I think what is missing, is how Vader is portrayed outside of his screentime. How other characters talk about him, how they make him this omnipresent evil. That adds a lot of weight to the scenes where he's actually shown.
TheSauronRising
Best villian.
Best outfit.
Best voice.
Ever
mbear
Music was iconic. The costume was iconic. These made Darth Vader iconic.
sivawright
*_This_* is why Darth Vader works in Rogue One.
He's in it for roughly 3 minutes, and every second he's present the audience holds their breath. He represents the dark evil looming in the background, ready to intercept the efforts of good, if he must. Gareth Edwards understood this.
NovelWonder
He certainly became an icon when he said:
"I don't like sand...it's coarse, rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere."
battleupsaber
It's impossible to recreate the amazing power of the first scene of the very first STAR WARS film. When you see Darth Vader now, he is familiar to you. You have a sense of his limits. But the very first time when these characters were new, even C-3PO and R2-D2, they carried an incredible amount of mystique that can never be re-experienced. The scene BEFORE Darth actually arrives through the ship's door, as the Rebels prepare sets the scene in such a way that when we see him, and hear that now-iconic breathing for the first time, is one of the greatest introductions of a character in cinematic history second only to the ingenious introduction of Yoda in Empire. Darth Vader was off the charts in his day because he was so unprecedented. The magic and magnitude of that scene meeting Darth Vader for the very first time is SO hard to convey to later generations.
robertholtz
With the Rogue movie Vader’s episode IV dirty helmet makes more sense. He just came from slaughtering a bunch of rebels.
leo
The dark side of the force just needs 34 minutes to destroy the enemies of the empire.
vicenteortegarubilar
I always liked the helmet in episode 5. It just looks perfect.
SplitterShot
The screen times of certain characters really surprise me. They're iconic until you realize they barely appear
daigle
I think Dave Prowse deserves a little credit for bringing the physicality to Vader. His mannerisms, although a little silly (like the belt holding) give a hint of humanity to him.
Bounsingonbongos
Talks deeply about the imagery of Darth Vader...
*Doesn't talk about his iconic masterpiece of a theme.*
haroniqbal
I think his limited screen time helps him become more iconic. It helps us imagine him like a force of nature. While we don’t see him, he is in the back of our mind, like a storm off the coast. He is always menacing and imminent. That makes the surprise showings of him all the more terrifying (like on cloud city or the cave). His first scene was early and impactful so that we can’t help but dread the next time our heroes will meet him.
michaeld
Darth Vader is the coolest villain I've seen. The screen time he gets may be short but it's always impressive. Also James earl Jones plays Mufasa, one of my favorite characters. Nice word Nerdwriter
ryancarless
The Empire Strikes Back manages to encapsulate everything established in Star Wars and then heighten, explore and take risks with the elements that made the original a landmark film and cement itself as a piece of cinematic mastery. Vader is one excellent example of a multitude of achievements from the makers of that film.
WenBilson
What, no discussion of the iconic theme by John Williams???
jendragon
The face of evil is just the face of an egg.
PixelVarnox
Much of Darth Vader's menace comes from the person in the suit, Dave Prowse. Odd that he and his body-acting and body-language aren't mentioned once in this video.
DamienWise
I think movies that show the antagonist too much (Godzilla) ruin the fear factor of the villain while movies that show the antagonist for a very short time (Jaws, Cloverfield, etc) build a fear factor strongly helped by lack of screen time.
openingband
When I first saw Darth Vader on screen in 1977, I involuntarily pushed myself backwards into my seat!
