Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) is a movie in my DVD collection that I recently rewatched on Disney+. The storyline follows the Jedi and Luke needing to save their ally, Solo, who even after being saved will need to settle his debt with Jabba the Hutt. Meanwhile, Luke seeks out Yoda to finish his training and the Jedi sets out for one last battle against the evil empire. For them to be successful, Luke will likely need to face his father one last time.

This movie is directed by Richard Marquand (Jagged Edge) and stars Mark Hamill (Sushi Girl), Harrison Ford (Blade Runner), Carrie Fisher (Sorority Row), Billy Dee Williams (Batman), Ian McDiarmid (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian).

The entire Jabba the Hutt opening is always one of my favorite sequences in the series and a great way to start the movie. Harrison Ford was hilarious both in his lines and his body language. He couldn't have been better cast. The escape scene in this is everything you could want and every scene on Endor is magic. The chase through the woods opening and the mystery and unveiling of the Ewoks was super cool. The final two battles involving Luke, Vader and the Emperor is classic science fiction gold and a wonderful depiction of the force and the dark side.

Overall this movie doesnt get as much credit for its greatness that it should. I would score this an easy 10/10 and strongly recommend it.

This movie might not be as flawless as the first two but everything involved with those throne room scenes were some of the highest points in the entire saga, the conflict between luke and vader, the emperor himself finally showing up for the first time and he's so good at being this manipulative evil, the final lightsaber battle is just breathtaking with that amazing music by john williams and the beautiful ending of the film that brings everything together, those moments alone makes this one of the most underrated in the whole franchise and in my opinion it's the second best movie behind the empire strikes back.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....There was a boy who was only two years old when the original "Star Wars" film was released. He doesn't remember first seeing the movie, but he also doesn't remember life before it. He does remember the first "Star Wars" themed gift he got...a shoebox full of action figures from the original set. He was too young to fully appreciate how special that gift would be. But years later, he would get what to this day goes down as one of the best gifts he's ever received: another box full of action figures, ten of the final twelve he needed to complete his collection. It's now legendary in this boy's family how the last action figure he needed, Anakin Skywalker, stopped being produced and carried in stores, and how this boy went for about ten years (until he got into college) trying to track one down and finally bought it from someone on his dorm floor for a bag of beer nuggets (don't ask...it's a Northern Illinois University thing).

I can't review "Star Wars" as a movie. It represents absolutely everything good, fun and magical about my childhood. There's no separating it in my mind from Christmases, birthdays, summers and winters growing up. In the winter, my friends and I would build snow forts and pretend we were on Hoth (I was always Han Solo). My friends' dad built them a kick-ass tree house, and that served as the Ewok village. They also had a huge pine tree whose bottom branches were high enough to create a sort of cave underneath it, and this made a great spot to pretend we were in Yoda's home. I am unabashedly dorky when it comes to "Star Wars" and I think people either just understand that or they don't. I don't get the appeal of "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Trek" but I understand the rabid flocks of fans that follow them because I am a rabid fan of George Lucas's films.

I feel no need to defend my opinion of these movies as some of the greatest of all time. Every time I put them in the DVD player, I feel like I'm eight years old again, when life was simple and the biggest problem I had was figuring out how I was going to track down a figure of Anakin Skywalker.

Grade (for the entire trilogy): A+

I'm sick of people whining about Ewoks! True, they're not the best thing that ever happened to Star Wars, but they DID happen, so deal with it! Besides, they ARE cute, and I don't care if they're marketable. Yubb Nubb!

This movie always leaves me in tears. It's perfect. The end could not be better. I'm excited for The Phantom Menace because it will suddenly throw the focus of the whole story from Luke to Anakin. I love how he is revealed at the end - it would be too unresolved any other way. So those of you who are complaining that Vader's helmet was removed, take a moment to think about it. It's very effective. Vader, the man who hid behind a mask for 20 years, is finally revealed as a sick-looking man. He is not entirely machine - he's vulnerable.

I don't know how the casting director happened to pick such good actors in A New Hope. They all do so well. They are believable characters. Hamill does an excellent job with his dramatic character development. Fisher does a fine job being a female role model (I mean, come on! She killed Jabba even when so many others had failed!). Harrison Ford - need I say more?

The music is once again brilliant. It's so very touching and significant when you can pick out character themes at different parts of the movie. The best climax is when Luke shouts "NOOO!" and jumps out to fight his father in the Final Battle. John Williams is nothing short of a genius! What an amazing man!

Already, the movie has so much more meaning for me because of Episode I. I can't wait to finally see it in the theatres (CAN I WAIT???) and then watch the original trilogy yet again.

Bravo!

I like the bit when the ewoks crush an ATST with two logs on a rope