The end of the saga

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2006)

Luke Skywalker (Hamill) and his friends journey to the desert planet Tatooine to rescue Han Solo (Ford) from the evil crime-lord Jabba the Hutt before the final confrontation with the evil Empire. A three-way battle (space, forest and lightsabers) closes the narrative of the most famous saga in cinema history.
This last installment in the original trilogy was always considered the weakest. To many viewers, it felt like two separate films (the Jabba episode and the Endor episode) and though the younger audience appreciated them, the cuddly Ewoks never scored highly with adult fans. In hindsight, Return of the Jedi's sins are quite meager (they only reflect the flaws inherent to the entire saga) while its merits in as a piece of entertainment are considerable. The sleazy crime-lord's den is a triumph of unease and production design (with, at the heart of it, the revolting Jabba), the space battle is unsurpassed in the entire saga (thus ranking as the best ever shot), the speeder-bike takes your breath away, the forest battle-cum Vietnam metaphor is hugely playful and inventive (almost a tribute to Errol Flynn's Robin Hood) and the climactic lightsaber duel packs an emotional punch that rivals anything in the original trilogy.
What disappointed many were the less mature elements that quite rudely belied the fact that Star Wars was for the child in you. One can debate whether that even constitutes a flaw, but this is entertainment for all ages that pushes boundaries and goes unsurpassed, 3 decades on. That the new trilogy never stood a chance only serves as further proof to how demanding an audience that ad kept receiving better and better Star Wars films had become. Truth be told, Return of the Jedi, if it trounces all other prequels, fails to measure up to the truly operatic Revenge of the Sith. This is simply because of story density and the fact that George Lucas's visual flair makes a mockery of Richard Marquand's (one could also add that John Williams fantastic score for episode III is the best in the entire saga).
Star Wars, the real epic quality Star Wars that begins with episode III, ends here. And a more fitting finale to this saga could not have reasonably been hoped for.