The Empire falls. A Grand Finale to the greatest movie trilogy of all time.

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2004)

Many millions of people love Star Wars, and I am not going to hide the fact, that I am part of that trend. In my opinion, Star Wars (Episodes 4-6) make the greatest movie trilogy of all time. In Episode 6, Return of the Jedi, we see the gripping conclusion to the ultimate movie joyride. So strap yourself in for the ride of your life!
After rescuing Han Solo and Princess Leia from certain doom at the hands of crime lord Jabba the Hut, Luke Skywalker revisits Yoda, Jedi Master. For only by completing his Jedi training can he become a true Jedi Knight and defeat Darth Vader and the dark side of the force. Creatures from all over the galaxy rally in attempt to defy the Galactic Empire in rebuilding an even more deadly Death Star.
ROTJ is not the best Star Wars film of the trilogy, but it is not a bad film. It tidies up all the loose ends that have been started by the previous two films and continues on the emotion that Empire Strikes Back had. The Screenplay for ROTJ was done by Executive Producer George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. I love the new characters that were included in this story, as they are fun to watch. I also enjoyed the funny little bits that were added into this Star Wars story, like having a musical section at the start of the film.
I was amazed to see that all of the Star Wars trilogy movies have been directed by three different people. But with George Luca's in charge of the Star Wars franchise, any good director could do the film and it would come out ok. In the director's chair for ROTJ, was Richard Marquand, who did an amiable job. He continues on the space fantasy which is concluded in ROTJ.

I have spoken about my feelings towards all the usual characters in the Star Wars trilogy. People like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and the robot droids R2D2 (Kenny Baker) and C3PO (Anthony Daniels). They have all had a great impact on the series, and do what is needed to be done to make ROTJ an enjoyable film.
In ROTJ we get to see some brand new characters. For the first time we get the chance to see the Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who in the flesh, is a gruesome looking person. You can see why Darth Vader is so driven to serve the dark side of the force, as the Emperor is totally focused on making his side the strongest in the galaxy.
But the best inclusion in this film has to be the fun little creatures called Ewoks, who are never referred to by name in the film. These Ewoks look like a cuddly teddy bear, but are very strong and aggressive little creatures. The funniest part with Ewoks has to be when these creatures mistakenly think C-3PO is some sort of god to them. There was also another interesting character from the rebellion, who was a major space commander. Insect look-a-like Admiral Piett (Kenneth Colley) is a man who is supposed to be taken seriously, but by looking at this person, you could be forgiven for starting to laugh at him as well.

RTOJ has some very enthralling moments in it. The start of RTOJ shows us with Luke at his home planet, where he is out to rescue the ill-fated Han Solo. Here we meet back up with Jabba the Hut, a slimy creepy blob, who is very happy to see Han Solo in the position he is. But the demise of Jabba and his crew is great, as Luke shows himself to be a real Jedi. In fact in this sequence we see two other gruesome creatures, one, a scary monster, who Luke defeats and the other is a creature in a pit that lies in the waiting for his next feed.
Other enjoyable sequences are the parts with the Ewoks, as they make the film seem much less serious, a good thing in my view. In this part of the film, we see Luke and his friends trying to destroy a power station for the new death star on the Ewoks planet. Here high speed hover scooters are driven, and although all these scooters seem fake, they only add to the fantasy. Finally the final confrontation between Vader and Skywalker is great, as more sword fighting just gets me more excited. Then for us as the audience to see Darth Vader's head was a true highlight of the film. It is interesting to note: Darth Vader is the first character in movie history to be played by three actors (body by David Prowse, voice by James Earl Jones, face by Sebastian Shaw)
So who are my favourite Star Wars characters? Well I like almost all of them, but my most compelling characters have to be Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Obi-wan Kenobi, Yoda and the two droids, R-2D2 and C-3PO. All these character creations are some of the best I have seen in a movie.

Every once in a while I have a great experience at a movie. That very experience was captured on me in the whole Star Wars trilogy (episodes 4-6), because people like myself can love these sorts of movies and get lost in them, so much so that we feel like we are part of the fantasy we are seeing played out on the screen. When a movie (or movies) can do this, I feel that they are something very special. Seeing all of the various characters from all of the Star Wars movies (episodes 4-6), has been a great pleasure and privilege for a film freak such as myself. So thank you George Lucas and may the movie forces be with you forever!
CMRS gives 'Return of the Jedi: 5 (Brilliant Film)