Brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2016)

Another superb movie from the original Star Wars trilogy.
I watched this thinking it must surely fall short of the brilliance of the first two movies, but it most certainly did not.
It introduces yet more weird and wonderful iconic aliens into the mix - most notably the grotesque Jabba the Hut and the adorable Ewoks.
It matches the other movies for thrilling set piece battle scenes, culminating in the excellent space battle between rebel forces and the Imperial Destroyers and Death Star.
Best of all, it delivers superbly on the ever evolving relationship between Luke, Darth Vader and the Emperor. The scenes toward the end where the Emperor tries to persuade Luke to turn to the dark side, and Luke simultaneously tries to get Vader to turn back, are deftly managed and quite terrifying.
Oh, and we're treated with all the usual delightful characters of Leia, Solo, C3PO, R2-D2 et al.
The only time the movie does show its age is in some of the initial scenes where alien monsters are shown using unconvincing stop-motion techniques. Fortunately there's less of these as the movie goes on.
Return of the Jedi is yet another piece of brilliance from the Star Wars franchise.