"Obi-Wan has taught you well..."

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2005)

The final chapter of the Star Wars saga, Return of the Jedi has a difficult job: wrap up most story lines, produce one final epic battle sequence, and go much deeper into the mythology that is the force. The movie accomplishes each of those tasks fine, and though unfair, when comparing "Jedi" versus the other two films, it's the weakest. That's not to say it's a poor film, to the contrary it is still most entertaining, but the slow pace to the beginning of the movie takes away from the high energy that "Empire Strikes Back" ends on. If you'll recall, at the end of "Empire," our heroes Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando, and the droids are searching for Han Solo (Harrison Ford) who is being held by the gangster Jabba the Hutt. That's the warm up to the movie, the story line continuing Luke and Darth Vader is much more interesting and leads to the ultimate end of the movie and saga. One of my favorite scenes in all of movies comes at the end of "Jedi," the final battle between Luke and Darth Vader, long-shots, big music, sends chills up my spine. The movie was intended to be directed by George Lucas' friend Steven Spielberg, but a union technicality nixed that idea, and little known Welsh-born director Richard Marquand does the job. We also get to see the sinister Emporer, played by Ian McDiarmid under layers and layers of makeup, he adds another piece to the force puzzle. Then there are the ewoks, those cute little made-for-merchandising furry creatures that occupy the middle of the movie. They're cute, but after the dark, adult themes of "Empire," the ewoks evokes a kiddy charm that takes away from the maturity level of the Star Wars movies. I would have liked to see a planet of wookies over a planet of ewoks, but what do I know? A movie of power scenes, with silly ewoks in the middle, Return of the Jedi is a satisfactory and entertaining end to the Star Wars saga.