Good but slightly flawed conclusion to STAR WARS trilogy

Rating: Null/10 (15 October 2003)

After the events in Empire, Luke Skywalker(Mark Hammil), now a Jedi knight, and Princess Leia(Carrie Fisher) try to rescue Han Solo(Harrison Ford) from Jabba The Hutt, a slimy gangster from Luke's home planet. Meanwhile, the Empire is preparing to finally destroy the Rebellion with a second Death Star, while the Rebellion is preparing to destroy the Death Star(again). Managing to escape from Tatooine, the heroes are sent to help disable this Death Star's shield generator. This leads to the inveitable final confrontation, as Luke battles Darth Vader for the last time as the Rebels engage the Empire's vast fleet and legions. ROTJ isn't as serious as EMPIRE, and lacks some of that film's character development. While Mark Hammil is given plenty to do, Harrison Ford's Han Solo is reduced to a watered-down version, sort of a slap in the face after Ford's turn in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Carrie Fisher suffers from the same problem. However James Earl Jones is still in top form as Vader, and Ian Mcdiarmid is excellent as the Emperor, the puppet master behind everything, whose role has been expanded in the prequels. Still, it's a fun Star Wars film, worth seeing for the final battle alone, the enormity of which is only topped by the LORD OF THE RINGS films. John William's score, especially his renditions of the Imperial March, also serve to elevate the material.