It just ends on a less optimistic note. ANH ends with the Death Star destroyed and everybody happy mostly. Empire ends with Han Solo dead or captured (doesn't make that clear), and Luke beaten physically and emotionally by Vader.

Your lasting impression of a movie tends to be its ending, so I guess thats why its considered darker.

Yeah its not really a serious post, I remember watching Empire as a kid and having to wait 3 years to find out Han's fate. Although I wonder if the impact of Obi Wan's death would of been greater if a younger actor had been cast as Obi Wan.

I imagine if we'd had the prequel beforehand and if he hadn't come back in ghost form it would have been far more impactful.

Han solo ends up missing that why.

Luke also finds out that Vader is his father. Pretty traumatic stuff!

A New Hope ends with a photo op, all the good guys smiling and cheering, medals being handed out, because the good guys won, and the enemy was vanquished. The entire story arc resolved itself, and everyone who left the theatres in 1977 figured the nice story with a happy ending was over (even though Vader himself was not killed, far as we could tell).

The Empire Strikes Back has our heroes in disarray, Han Solo's fate uncertain, and Lord Vader ruling the roost from stem to stern, ever one step ahead of them all...dramatically announcing his connection to Skywalker...those who left the theatres in 1980 knew there had to be a sequel, in order to find out if the good guys could regroup - there were no feelings of elation.

You know, you make some good points! I never thought of it this way.

Here are the two primary reasons why I think it's generally considered darker:

1) The good guys lose--and badly.

2) Even though there are fewer deaths, the stuff we see is more explicitly violent and/or creepy--Luke's arm getting chopped off, the scene in the cave on Dagobah, the Wampa sequence, etc. In contrast, we never see any of the inhabitants of Alderaan in the first film, Obi-Wan's "death" consists of him simply disappearing, and all we see of what happens to Beru and Owen is a very brief shot of their charred corpses (which actually is pretty graphic, and I remember reading somewhere that it was put in specifically to avoid a G rating; still, overall there's little doubt the second film is more violent than the first).

You do have a point, however, and I think it reflects the fact that when people talk about how "dark" a story is, it usually has mostly do with what happens to the main characters. Minor characters, especially ones we don't even see, tend to get ignored no matter how terrible their fate is.

It's all about the movie's presentation. Star Wars has jubilant music, bright cinematography, and the performances make the action look "fun." Empire has more serious music, cold dark uncomfortable settings, higher-contrast cinematography, and the characters are constantly worried, desperate, angry and scared.

Like, Kramer & Kramer is a darker movie than Star Wars and I don't think anyone even dies in that movie.

I like to seen a darker return but it wasn't to be.

@manfromatlantis said:

I like to seen a darker return but it wasn't to be.

Huh?

@NotoriousRio said:

Yeah its not really a serious post, I remember watching Empire as a kid and having to wait 3 years to find out Han's fate.

THIS. Empire Strikes Back ended on such a sour note, and then, you knew that you'd be biding your time to find out if good would prevail or not. A lot of time. That's trying for a kid!

Empire had softcore incest porn. END OF!

@movie_nazi said:

Empire had softcore incest porn. END OF!

nazi, I was gonna say, that's not porn, but you did say softcore. So I guess you have a point.

@CelluloidFan said:

@movie_nazi said:

Empire had softcore incest porn. END OF!

nazi, I was gonna say, that's not porn, but you did say softcore. So I guess you have a point.

Yeah, I was trying to be hyperbolic.

LOL