THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
It is hard to say that there is such thing as a perfect trilogy, as some franchises tend to continue after the third entry. However during the 80s, George Lucas and Richard Marquand made a great conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy with Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
PLOT
The film takes place a year after Han was captured by the bounty hunter Boba Fett who takes him to Planet Tattooine to collect an owed bounty by crime lord Jabba the Hutt. C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) first arrive on behalf of Luke Skywalker to bargain a trade to rescue their friend. Disguised as a fellow bounty hunter, Leia Organa is able to infiltrate the palace to free Han from carbonite and rescue the Wookiee Chewbacca, who also had a bounty on him. However, she gets captured as well. The Jedi eventually arrives and demands everyone to be freed, but the Hutt sends him to be fed to the monstrous Rancor. Luke is able to slay it, which results in Jabba to plan him to be executed by the desert beast known as the Sarlac. Luckily, R2-D2 gives him his new lightsaber that glows green instead of blue to free everyone. As they escape, Leia kills Jabba and Boba falls into the Sarlac pit. As the others including Lando Calrissian rendezvous with the remaining Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his training with Master Yoda (Frank Oz) as he once promised. Sadly, this is unable to happen when the Jedi master dies shortly after arriving. But in his dying words, he admits that Darth Vader (David Prowse) is his father Anakin and that there is another Skywalker. Once his body disappears to become one with the Force, Luke converses with the ghost of Obi Wan ‘Ben’ Kenobi (Alec Guinness) who admits that he only told half the truth of what happened to his father, but also admits that Leia is his twin sister, originally separated at birth to be kept safe. He then shares that Vader must be defeated in order to defeat the Empire completely. When the last Jedi reunites with the alliance, it has been noted that the Empire has created a second Death Star and will be under the supervision of the Emperor himself, Darth Sidious. Knowing that it has an energy shield, Luke leads a raid with his friends to planet Endor to destroy the generator. Once that is accomplished, Lando and the remaining fleet will destroy the station. Upon arriving at the said planet, they soon find an alliance with a mammaloid tribe known as the Ewoks. Once they gain their trust, Luke confesses to Leia that they’re related and Vader is their father, who he must defeat to end the war. Rather than straight up challenging him again, he turns himself over in hopes to convince him to abandon the dark side, which he refuses. He does take him to the Emperor who quickly admits his intent to turn him to the dark side, while also sharing that the rebels are walking into a trap. On Endor, Han’s team appears to be captured until the Ewoks pull off a counterattack which continues the conflict on land. In space, the fleet struggles to destroy the second Death Star as it takes a while for the shield to be taken down, while also noticing that it’s fully operational despite not being completed. As the Emperor tempts to convince Luke to give into his anger, the latter duels with his father once again. During the duel, Vader senses that Luke has a sister and plans to turn her if he can’t turn his son. This only enrages Luke to the point where he severs the right hand of Vader, that happens to be prosthetic like his. Impressed, the Emperor demands the Jedi to kill his father to take his place. Despite expressing such rage, Luke refuses to do so. Sidious ultimately decides to kill him with Force lightning, but Vader becomes Anakin again by saving his son and tossing his superior down the reactor shaft. Due to being severely electrocuted in the process, he looks at his son in the eyes without his mask, dying peacefully in his arms. The war reaches its end when the generator gets destroyed on Endor and Lando destroys the main reactor which completely destroys the station. The film ends with Luke cremating his father while celebration occurs that the war is over (for now).
THOUGHTS
I enjoyed the first two so much, so I knew that I was gonna love this one as well. And years later, my opinion remains the same this one is a blast. With enhanced visual effects, the battles that go down on Tattooine, Endor and space are the most spectacular to watch. I was even impressed of how real the background of the Millennium Falcon looked before Lando boards it. Aside from what is accomplished in a computerized standpoint, the biggest feat goes to what is done in the practical perspective, that is the very best of puppeteering and costume design. While the Rancor was indeed a frightening figure to behold, the greatest accomplishment of puppeteering goes to Jabba the Hutt, a character who makes his long awaited theatric debut after being referenced throughout the prior films of the trilogy. With the addition of Larry Ward's excellent voice acting performance, you feel every bit of greed and gluttony this gangster represents in the sci fi universe. Like any gangster you've seen onscreen, he's just as greedy and disgusting you would disgusting as he has the power to rule and do whatever pleases him. Although Tattooine didn't last long without him as shown in The Rise of Skywalker, it's better than having scum and tyranny control others for eternity. Also, I thought the Ewoks were so entertaining to see I honestly saw myself in them as I have with Luke. These creatures are the most curious, yet they are the courageous, which makes them only bigger badasses than anticipated. With them siding with the rebels, it made the Battle on Endor a whole lotta fun. The main reason why this is still effective to this day is because it powerfully explores the theme of redemption: The only way one can be truly redeemed is to be truly for their for past sins making amends with those that were wrongfully harmed. Mark Hamill still makes Luke my favorite because he knew deep down that his father had enough good in him after what had happened in him. The fact that he saw good in the worst proves how humble he has become. When you hear the voice