I know."

 esb2_mq_319

I didn't realize how great this was until I heard about how long it took them to shoot it. They were having Ford say every thing they could think of -- if I recall, they just eventually told him to wing it, and he just responds with that. It's the kind of moment that can only come from impromptu. It's *exactly* what Han would say.

More importantly, it illustrates why the prequels didn't work. Han's role in the original trilogy is the same as the character of "Boy" in "The Invisibles": he's the one that calls "bullshit!" on the entire thing.

He doesn't buy into it, until he does. He's the skeptic, the one that's about five seconds from running of, saying "Aw, fuck this."
All the stuff we get later about him being this big idealist underneath is sensible, I guess, but it's not necessarily. Solo's a hard, bitter man. Which is why it's so important in the original, un-Stalinized "New Hope" that Han, not Greedo, shoots first. To borrow a line from Zach Cason, I grew up in a world where Han shot first. It was a Colder world. 

Han's a killer. Really think about what happens in that bar. It's nothing to him. He has just cause, but he takes a life like it’s nothing. And not in a starship; face to face with his enemy. He’s looking Greedo in the eyes when he shoots him.

I mean, if Han shoots first, you go "Oh, he's alive because he's a ruthless pirate." If Greedo shoots first, you go "Oh, he's still alive because the people hunting him are idiots." Completely different, Lucas.

Han is such a great character because he's not a bad man, but he's not a nice man. Han Solo is Oskar Schindler: a flawed person, not a hero, who's willing to deal and tolerate evil people -- and who, quite against his own intentions, gets dragged into this idealistic mess.  Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

Think of it this way: one reason why the trilogy works is the often-quoted idea of the "used universe" -- it's commonplace now but wasn't at the time. It's not just that it's set "A long, long time ago," but that everything is beat up and shitty and kinda dusty and dented, and how the Falcon keeps falling apart.

As great as it is, Star Trek isn't the world I live in, it's the world I'd like to see, but not the one that's around me. "I know" is the first time Solo's completely vulnerable; "I know" is the best he can do. It's enough.

2. LIFE WITH FATHER

esb2_mq_347

The second is also from "Empire": Luke has just run off from Dagobah like the impetuous fool he is. Yoda knew, man. Anyway, he's fighting Vader and completely outmatched. He's holding his own but barely.

"Empire" reads like a litany of great "Vader" moments. They realized (if they hadn't before) what an awesome character they had, so they make him even *more* evil in the sequel: choking fools left and right. The makers of Star Wars wanted to top Vader in the first film, and top him they did.

In the first film, "A New Hope," the only boss Vader has is Tarkin. In "Empire," we learn that Vader has a master. Now, it's important to build suspense and tension for the arrival of Palpatine in "Return," so what Kershner and Kasdan do in "Empire" is show how double hardcore Vader is -- for chrissake, he's got kill license over his own people -- so by the time we see the Emperor in Episode VI, we've had quite a while to think to ourselves "Vader's monster straight out of Grendel. What kind of hardcore motherfucker could possibly boss *that* guy around? He must be a New God straight out of the night terrors of Harry Potter. A badass of badasses." And indeed, the Emperor is.

Jesus, there's the scary scene where he orders the fleet into the asteroid field and he's talking with the captains in hologram and one of them just disappears. Dark Lord doesn't even flinch.  Remember that Vader found out how Luke was his son between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. He’s had a while to ponder this, just how to take down the kid. Luke, of course, knows nothing. To him, Vader’s just the son-of-a-bitch who turned Obi-Wan into a commentary track, and later, a blue night-lite. Luke doesn’t know who he’s fighting, and is completely unprepared for the match. Why should he be? Ever since the end of Hope, Luke is much more powerful than anybody else he comes across.

He’s kicked ass left and right and has no idea how to measure Jedi powers or what he might be capable of. That’s because all of the Force Users In The Galaxy consist of:

  • Evil septugenarian overlord
  • Crippled cyborg evil-in-a-can
  • Late-blooming Desert Hick who has no fucking idea what he’s doing until he gets about eight minutes of trading from…
  • Ancient swamp muppet
  • Casper, the Compulsively Lying Jedi Ghost (“different point of view,” my ass)

Luke goes into his first battle with the Dark Lord not knowing what to do and completely unaware of his relationship with Anakin. The gap between Episode 4 and 5 is, I think, two years? Vader’s had forever to think this over. He knows exactly what Luke is and what he’s capable of. He outguesses the entire Rebel Scooby Gang and shows up at Cloud City. He has the entire resources of a Galactic Empire to capture them, and he chooses to fight his boy alone. It’s kind of sweet.

So we're near the end of Empire," and the Dark Lord, he's fighting his punk-ass kid, Luke ... taunting him, basically treating Luke like a kitten -- before getting bored and saying, that's enough of this shit. Vader hides from Luke, like you’d hide your face from a baby. Do you remember any other time in the series where Vader does this? No.

Meanwhile Luke is having an adrenalin rush, and is beginning to sense he’s being hazed by the Imperial Pledgemaster himself. Vader can feel Luke’s emotions, remember? He’s poking the kid, just waiting for him to blow.

Eventually he does. "Rrrraoooor!" goes young Skywalker, fairly unstable by now.

What does Vader do?

Just steps out of the shadows and starts throwing shit at him with his mind. In the most casual way ever. Just like he was ordering tea or refilling a pharmacy order.

He’s fucking toying with him. Watch the scene again and tell me I’m wrong. Vader lowers his guard for about a minute just to prove to the scamp nipping at his heels that, yes, your Old Man is a marauding badass of biblical proportions, watch as I will a mosh pit into existence from these wall components.

Luke, with all the grace of an albino in a woolen helmet clapping for meat, swings his laser sword around like a drunk kid at a pinata party. It’s kind of sad, by which I mean hilarious.

During this scene, I also like to remember that Vader’s never been a parent before. He doesn’t know how to just say to young Skywalker, “Hey, son, it’s time we had a chat.” This is how Vader and his offspring have conversations. What’s really going on during this fight is that the Dad Lord is just trying to have a heart-to-hear with his boy. Kind of a parent-teacher conference. George Lucas hated his father, and this is probably how his talks with the old guy went:

GEORGE: “Hey Dad, I’m making a movie about all the wonderful creatures and planets, the energy that surrounds them, I thought maybe—“
OLD MAN LUCAS: (Sitting in barcalounger) “Hmph!” (Furrows his brow, plaques from the Lions’ Club and the Exalted Order of California Rotarians begin flying off the paneled living room wall and battering his college-aged, flannel-wearing  son. )

The fight in Empire is a real moment of awesome. It's the first time you've seen Vader fight someone who's not an old man -- we've been given ample proof of what a badass Luke is for the previous two films -- and the Man in Black checks his watch, says "Most impressive ... oh, guess it's time to finish this," and just starts lobbing furniture at him. Not only does it show how powerful Anakin is (and that he has a dark sense of humor), it shows how completely outmatched Luke was (and even in the last movie, is) to his father.  It’s a father and son, playing catch. It’s sweet and scary at the same time.

So there you go. Your mileage may vary.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

About Me

My photo
They take it already upon their salvation, that though I be but Prince of Wales, yet I am the king of courtesy; and tell me flatly I am no proud Jack, like Falstaff, but a corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy,--by the Lord, so they call me;--and, when I am King of England, I shall command all the good lads in Eastcheap.