Y’all can keep your twin suns. This is the greatest shot in all of Star Wars.
For the longest time, I didn’t realize that the entirety of The Empire Strikes Back builds up to this single moment, nor did I respect the sophistication with which the characters were handled in this sequence. Naturally, this silent two-shot gets drowned out by Harrison Ford’s ad-libbed “I know” and Vader’s iconic “I am your father,” but it shouldn’t, and here’s why…
For those who don’t recall, this is the part in Empire just before Han Solo is frozen in “carbonite.” His sidekick, Chewie, voices his displeasure by violently throwing a couple of storm troopers to their deaths, and if Han hadn’t calmed him down, he probably would have done a lot more damage. Chewie’s rebellious act is, of course, ultimately futile – two of the galaxy’s most lethal, cold-blooded killers stand a mere ten feet away. Yet as Boba Fett raises his blaster, Darth Vader prevents him from shooting.
WTF!? If l33t speak had been around “a long time ago,” that’s what Fett might’ve said in response to Vader’s action. Even through the mask, his double take clearly expresses puzzlement. Why has Darth Vader – a man we’ve watched kill hundreds of his own men through both wanton disregard for their safety and outright execution – saved some random wookie’s life?
Leia’s the only other one to notice in Empire’s second greatest shot…
The whole sequence is a remarkably subtle example of the power of montage. Because I’m in a Breaking Bad mood, we kind of see a similar thing (but in reverse) with Walter White and the lily of the valley. A few simple juxtapositions completely alter the nature of these characters we thought we knew. Suddenly, up is down and right is left. It’s hard to imagine any of the other arts coming close to this kind of effect.
I’m curious to know who had the greater influence on this shot sequence: George Lucas or director Irvin Kershner. In either case, here’s hoping it survives Lucas’s revisionist tendencies.
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