The worst of the three

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2019)

Return of the Jedi is in my opinion and in many others' opinion the weakest movie in the original trilogy. Despite that, it has many positives.
We spend a good amount of the film trying to save Jabba the Hutt. While I understand we had to spend some time with the rescue mission in order to make the events of the previous movie feel at all important, it still feels quite tedious due to how it isn't linked to the overarching story, which is defeating the Empire, in any way. Jabba looks and sounds incredible and Lukes fight with the Rancor is shot very well. Lukes rescue plan, however, seems incredibly stupid. The obvious green screen usage as our heroes are transported to the Sarlacc pit is quite distracting. The Sarlacc pit itself looks awesome.
The rest of the movie focuses on the rebels trying to destroy ANOTHER deathstar. The outside shots of the new deathstar under construction are very nice looking. Also the shot when the Emperor arrives to the deathstar is great. Its interesting to see Darth Vader respect someone else so much that he kneels down before them. This makes Darth Vaders possible turn to the light side seem more plausible. Almost everything that happens on Endor is an utter catasthrope in my opinion. The presence of the Ewoks just make everything seem less serious and the shifts from Luke confronting Vader to teddybears throwing rocks at stormtroopers just take so much of the tension away. I really like how the camera and Luke and Vader move in relation to each other in the scene where Vader is taking Luke to the Emperor. Especially I love the shots when Luke is talking to Vader having turned his back to him and then Vader is talking to Luke having his back turned to Luke. Then Vader faces Luke when he reveals he is taking Luke to the Emperor after all. Just shows how difficult their relationship is and how difficult it is for them to share their emotions. The battle in space is very cool and I really like the shot where the camera follows the rebel ships as they enter deathstar. The fight between Luke and Vader is so great because of how conflicted they both are. Either of them could switch sides. I have nothing bad to say about this fight other than that the location is a bit dull compared to the location in the Empire Strikes Back. Luke finally seeing his dad face to face and accepting him was a nice way to tie their arc. The scene where Luke sets Darth Vader on fire was quite beautiful.
This movie got a lot of criticism for some of the performances, mainly Harrison Fords. I have nothing to complain about his acting here instead I feel like this was the movie I liked his acting the most. What I don't like, however, is how every other main character other Luke has very little to no development. No matter how much I dislike the Ewoks, my main criticism for the movie is its writing. We spend almost half of the movie rescuing Han. Almost all of the other half is spent trying to destroy something that has already been done in the series. Easily the best part and the saving grace for me is the light- vs darkside conflict and Lukes arc that has been set-up in all three movies.
While I think its easily the worst of the three, it still has enough redeeming qualities to receive the respectable rating of 6/10.