When the film picks up, the rebels are in hiding from the Empire on the remote ice planet of Hoth. All of our heroes from the first movie are back, including Han Solo though he is planning on leaving since he still has a price on his head and is being pursued by bounty hunters. Princess Leia is less than pleased with this news and the two of them continue their sniping back-and-forth.
After the monster success of Star Wars: A New Hope, George Lucas returned in 1980 with The Empire Strikes Back. Frequently sequels are not successful, but this film was, if anything, a stronger movie than the first one. It takes place some time after the events of A New Hope, which ended with the destruction of the Death Star. When the film picks up, the rebels are in hiding from the Empire on the remote ice planet of Hoth. All of our heroes from the first movie are back, including Han Solo though he is planning on leaving since he still has a price on his head and is being pursued by bounty hunters. Princess Leia is less than pleased with this news and the two of them continue their sniping back-and-forth. While out on patrol, Luke Skywalker is attacked by some sort of snow creature and dragged off to its lair. He escapes by utilizing the Force (and his light saber). Now however, he's stranded in a frozen wasteland with no transportation with night coming on. He eventually collapses from exposure and, while semi-conscious, he is visited by the Force-y spectre of Obi-wan Kenobi. Ben tells him to go to an even remoter planet called Dagobah and find Jedi Master Yoda to train him. Meanwhile at the rebel base, Han Solo has discovered that Luke is missing and goes out into the freezing night to look for him. He saves Luke's life, but this means that he is delayed in leaving Hoth and, due to the rebels finding an Imperial probe, will not be able to leave until the coast is clear. Unfortunately, the Darth Vader and his minions have located the rebel base and have arrived with an invasion force. Knowing that their meagre numbers cannot defeat the Imperial army, Princess Leia gives the order to evacuate. A newly-recovered Luke leads a force to hold off the Imperial troops while the transport ships are loaded. Han Solo and Chewbacca are readying the Millennium Falcon for takeoff when Han finds out Leia, directing the evacuation from headquarters, has not evacuated. He makes his way there and hustles her off to his ship. After some technical difficulties the Millennium Falcon manages to fight free of Hoth, carrying Solo, Leia, Chewbacca and C3P0. When the last of the transports leave, Luke and his surviving force beat a hasty retreat to their own ships. Luke finds R2D2 waiting in his X-wing fighter and they escape from the smoking ruin on Hoth. To R2D2's puzzlement, Luke doesn't head for the Alliance's pre-arranged meeting place, but sets course for the remote Dagobah system. On board the Millennium Falcon, things are tense. They are being pursued by some Imperial ships, their hyperdrive keeps failing, and they're forced into an asteroid field to try to evade the Imperials. They briefly do, but it can't last and their mechanical problems are ongoing. Despite the danger- or perhaps because of it- Han and Leia stop squabbling long enough to share a tender moment before being interrupted by an oblivious C3P0. Sneaking past the Imperial ships, Han sets course for Cloud City, floating over the mining planet of Bespin, where an old friend is the governor and where they can get the repairs they need. Back on Dagobah, Luke is off to a shaky start as he meets Yoda without realizing who he is. Yoda is unimpressed with Luke's impatience and petulance, and isn't particularly interested in training him. Fortunately, Force-y ghost Obi-Wan shows up and talks him into it. Yoda begins grumpily to teach Luke the ways of the Force. On Cloud City we meet Lando Calrissian, Han's old friend. It turns out that he had originally owned the Millennium Falcon and Solo won it from him at some point. He readily agrees to overhaul his old ship and while his men are working on it, exerts himself to be charming. Leia is less than impressed by his suave ways and tells Solo that she doesn't trust him. Solo doesn't trust him either, but doesn't regard this as a bar to friendship, or to taking advantage of his hospitality. As it turns out, they were right not to trust Calrissian, because he's sold them out to the Empire. Unbeknownst to the Millennium Falcon crew, when they sneaked away from the Imperial ships they had been trailed by Boba Fett, a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader. Realizing that they were headed for Cloud City, he informed Vader, who arrived with troops before the heavily damaged Falcon. Lando isn't happy about betraying his friend, but has little choice in the matter, seeing it as the lesser of two evils. Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and a disassembled C3P0 are taken into custody and as bad as this is, it becomes worse when Lando tells them that Vader is planning on using them as bait to catch some guy named Skywalker. Speaking of whom, Luke's training is progressing well, and Yoda is obviously reconsidering his opinion of his young pupil being a waste of space. He puts Luke through his paces of physical and mental training, as well as expounding on the nature of the Force, and the differences between the light and dark sides of it. Then one day while training, Luke has a vision or premonition of Han and Leia being in deadly peril. He immediately declares that he must go to help them. Yoda thinks that this is a huge mistake; Luke's training isn't complete and if he ends up facing Darth Vader, the chances are that he will be killed- or worse, turned to the dark side. Luke angrily says that he can't abandon his friends, but Yoda states that it he believes in what they're fighting for, he will. Luke refuses to listen, and it's serious enough that ghost Ben shows up to plead with him, too. Luke is adamant, however; he must go, but promises them that he will return to finish his training. Meanwhile in Cloud City, Darth Vader is planning for Skywalker's arrival. He wants to capture not kill him, and decides to use the city's processing facility where goods are flash- frozen in liquid carbonite for long distance transport. He plans to freeze Luke, but Lando points out that the process isn't meant to be used on people and may kill him. Vader concedes the point and decides to test it first on Han Solo. Boba Fett doesn't like the sound of this... if Solo is killed, he won't be able to collect the bounty on his head from Jabba the Hutt. But Vader promises him that he'll be reimbursed in case of death. A devastated Leia tells Han that she loves him, and he says he knows, right before he's dropped into the carbonite pit. He survives the process and a satisfied Fett takes his frozen form off to load onto his ship. Leia and Chewbacca are being marched off back to their cells, when they catch sight of Luke, who has just arrived. Leia shouts to him that it's a trap before being dragged away. Luke attempts to follow her, but he ends up getting forced into the carbonite processing facility where he comes face to face with Darth Vader. In the meantime, Lando has had enough; seeing his friend frozen was the last straw. He gives the order for the city to evacuate, then he and his men overwhelm the Imperial guards and freee Leia and Chewbacca. Lando tells them they might still be able to rescue Han, and they race to the docking bay where Boba Fett's ship is, only to see it lifting off. Han is gone. Unable to do anything else, they make their way to the Millennium Falcon- along with R2D2 whom they've relocated, and blast their way out of the docking bay. While all of this is going on, Luke and Vader are dueling around the carbonite pit. Luke holds up surprisingly well and Vader fails to knock him into the pit. Inevitably however, Vader's superior training and experience triumph and he pummels Luke, eventually cutting off his hand. Luke desperately scrambles out onto a bridge, and Vader follows him. Instead of trying to kill Luke, Vader urges him to give himself over to the dark side. When Luke refuses, Vader tells him something shocking; he is his father. Stunned, horrified, and in terrible pain, Luke refuses to believe it, and refuses to give in to Vader. Instead, he lets go and steps off the bridge, free falling until he's sucked into an exhaust tube, ending up clinging to an antenna on the underside of Cloud City. Weakly, he calls Leia's name. On board the escaping Millenium Falcon, Leia hears him and orders Chewbacca to turn back and head for the bottom of the city. They rescue Luke and escape from Bespin. Later, we see Luke at a medical center, being fitted with an artificial hand. He and Leia are contacted by Lando and Chewbacca; they are taking the Millennium Falcon to try to track down Boba Fett. The last scene is of Luke, Leia, and the two droids watching them leave to find Han.
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