My Review of "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi"

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi is the conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy. It came out back in 1983 and it had a lot to live up to since the previous movie was so darn good. There was a huge tone change for this concluding chapter and it doesn't quite translate that well today almost 40 years later.

From the last movie we remembered that the Empire and Vader are now aware of the force sensitive Luke. They really want him to join in with the dark side and are willing to do anything to get him. Meanwhile Han has been frozen in carbon and now used as decoration by Jabba the Hutt.

The first course of action from our plucky gang is to save Han from the evil clutches of Jabba the Hutt. This is a bit of an adventure of its own and kind of felt like a TV show. They have an elaborate plan to save Han but there's a few set backs. Ultimately you can tell that the whole thing was actually according to plan. A weird plan but it worked out in the end so that's all that matters.

Meanwhile we have the Empire at Endor completing the build of yet another Death Star. I really don't know how the timeline worked for this but that's a pretty fast time period to get a whole moon base up and running. Say what you want about the Empire but they are efficient.

The gang hears about what the Empire is doing and plan to destroy the Death Star before it's fully functional. They create this plan to lower the Empire's defensive shields so that they can attack and destroy the Death Star. Unfortunately they kind of underestimated the Empire when they first hatched the plan.

I loved this movie when I was a kid. I remember the teddy bear like characters called the Ewoks. They helped the Rebels fight the Empire on Endor. It was like a David versus Goliath situation. Ewoks were these cuddly little bears with sticks and stones going against storm troopers with lasers and armor. Today I look at this and roll my eyes.

Of course this worked as a kid. This movie was geared towards them. The storyline and dialogue had been dumbed down so a 7 year old could understand what's going on. It's such a stark contrast to the previous movie.

Though we still have some pretty great moments like Vader's character arch. Although, with each great moment there are a few that just confuses you. There's a sibling reveal that doesn't quite make sense closer to the end of the movie. I guess you can say with Luke can now open things up as a Jedi but still it felt a little weird.

There are also new additions to this movie that feel quite awkward. Additional footage has been added and molded into the movie that changes a lot of the dynamics of the movie. These elements have relations to the prequel trilogy. For the most part they don't really add much other than to acknowledge the fact that they exist but closer to the end of the movie this isn't the case. The new addition actually messes up with our closure at the end of the movie. They also changed the Ewok song! I loved that song at the end.

Overall, I was still able to have fun with this through some nostalgia but some of the nostalgia was messed up because of the new additions made to the movie. A lot of the movie doesn't age quite well considering all the changes to the original trilogy that's happened over the years and the new TV and movies that have come out. Still there's a conclusion that's kind of enjoyable for what it is. Unfortunately it's not as satisfying of a conclusion that I had remembered. I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. Time has not been kind to this movie.