Lazy

Rating: Null/10 (31 October 2004)

As a kid ROTJ was my favourite SW film because of the special effects. However, as an adult, I see ROTJ as the weakest of all 5 films. Shock! Horror! Yes, even worse than The Phantom Menace. Why? Let me explain...
ROTJ is lazy script-writing and feels uninspired and really doesn't compare well to the other films. Although TPM seems very shallow, it does have very dark undertones and almost every scene is setting up or heralding the themes and ideas to be explored later in the series. Whereas ROTJ is just a video game, with the exception of the Vader/Luke confrontation.
However, I'm by no means saying this is a bad film. The end space battle is mind-blowing and the redemption of Vader is probably the highlight of the entire series. The trouble is, The Empire Strikes Back was character driven and the characters seemed real, but in Jedi they revert to the comic book caricatures that they were in A New Hope. In other words, ROTJ was a step backwards in character development. For example, in the previous film, Lando betrayed Han and condemned him to what could have been an eternity in carbonite. It would have been nice for Han to at least say to Lando "Hey buddy, thanks for rescuing me." But no. Perhaps spending all that time in deep freeze scrambles your memory. Seriously though, it would have added a much needed depth to these 2 characters which is severely lacking in this film.
And as for the Ewoks...well, they're not as bad as Gungans. In fact. I've got a lot of respect for any teddy bear that stands up to a stormtrooper.
Score 2/5