I understand why audiences weren't thrilled with Episode IV back in 1980. The Empire Strikes Back is like Avengers: Infinity War in that it 100% can not stand alone and only serves as a volley for the next film. I did find Empire a lot more interesting and there is a lot more plot, but we barely move from where we start and mostly just spin our wheels in scenarios that don't matter in the end until we get to the ending where we are left feeling hopeless about what's to come. The acting is still great and I enjoyed the scenes while they were on, but as soon as they were over they no longer have any relevance. The entire sequence with Luke and the Wampa serves no purpose other than to explain away Hamill's facial scars. Luke's training with Yoda is just a pit stop that is forgotten as soon as it's over. Speaking of Yoda, he is a terrible character here. I haven't watched the original trilogy in over a decade, so I am very hazy on plot details, but re-watching it this time his character doesn't make any sense. His first "test" is wholly unrepresentative of what he's trying to measure and totally unfair. Plus, he looks awful. The puppet is terribly made. The biggest issue I have with Empire is that almost nothing that happens matters. If you went from A New Hope to Return of the Jedi and only watched the last twenty minutes of Empire in-between, you wouldn't be missing anything. What separates it from The Last Jedi, which has the same issue, is that I enjoyed the pointless scenes in Empire and I actually like the characters. The effects in Empire are much worse, but I like the battle on Hoth and I had fun on Bespin. The Last Jedi's pointless scenes were frustrating, nonsensical, and poorly written. Plus, Empire treads water for two hours and Last Jedi spends two and a half hours undoing the previous movie and wasting our time.