The best of the series

Rating: 10/10 (7 June 2009)

Yes, I freely admit that I consider this the grand champion of the series. "A New Hope" was pretty good and "The Empire Strikes Back" was good but not great. For my money, "Return of the Jedi" is the one to beat.
The plot ties up all the stories and loose ends that we've seen develop and also provides the best ending in any of these six films. The others either ended on an overblown note or a bittersweet one. "Jedi" has a nice, subtle happy ending. The story this time is that the Death Star II is nearing completion which leads to a final showdown between the Empire and the Rebels. While all this is going on, Luke becomes determined to redeem the soul of his father-Darth Vader.
The performers are simply terrific. Mark Hamill does a great job (probably his best on-camera performance) Carrie Fisher turns in another great job as the beautiful yet spunky Princess Leia and Harrison Ford, although somewhat superfluous to the main story, turns in another first rate job.
The veteran actors- Alec Guinness, Sebastian Shaw and Ian McDiarmid- are all perfect although I consider Shaw to be the stand-out. Last but not least, Frank Oz as Yoda who goes out with one of the best death scenes ever.
With a few exceptions (the Ewoks, the slave girl outfit) this is a fantastic film with great characters, slick special effects and a touching story. Plus some good old fashioned puppet effects bringing our favorite space slug, Jabba the Hutt, to life.
In short, "Jedi" rules.