An engaging, often resounding, finale which hits more notes than it misses.

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2019)

The original Star Wars franchise here goes out with a bang and not a whimper, in the 'sixth' episode of the popular franchise, as it certainly deserves to. Conspicuously, the "Star Wars" brand name and its original trilogy had eluded me until a fairly recent point in my life, when a combination of chance and sheer bloody mindedness saw me finally sit down and see them. While it would be dishonest to remark that I share in the unabashed, unchecked and often maddening enthusiasm for the films that others certainly have, I cannot say I disliked them and the way "Return of the Jedi" rounded off loose ends; did well to keep fresh characters who might otherwise have become tiresome and told its own narrative, was satisfying.
Principally, this Episode Six is a combination of what worked best in Episodes Four and Five: the old tale of a rebel alliance looking to destroy an intergalactic structure known as the Death Star is back, while a secondary narrative to do with the franchise's protagonist Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) simultaneously confronting Darth Vader and learning to conquer a mythic pseudo-philosophy known as 'The Force' props proceedings up. Action-packed and romantic do battle, in a sense, with contemplative and familial melodrama.
What is, perhaps, most peculiar about the film is that it does not blast off into being a full-on action-adventurer until exactly the 50 minute point. Also quite striking is the fact that, from the moment C3PO utters his first lines, there is not a single instance of two characters that are not either robots or alien creatures communicating to one another for about forty minutes. On my first crack at the film, I did not even notice this but realised it suddenly on my second go - credit must go to those responsible for being involved in such fantastic makeup and costuming.
The film's opening captions finally inform us that the war which has dogged the franchise is over "freedom", something the alliance fights for and something the Empire, seemingly, wish to do away with. A new Death Star is being constructed; the opening shots reveal it to look about 80% finished, so there is a sense of urgency to events from the off. Darth Vader lands on it, looking for answers on why it isn't finished - he speaks of the yet unseen Emperor, who runs the entire outfit, and reminds us that he's much nastier, which cleverly builds the off-screen character up through dialogue.
The film's opening act is essentially a continuation of where we left off prior: Harrison Ford's Han Solo is still frozen-solid in a block of something-or-other, and is captive to a large slug-like alien known as a Hutt named Jabba, having been taken to him in-between episodes. Our heroes, led by Luke, set out to rescue him from Jabba's decrepit desert-set palace-prison with a scheme which seemingly involved Leia (Carrie Fisher) being caught as well; Luke doing battle with a giant monster in an inescapable pit and then later standing on a plank looking at oblivion in the form of a creature consisting of tentacles and a mouth buried in the sand. Was this all part of the plan? How did he know the entire crew would even be taken out into the desert at all?
Eventually, differences are settled, one way or another, and the film moves on into territory perhaps more synonymous with the franchise when, as in Episode 4, the force behind the push to defeat the Empire congregates in a control room and deliberates a plan of attack. The Star itself is orbiting a moon known as Endor, which consists largely of dense woodland - the attack will break off into two parts: a fleet of ships will hit the Star directly while a platoon of soldiers, led by Solo, will infiltrate the moon in order to find and disable a power station allowing the Star to shield itself.
This is all standard stuff, perhaps made a little less interesting than Episode Five by the fact Solo and Leia know how they feel for one another. More interesting is the character of Skywalker, who has an emotional heart-to-heart with mentor Yoda (Frank Oz) in which, subversively, the protagonist realises he must fight the antagonist, although does not want to. Luke is now a trained Jedi, so is no match for anybody in the combat stakes - in a lesser film, he would be the invincible lead too easily hacking his way to the endgame, but is here made vulnerable to falling, potentially, to the 'dark' side of the force thus undoing all his training. This being prone to something is vital for a sense of there being something at stake; for there being a sense the hero might fail. Scenes involving Luke; Vader and the Emperor on this strand are the best in the film. When the final duel arrives, it is as much a war of words fought in the minds and souls of the characters as it is between lightsabers.
The other strand involves the rest of the gang gunning their way towards the power station, although are seemingly no match for a tiny race of neutral furry creatures known as Ewoks who capture them, but then befriend them. There is a peculiar moment whereby C3PO and R2D2 retell the entire Star Wars narrative to this point to these tiny animals, sort of a cross between a bushbaby and a Yorkshire terrier, in order to warrant their support and they listen on in absolute fascination - is the point here that WE are the primitive Ewoks, who have thus far fallen for all of it too? Whatever anything is supposed to point towards, "Return of the Jedi" is a ripping yarn which, say it quietly, even graduates into being halfway intelligently made on more than one occasion.