The Empire Strikes Back Voted The Best Star Wars Film Ever

Fans of the Star Wars film series have declared The Empire Strikes Back their favourite movie in the whole saga.

As you're probably aware, today is 4 May, which means only one thing. It is Star Wars Day.

On this day of days we decided to ask LADbible readers on Twitter to establish once and for all which movie from the Star Wars universe is the best.

Obviously - because it is the correct answer - The Empire Strikes Back won the final, beating back some stiff competition from Return of the Sith and The Force Awakens.

Yes, despite being released way back in May 1980, Empire still holds a special place in the hearts of fans of George Lucas' famous science fiction series.

After the success of Star Wars - latterly known as A New Hope - the film follows the fortunes of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and (who could forget) Chewbacca - RIP Peter Mayhew - C3P0 and R2D2.

Despite being released to some pretty mixed reviews from the critics, Empire has been reappraised over the years and is now pretty much everyone's choice as the best Star Wars flick and one of the finest sci-fi films of all time.

As you can probably imagine, it romped home with nearly 60 percent of the vote in our poll. That leaves Revenge of the Sith in a distant second, with The Force Awakens rounding out the medal spots with only 14 percent of the total vote.

While we're discussing it, there were nearly 1,500 votes cast for Attack of the Clones in this set of polls. Whoever you are - and let's just assume that it was an act of trolling - hang your heads in shame.

Seriously, own up.

Perhaps the best thing about The Empire Strikes Back is that it doesn't contain any Ewoks, Jar Jar Binks, or a backflipping Yoda fighting Christopher Lee.

Seriously though, it does contain some of the classic Star Wars locations like the ice planet Hoth, some classic machinery - the AT-AT walker - and one of the most iconic moments in cinema history as Darth Vader reveals that he is Luke Skywalker's dad, Anakin Skywalker.

Along the way, Han Solo manages to get himself encased in frozen carbonite, too. That's pretty cool.

It introduced us to characters like Lando Calrissian, takes us to the Dagobah system to meet Yoda for the first time, and sets everything up perfectly for Return of the Jedi.

All in all, it is easily the best Star Wars film, and now the people have spoken and confirmed that.

So, on this Star Wars Day, why not sit down with a classic of the genre and remember why it's easily the best film of a great series?

May the fourth be with you. Well, everyone except the people who voted for anything from the prequel trilogy.

Featured Image Credit: Lucasfilm/Disney

Topics: TV and Film, UK Entertainment, US Entertainment

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a freelance journalist and LADbible contributor. He graduated from University of London with a BA in Philosophy before studying for a Masters in Journalism at the University of Salford. He has previously written for the M.E.N Group as well as working for several top professional sports clubs. Contact him on [email protected]

@TPWagwim