Hoodwinked in the end.

Rating: Null/10 (19 February 1999)

I remember coming out of the movie theater in 1983 and feeling disappointed with this movie. I've seen it a number of times since on video and in the theater (Special Edition Version). I was so pumped up after 'Empire', and at the time couldn't pinpoint what let me down. Some of it was characterization. Solo wasn't Solo, Luke didn't really seem to live up to the title of 'Jedi' - he had to be helped by Vader to defeat the Emperor. Probably everyone has movies that they daydream about re-writing the ending to. In my ending for the movie, Vader tries to throw the Emperor into the power core, gets slammed against a bulkhead, the Emperer comes back to finish Luke, and Luke finally figures out what Obi-Wan and Yoda were trying to teach him, and is able to deflect the energy bolts and push them back on the Emperor, destroying him. I thought the Emperor came off kind of like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz - not as a powerful evil leader of the dark side. He cackled a lot, and said things like 'well now, my young Jedi, watch your rebel fleet be destroyed, and your little dog Toto too!'. I kind of thought the Ewoks were cheesy, and yes, the battle scene in the forest asked that reality be suspended too much (two big logs coming together are going to smash an ATST and cause it to explode?). I am looking forward to the three prequel movies, but now I hear what may be the unkindest cut of all. After all this, Lucas may not make episodes VII, VIII and IX because he says it would take too long, and he never had a story for those anyway. So we'll get to see the prequels, though we know how those end up, but the finale to the series of movies will probably be the disappointing 'Jedi'. *Sigh*.