Return of the Jedi movie review

Here's what you need to know; after learning the truth about Darth Vader, Luke must now face his destiny, or risk suffering the same fate as his father. Meanwhile, the Rebels prepare a final assault on the Empire to destroy their rebuilt Death Star and kill the villainous Emperor, but it's going to be harder than they thought.

Just like Empire Strikes Back, it's not a good idea to start here, prior knowledge on Star Wars is pretty important in this film. And what surprised me in this film is where it started, the film opens with the Empire and the Death Star, in a pretty cool scene with an absolutely badass entrance from Vader, and then some foreboding stuff about the Emperor. As ever the characters are a really good part of the film, just saying that now, but Luke is now a very different character to who he was in the first and second films, far from the reckless kid he was, and now a young Jedi, it's actually a bit jarring, but it's a cool change. Han Solo is still a smart arse as well as a badass, as is Leia, and C3P0 and R2D2 are still gold. The villains are also awesome, Vader is still Vader, as in still awesome, but with some interesting humanity thrown in. and now we have the Emperor, who's a bit of a creep really, as well as in my opinion a bit too open with his evil brilliant plan to turn Luke to the dark side, to the point where it kind of ruins his plan, however he's still a cool villain. Jabba the Hutt is, surprise surprise, an big, ugly slug, and he's nasty, but at this point everyone knows that, might as well add myself to the pile of people who like Jabba, because he's just vile. Overall then the characters are still the strongest part of this film, now for plot, this film is a culmination of a trilogy, so how well it wraps up the story is a bit important, but really, I think it does a great job of wrapping up the trilogy's story, as the characters do end up finding resolution in the end, and the emotional punch of this film's ending works really well, and I loved it. But I do have an issue with the plot, and the film as a whole, and it's an issue I appear to be in the majority on. Ewoks, what the hell is with the Ewoks, I wasn't sure what to make of them until the Empire's forces showed up, then they did, and I started hating them. It's just obvious that they were put in the film because oooh look at the cute teddy bears who we could totally sell shit loads of toys of, really the tribe would have been less irritating if they weren't teddy bears, who somehow take down highly trained Storm Troopers with sticks and stones, literally, while the Troopers have armoured walkers and blasters, makes perfect sense. The Ewoks really drag it down, it's just that the stuff with Luke and Vader is really cool, as is the stuff with the rebels, so overall I liked the film's story, easily on par with Empire Strikes Back, and could easily have been better without the teddy bears.

Effects wise it's another strong film, obviously the effects are small fish compared to modern computer effects, but the effects still do their job well enough and look pretty cool, and to be fair, I like films with out-dated visual effects, films like The Thing and Godzilla, and the Star Wars movies, there's just something cool about it. That said, I still think that when things move fast on screen, the effects don't look as good, meanwhile the blaster battles and lightsaber battles, particularly the battle with Luke and Vader look really cool, maybe that's why I like Battlefront so much, I like blaster battles. Practical effects are also good, Jabba for example is pretty impressive looking, and the very diverse range of aliens in Jabba's lair look weird and cool, but some more weird than cool. The Ewoks, as much as I dislike their presence, are pretty well put together, as are the bigger things like the Rancor and the Sarlacc, and of course Jabba. Overall, like the characters and story, Return of the Jedi is very strong in the effects, and like the first 2, the action is fun and exciting. But after all that, what I felt actually really worked in this film was the Force, I was most interested in the stuff with Luke, Vader and the Emperor, as the Emperor tries to turn Luke to the dark sight and Luke tries to find the good in Vader. And the ending of that story is something I really loved, though, as usual, no spoilers, in a film that's about 30 years old.

Return of the Jedi is a very good film, dare I say almost as good as Empire Strikes Back, were it not for the damn teddy bears. But aside from them I have no real issues with this film, nothing stood out to me as bad, while so many things stood out to me as great, the Characters, the action, the story, the Force, the effects to an extent. I really enjoyed Return of the Jedi and I would highly recommend it, definitely worth a watch.