An ultimately disappointing finale

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2001)

Until the overblown Episode I made its belated appearance, this film held the dubious honour of being the weakest of the Star Wars films. Which is a pity, because the opening few minutes on Tattooine, with the rescue of Han Solo and the demise of the repulsive Jabba the Hutt are terrific. This initial high standard is not however sustained. Mark Hamill is frankly wooden in what should be the pivotal role. Harrison Ford's instinct that his character should have been killed off in this film is probably correct. Carrie Fisher has fun in a gleeful ripoff of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, although the ewoks are just plain silly, looking far too much like teddy bears to be taken seriously in what is supposed to be a desperate battle for the future of the galaxy.
2 major weaknesses dog the resolution of this film. At the risk of major spoilage for anyone who has hidden under a boulder for the last 2 decades and hasn't seen this film, here they are:
1: Darth Vader, who among other things ordered the brutal torture of Han Solo in the previous film for no reason other than his own amusement, suddenly discovers a shred of humanity after all on seeing his son Luke Skywalker being tortured by the emperor. This is supposed to be the villain that orchestrated the extermination of the Jedi Knights. It will take hard work by Lucas and Co in Episodes 2 and 3 to convince me that this is not inconsistent.
2: The destruction of the first Death Star precipitated an Imperial counterattack that harried the Rebels to the farthest corners of the galaxy. The destruction of the second leads to instant victory for the Alliance, and peace. Okay, so the Emperor was killed as well, but is this enough to precipitate the total collapse of the Imperial forces - are all those generals wearing those bits of coloured plastic such mindless sheep? Oh, they are? Hmm.
Unless George Lucas changes his mind and creates Episodes 7-9, this ending to the Star Wars series of films must be regarded as unsatisfactory. His dilemma is enormous: of the 3 leads, Harrison Ford is now a megastar and too expensive to employ, Carrie Fisher is probably not interested and Mark Hamill is a wizened shell of an actor doing computer games, though he could probably be understudied by Terence Stamp if a lookalike actor is required.