According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 8.97/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Dark, sinister, but ultimately even more involving than "A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back" defies viewer expectations and takes the series to heightened emotional levels." 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". Roger Ebert described the film as the strongest and "most thought-provoking" film of the original trilogy.