Star Wars: Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi

What’s the Story?

EPISODE VI: THE RETURN OF THE JEDI begins with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and the other Rebel Alliance heroes and robots assembling one by one to rescue their friend Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from his frozen state of suspended animation in the palace of a gross, sluglike galactic gangster called Jabba the Hutt. Once again, the terrible galactic Empire has a Death Star under construction and the rebels seek to destroy the monstrous doomsday weapon and the sinister Emperor (Ian McDiarmid). Luke knows that this will be his chance to again confront the Emperor's evil cyborg disciple Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones), who is really Luke's long-lost father Anakin, once a noble Jedi Knight. Luke refuses to believe that his parent has gone over forever to the dark side of the Force. In the action-packed three-battle finale, Luke duels with Darth under the gloating gaze of the Emperor while the Rebel Alliance throws every ship they have against the fleet of the Empire and on the forest moon of Endor, Han and friends strive to blow up a power plant generating a force field that protects the Death Star. To the rescue are the Ewoks, cute little alien primitives who look like teddy-bear monkeys, and who come to our heroes' aid.

Is It Any Good?

EPISODE VI: THE RETURN OF THE JEDI concluded (so far) the mighty Star Wars saga, conceived by George Lucas, a film series that changed movie history and raised the bar for special effects, science-fiction wonderment, blockbuster earnings, and movie marketing. It's a properly triumphant finale, filled with action -- and yet, coming after the best and emotionally richest chapter, The Empire Strikes Back, a slight disappointment. If only the filmmakers put as much imagination into the main plotline as they did in the film's lengthy opener. Still, making the fight for the souls of the two Skywalkers as important as the Rebels vs. the Empire is a nice bit of dramatics, as is the idea of Luke struggling to avoid feelings of anger and revenge that might lure him to the dark side.

You can see the infatuation with visual gimmickry, cute/silly aliens and robots, plotlines apparently written to be video-game ready, and a disinterest in good acting; a toymaker mentality that continued when Lucas picked up the storyline again in prequels beginning with The Phantom Menace. While each individual stage of the finale is thrilling, cutting back and forth among the scenes disrupts the overall flow of the film.