"Jedi" closes the trilogy with everything we would expect from STAR WARS.

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2008)

My Take: As the original STAR WARS series comes to a close, this final chapter has everything fans have hoped for.
THE RETURN OF THE JEDI (re-titled as STAR WARS: EPISODE VI-THE RETURN OF THE JEDI during its re-release) is the last (chronologically) of the original STAR WARS trilogy, and it is also a self rating chapter in the series. "Jedi" will always be ranked third best in the original trilogy (with THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK being the best). It's not as dark and deep as "Empire", nor is it quite as original as STAR WARS (Episode IV: A NEW HOPE). Actually, "Jedi" owes more on the elements from the original film (including, of course, the Death Star and some of the Jedi duels). But I wouldn't complain, since if this was something else, I wouldn't have liked it. "Jedi" has everything I liked about the saga, from the exciting and comic fun of the original, as well as the deepened mythology of the second. Not to mention of course the terrific special effects work which were great, not just because of its innovation, but also the imagination it took to make them.
One of the best examples of these wild imaginations in special effects are in the first half of the film which takes place on the crowded palace of the loathsome crime lord Jabba the Hutt. This place is filled with strange-looking beings and bizarre creatures which is almost twice as much than those featured in the Cantina scene in the original STAR WARS. The film opens with those adorable droid duo C3PO (performed by Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 entering this creaky palace bargaining for the freedom of Han Solo (HArrison Ford), who is still frozen in carbonate block. This leads to, not one but, two battles between our hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and two gruesome monsters. One lives in a dungeon beneath Jabba's throne room. The other lives in a sandpit and slowly digests its victims for a thousand years, which is an enjoyable and exciting battle in tradition of other entertaining adventure movies. The entertainment continues on later on a battle in a small planet moon introducing a bunch of cute and lovable creatures called Ewoks (probably added to give the film more cutesy as well as irony, since these little bunch of teddy bear-like beings beat the butts out of Imperial troops), as well as a second attempt at yet another Death Star. But one of the most awaited sequence in the film is the final duel between Luke Skywalker and the evil Darth Vader (Dave Prowse; voiced by James Earl Jones), which we no know is Luke's Father.
THE RETURN OF THE JEDI is the second STAR WARS film that creator George Lucas didn't direct, passing it once again to another director. This time, it's director Richard Marquand, who is really not a match for Lucas in the first film, nor is he definitely a match for Lucas' mentor Irvin Kershner who directed the second. But he still does a fine job, especially when it comes to adding a lot of fun on those exciting sequences, a grand tradition in the STAR WARS legacy. The imagination, both on the special-effects and the storyline, is still not left behind.
I am ranking "Jedi" on par with the first movie. Though not as deep and cleverly achieved as "Empire", "Jedi" is still exciting, entertaining, imaginative and anything else positive about a fantasy film. It's just a lovable epic romp with its heart on the right place.
Rating: ***** out of 5.