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Originally posted by: DarthAstuart
exactly what about Empire made the story require less imagination?
To me, that's where the story starts to get smaller and more packaged. Han suddenly being a good guy in the military seems wrong. It's not true to the character from the first film. I think the snow battle goes on way too long. I also don't really care for the whole jungle training parts. That said, I think the part where Luke throws his food away after Yoda takes a bite is priceless - he may think the little creature is harmless, but he's not eating after him. In fact, that's the only Yoda part I care for. The characters seem less interesting somehow and the story just feels polished and clean - not distant and adventurous. Some of it could just be the familiarity with the characters. The absolute cheesiest part is R2's smoke screen at the end - please. What if that hadn't worked? - what next - an oil slick for the stormtroopers to fall on?
However, there are some areas of the film that I really like - The asteroid field has a great feel to it. Luke letting go and falling away from Vader as a pure statement of "I won't be beaten by you" is done very well. He looks at Vader, a resolve comes over him, and he lets go.
He makes a decision and is at peace with it. It's without a doubt the best part of the ESB story. That part leads to my favorite scene. When he's hanging under the cloud city - it's a great visual. It feels giant and helpless. Expansive in a way the rest of the movie lacks.