Return Of The Jedi

Whilst Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back are regarded as not only classic science fiction but classic movies in their own right, Return Of The Jedi tends to polarise people on whether it was a good film that concluded the trilogy in style or whether it was a colossal letdown and was a harbinger for the problems with the later films.

Personally whilst I feel it caps of the trilogy well and the ending leaves me feeling rather warm. It feels like most of the stuff in the middle on Endor is dragging and the whole return to Tatooine was not only nonsensical but unnecessary and rather underwhelming after the cliffhanger for Empire as well as the tone being rather inconsistent feeling rather twee and lighthearted one minute and darker and edgier than Empire the next. also it feels like this is the point where the series became less about being entertaining films and more two hour toy adverts. Weakest of the trilogy and certainly flawed, but still a good film that just happened to follow two great ones.

Lets hear your thoughts....

Would've been better without the Ewoks definitely, and certainly without them being ridiculously over-powered (someone actually suggested it would've been better if it'd involved the Wookie planet instead). Things do end up feeling a bit too convenient for Han and his team on Endor, with far too many repeat escape-recapture routines (the writers of Frontier in Space would've thought they were taking the piss after a bit).

I'd say pretty much everything else about it hits its mark though. The opening's a bit slow but it can kind of get away with it because of the anticipation of the massive cliffhanger it's teasing us with the delayed resolution to. It's great to see Lando becoming part of the team too and making some sound battle strategies. The final space battle is really punch the air stuff (even though I've watched it a million times over), the Emperor really steals the film (as he will again in Sith) and Vader's final redemption still gives me chills.

It's a bit below standard, but partly because the previous two films set the standard so high. It's kind of the right side of cheesy in the duff bits to remain endearing, and packs enough punch to be a little bit more than just the throwaway slapped-together entry it seems to play as. If there's one thing Lucas is good at, it's old fashioned showmanship and I kind of miss that in cinema.

All things considered, it largely stays on the right side of satisfying and entertaining. And it was probably right to end and resolve it all here whilst they still had the inspiration to and still had some quality control. It might've been cool to imagine if the film was just about saving Hans and there were maybe a few more film entries to come before they finally take down the Empire. But in terms of how long they could maintain that quality, it's probably right they stopped here.

If this was the entire movie it would easily be the best of the three:

Pepsi Maxil wrote:If this was the entire movie it would easily be the best of the three:

It was called 'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi', not 'Return of the Stiffy'.

But yeah.

Jabba don't love dem hoes....

Tanmann wrote:But yeah.

Jabba don't love dem hoes....

I get the feeling they don't really love him either.

I think you're all fucked in the head. Return of the Jedi was great and to date the best experience I ever had at the movie theater. Only downside was that I got stuck in a toilet cubicle and missed half of the movie.

Return is my favourite and I know at least one Empire die-hard who now prefers it too. The lighter Ewok stuff contrasts well with the darker Luke storyline superbly, and gives a clear indication of what the Emperor is threatening to destroy. Darth's redemption (spoiler alert!) is also a classic moment, as is Yoda's passing and Leia's revenge on Jabba.

Clark Griswold wrote: I got stuck in a toilet cubicle and missed half of the movie.

Are you a toilet inspector?

It isn't a great movie. I watched it the Christmas before last with my mother and neither us could get into it. It didn't help that we watching it on ITV who persist on showing the altered version with the terrible dance number in Jubba's palace.

I like it. But I love the emperor. Of the original trilogy I'd rate first, followed by Star Wars, then Empire Strikes Back.

Of course he rates Empire last.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:Of course he rates Empire last.  

Absolutely.