The beginning of the end.

Rating: 6/10 (18 March 2006)

For in many ways, the Return of the Jedi signifies both beginnings and endings.
For it concludes the story of Anakin Skywalker, the end of a saga, and the end of Star Wars being good. And still brings forth a new beginning, a beginning of cheesiness to Star Wars. Starting with this movie, Star Wars takes a turn for the worse in terms of overall development.
The movie starts out with the rescue of Han Solo from the clutches of Jaba the Hutt. Then to the battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, and the Rebel Alliance's mission to destroy an even more powerful Death Star, this time with no way to stop it.
Although the visual effects were still really good, the story and pace started to become weak. The integration from the rescue of Han Solo to destroying the Death Star 2 were far from seamless. And the rescue of Han Solo seemed far less effective than the rescue of Spock from "Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock." Felt more like an excuse to bring back Solo.
Both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi reveals something about Luke Skywalker's heritage and family. Though Empire Strikes Back's revelation still ripples through pop culture today, revealing the "other" in this movie that Yoda mention in Empire was pretty lame, and felt a little pointless. And that fact of the "other" didn't really have a role except in the Star Wars comic book series "Dark Empire." Basically, starting with this movie, Star Wars began to run out of steam. And that loss of steam continued on with the disappointing prequels.
However, the movie is not totally faulty. A tad cheesy, bringing forth the lovable Ewoks was a nice touch. It's development was pretty lame, but the final battle between Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and the Emperor did play a pivotal role in the Star Wars universe.
Being reasonably good as a general movie, but still pretty cheesy over all, give Return of the JedI 6.5 out of 10.