A Wagnerian pop movie -- grandiose, thrilling, imperiously generous in scale, and also a bit ponderous... The throwaway wit and the recondite references to old movies have been replaced with solemn reverence.

The Empire Strikes Back will deserve whatever it earns. Despite the inevitable loss of exhilaration moviegoers will experience from a second installment, it is an extraordinarily broad audience entertainment.

After 10 minutes into The Empire Strikes Back, I realized that I was getting more than I bargained for. This film was not a sequel at all, but a freshly conceived movie marvel.

A New Hope was first but there wouldn’t be a Star Wars as it stands today without The Empire Strikes Back.