 At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".Bob Stephens of "The San Francisco Examiner" described "The Empire Strikes Back" as "the greatest episode of the "Star Wars Trilogy"" in 1997.In 2016, James Charisma of "Playboy" ranked the film #3 on a list of "15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals".