Review: Star Wars VI Return Of The Jedi Is A Great Conclusion But An Average Film
- Dec 5, 2017
- 2 min read
Lets just not talk about that dance scene, okay?
After suffering greatly at the hands of the Empire, the Rebel Alliance has regrouped, preparing for a final, desperate strike. Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has made his presence known and, if successful, the attack could end the war once and for all. But first Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) must put into action their plan to rescue the captive Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from the clutches of the vile Jabba.
I'll get this out of the way quickly, I don't hate this movie, for the most part, I think it's pretty entertaining. But is it at the same level as the prior films? Not a chance. After the opening scenes things quickly go downhill. Harrison Ford starts phoning it in, and, so it would seem, he never stopped. The characters don't follow their own internal logic, it gets quite dull and the ewoks are, well, ewoks. It's not until what is arguably the Original Trilogy's best space battle combined with an equally great lightsaber duel that things get going again.
But it's not all bad. When Jedi is good, it's really good. The effects are great, Palpatine leaves his mark with only a few glorious minutes of screen time, Vader's story comes to a close in a near perfect way and I'll be damned if the rancor isn't one of the coolest critters this series has to offer. Mark Hamill really comes into his own as Skywalker, and seems to be the only person really trying.
So go ahead, check this one out. It is by no means awful, just don't go in expecting the same level of quality that the past films had to offer. But hey, it's a definite improvement over what comes next...
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