Star Wars Begins its Descent

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2013)

I have several problems with this third installment in the Star Wars story (OK, to the Star Wars geeks, the 6th installment). As much as I can't stand those awful Ewoks, the worst part about this Star Wars is a script that sucks the life out of the main characters..especially Han Solo (you get the sense that being in carbon freeze for who-knows-how- long softened his brain). Luke's no fun anymore either. Hamill tries too hard to sound like Alec Guinness as Obi Wan did in the first one, and it doesn't work. Then there's the emperor, who is not just evil, but obviously a narcissistic a-hole who loves to hear himself talk. In several scenes he says pretty much the same annoying stuff (telling Luke that Luke now serves him, blah blah). I think the audience got the point the first time he said it.
There are basically two parts to this one. The first is Han Solo's rescue from Jabba the Hut, which is great once it gets going. The problem is that it seems to take forever and a day to get going. Then there's the attack on the new Death Star, with three different scenarios: the actual attack with the fighters, the raid on the forest moon to get the shield down, and Luke's confrontation with Vader and the emperor. The scenes with the fighters attacking the Death Star were certainly involved. George Lucas threw everything but the kitchen sink in effects-wise, to the point where I felt bombarded by it all. It was too much. Then you have the Endor scene, which had those stupid Ewoks (what the hell was Lucas thinking?), but also had a really cool "motorcycle speeder" chase scene. And then you have the confrontation with Luke and the head bad guys. Luke probably wasn't very happy to find out that the emperor could do more than fight with a sword..he can also shoot what amounts to lightning bolts from his fingers. But does Yoda warn Luke about this? Noooooo, Yoda simply says the cryptic, "do not underestimate the powers of the emperor." Lucas (and Richard Marquand, who directed) were obviously going for full-on drama in the Vader/Skywalker/Emperor confrontation, where Vader is as conflicted as Luke, if not more so. It doesn't work well. The sword fighting is fun, but the emperor's pontificating just gets tedious. And Vader is nowhere near as much fun as a good guy.
For all its faults, Jedi still manages to be an entertaining movie..better than any of the "prequels" which would follow years later.