of James Earl Jones, you feel the sense of complexity Vader has had all along. He is ashamed of the havoc he's caused and was very unsure of how to escape the hell he created. When he said it was too late for him to turn back to the light, he was aware that he didn't deserve it. Luckily, reuniting with his son brought out the best of him for the last time. It becomes saddening when he dies because after his act of redemption, you want him to continue his second chance and be the father he should've been. Nevertheless, this loss only made his children stronger, strong enough to be distant from turning like he did. Since Vader was an underling this whole time, we knew that we were bound to see his superior and that did not disappoint. In his first theatric outing as the Emperor, Ian McDiarmid is nothing narcissistic and manipulative in the scariest way possible. This is a guy who is willing to do whatever he can to remain the powerful figure in the universe, no matter how lives he takes, and the merciless are always the ones who are most feared, which is indeed something Anakin learned in their time together. While this wasn't the end of him yet, there was relief when Vader rebelled against him as the galaxy was slightly safer without his presence. While this holy trinity are what make this movie unforgettable, the supporting cast still stand out in between. It was deeply satisfying to see Harrison Ford's Han and Carrie Fisher's Leia continue to share great chemistry as they love each other deeply and are on the same page. With that in mind, they are more steadfast than they are separately, which made them more formidable on the battlefield. While the sequel trilogy didn't give them a happy ending, at least there was a happy beginning. Even Billy Dee still leaves a good impression for still making Lando as jocky as first shown in Empire, but is more brave than ever when leading the rebel fleet to destroy the second Death Star. Seeing him proves that he is far from a crass individual. While I do enjoy this film for what it does, it sadly has the most issues that hold it back from being great as its predecessors. The majority of my complaints go to the special edition. I was fine with the practical look on the Jedi Rocks scene, but you make absolute cringe with the computerized enhancement. And the climax is ruined for two big reasons: replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen as ghost Anakin and swapping 'Yub Nub' with a totally different score. The Yub Nub is awesome and fits the mood, so it should've been left alone. Going into the actual story, when the hell did Leia realized she was related to Luke? I gotta ask considering that she kissed him in Empire, which only makes that prior scene awkward instead of hilarious. I really hope she figured it out after the kiss, because the awkwardness would only increase if it was before. I got mad respect for Luke being able to save all of his friends at once, but I don't think it was wise considering that all were captured and Jabba could've had more schemes if not the Sarlacc. Maybe he needed the droids, but I don't think he needed Leia & Chewie involved because that made things more risky than it should. It's even cool when Luke uses the force to lift C-3PO, but he could've untied the ropes if he wanted to. And how did Lando infiltrate the palace on his own and not get recognized? Luke likely sent him, but it's crazy that Jabba doesn't know who the former administrator of Cloud City looks like. And Leia was basically bound to get caught because there were so many creatures sleeping around the palace. Whether or not Jabba had a hunch, someone would be bound to catch her freeing Han, which I don't think is a good strategy because the Hutt could've killed her. The dumbest thing Jabba does is put Han in the same cell as Chewie. That is downright stupid because Han not been temporarily blind, they would've broken out without Luke. I did say I was scared of the Rancor, but Luke could've had his lightsaber to finish it off quicker and once he did that, he likely saved his friends immediately rather than escape the Sarlac pit. I told you guys I hate continuity errors, so I was pretty tripped out seeing Luke give the Rancor a bone horizontally, only for it to be vertical the next shot. While I did previously admit that Boba was a badass in Empire, but that claim quickly gets diminished when he easily falls into the Sarlacc pit. I know that The Mandalorian undoes this, but it shouldn't take 40 years to prove the character's worth. Trust me when I say I was sad when Yoda died, but it still felt anticlimactic due to the fact that there were no signs of it happening when first introducing him, making it more difficult to grasp. The Speeder chase is another dope scene, but shouldn't the stormtroopers have called for help via radio/walkie rather than traveling? That decision is as bad as their aim. I do respect the decision when another stormtrooper has the jump on Leia, but how did she not hear him come? If a stormtrooper can hear a footstep from Han, she would've heard him too. I have said that the Battle on Endor is fantastic, but I got thrown off of how the door for the shield generator had two locks. Han shot off one and R2-D2 unlocks the second. How did that not get brought up during the debriefing? That had to be the most important thing about the mission considering that the shield is what protected the second Death Star. And why exactly did the Emperor think it was a good idea to make another Death Star? Yes it is very powerful, but it had such a massive flaw and they kept it when rebuilding it. If he really wanted the upper hand, he should've made a bigger station that would've been the Starkiller Base. And if he wasn't gonna do that, he should've made a second layer of a shield to make it harder for the rebels to defeat him. All of this is so irritating I even cringe to the fact that there is enough space for ships to get to the reactor. Ignore all of this, and you're still gonna have as much of a blast as I did. In short, Return of the Jedi remains a great finale for tying things up as smooth as possible and continue to be an entertaining thrill ride. If you enjoyed the first two, there is no good reason to not watch this as well.
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