Skip to main content

The ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Honest Trailer is oddly adoring of the Star Wars favorite

We’ve come to expect the videos in Screen Junkies’ Honest Trailers to be full of mockery and criticism, but we got a surprise in the series’ take on Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back. The latest Honest Trailer makes a few hilarious jabs, but mostly, it is uncharacteristically complimentary.

Given that The Empire Strikes Back is most Star Wars fans’ favorite movie, it isn’t really a surprise the video series’ narrator had to admit that the film is “one of the best sequels ever made.” The parody trailer sang the film’s praises, highlighting its “excellent directing, great acting, brilliant dialogue, gorgeous music, and iconic moments that will stay with you for a lifetime.” In fact, the few criticisms launched at the film required some serious nitpicking.

When it came down to it, the video managed to find a few fair points of criticism. The narrator brought up the weird relationship between siblings Luke and Leia, noted how Han’s name is pronounced differently throughout the movie, and showed off some of Luke’s more ridiculous decisions. Not even The Empire Strikes Back can be perfect 100 percent of the time.

Of the relatively few digs in the trailer, perhaps the biggest is aimed right at Star Wars’ creator. After heaping praise on the film, the video notes that The Empire Strikes Back “just so happens to be the one where George Lucas was involved the least.” The implication is clearly that Lucas began to have a negative impact on the franchise, an assertion that sadly many fans wouldn’t hesitate agree with.

However you feel about Lucas, though, you’ll appreciate Honest Trailers’ take on The Empire Strikes Back — perhaps almost as much as you do the film itself.

Editors' Recommendations

Stephanie Topacio Long
Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
The best Star Wars movies, ranked from worst to best
rogue ones alan tudyk talks life on a star wars set one story 001

Fans have been ranking the Star Wars movies and arguing about whose hierarchy is right -- and whose list is utterly wrong -- for as long as there's been a Star Wars franchise. There have been 11 big-screen features (and a few made-for-television movies) released so far, offering plenty of opportunities to revisit those rankings over the years. The trilogy-concluding 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was the most recent installment to arrive in theaters, and it received the sort of mixed reviews that ensure every list will rank it differently.

Not to be left out, we put together our own worst-to-best ranking list for all of the live-action, big-screen Star Wars movies. Of course, we realize lists like this are subjective, and since only Siths deal in absolutes, there is going to be some disagreement about where each film lands -- but just remember, no matter where you place the films on the list, The Force will be with you ... always.

Read more
How VFX brought Leia back, gave us Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’s best battle
Rise of Skywalker Leia

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | Final Trailer

With Star Wars: Episode IV -- The Rise of Skywalker, Lucasfilm brought the Star Wars sequel trilogy that began with 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens and continued with 2017's Star Wars: Episode VIII -- The Last Jedi to an epic conclusion.

Read more
Watch the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer from Monday Night Football
The-Rise-of-Skywalker-final-trailer

Walt Disney Pictures

With just under two months to go before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters, we finally have a new trailer for the much-anticipated conclusion of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Read more