Duh...I am George Lucas, I am in control of Never Never Land

Rating: Null/10 (3 September 2003)

Return of the Jedi is a serious twisting pain after the highlight, both in storytelling and power, of Empire Strikes Back. Lucas thinks he knows so much about such topics as military tactics, politics, religion, and so on, but he is no more than a teenager with an overactive imagination. He doesn't understand these concepts unlike more mature filmmakers like Oliver Stone and Ridley Scott. Lucas' head is so far in Never Never Land that reality, even in his Star Wars universe, becomes something he constantly changes the rules to fit his needs. He isn't a smart creator. James Cameron was the same way with The Abyss, but that product was ten times better than this. Both of them have their naive fantasy traits locked in this series, but Cameron has gone to the modified Heavy Metal routine.
First of all RotJ tries to go in an Indiana Jones-style of film akin to the original Star Wars ("comic book hedonism" as Pauline Kael called it) and dumps any true emotional power for merchandising and dollar power. How else to you explain the ewoks and plethora of new characters and hardware?
Secondly, Lucas hires a sap to direct. Obviously this was so he could keep pulling the directorial strings while remaining "creator", "writer", and "producer". I am sorry for the production. The visuals are uninspired and ineffective this time around and Jabba the Hutt is as threatening as colon cancer.
Overall, the weakest link in the original trilogy, the ball only falls harder from here on. 2.5 out of 5 stars.