STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

Tagline: The Saga Continues.

(Adventure, Action, Fantasy) [PG]

A Jedi Knight? Jeez, I'm out of it for a little while, everyone gets delusions of grandeur!

The story involves Han Solo needing rescuing from the evil clutches of Jabba The Hutt who treats Han Solo like a football trophy. Meanwhile, the Empire is building the second Death Star I mentioned and that thing is going to take out the Universe, so it needs to be stopped right now. On Dagobah Luke decides he may be able to bring his father Darth Vader back from the dark side. Luke shares a shocking secret with Leia and the Rebellion is on the cusp of annihilation as they fall into the Emperor’s trap. Will the “return of the Jedi” be enough to save the galaxy?  

I saw this one in theaters when I was 10. I was so blown away; I remember walking out of the theater thinking my heart was going to explode from excitement. To this day, that has never really wavered. When I think about this movie it generates feelings of sheer joy. Maybe because I was 10 when this came out the typical complaints about it never bothered me. I loved the cute but morally challenged Ewoks, which will just eat you if you can’t convince them you are a deity or the friend of one. I loved the humorous playful tones in many scenes. I didn’t mind the seemingly inexplicable reason the Empire had a similar flaw in the new Death Star that they built into the old one. Although I know there are force-attuned kyber crystals (needed to power the thing) explanations out there the movie itself never gets into all that. I remember as a kid thinking, “The Rebellion is going to win, because the Empire…is dumb”, basically the reverse of the SPACEBALLS quote. I guess Death Star technology back then was like printer technology. They make more advanced printers now, but basically, they all still break and they all kinda suck. 

Effects wise RETURN OF THE JEDI is a mind-blowing visual feast even today. Yes, some of the effects are dated, but you don’t go into this thing thinking “they could have done this better”. You go into it thinking how the heck did they pull that off in 1983? No one was really doing this stuff. 

The acting was superb and the cast was full of legends. Even back then the cast was well-known and well-respected. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in this was probably the most talked about due to the famous “slave Leia” outfit, but her performance was also very solid covering a large range of emotions. This was by far the best and most confident Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill) of the original 3 films. I actually liked him quite a bit in this one. Harrison Ford was superb as an “on board with the program” Han Solo and getting a “fully good” Lando Calrissian (played by Billy Dee Williams) was more icing on a spectacular cake.  

If you can’t tell, I loved this damn thing and from the wild opening to the grand scale ending, this thing was just a totally amazing ride that still holds up as one of the best films ever made. Clearing my rating is a 7 out of 7. If you have never seen this, run to the first streaming service showing it and grab some popcorn, because if you have any child-like wonder left in you, you are going to be in for a treat. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF LUCASFILM AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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