Return of the Jedi1983

72/100 This is a frustrating film to deal with. There's a ton to love here, and there's enough good for it to be, well, good, at least in my eyes. However, the flaws, however few in quantity, are massive enough to make this easily the worst of the trilogy. I actually really like the opening here. The whole sequence rescuing Han Solo from Jabba's palace has tons of good character moments, tons of fun aliens (there's a pseudo-Kaiju here, which is always fun) and Jabba himself is a fun "miniboss" villain. We also get to see Luke's new-and-improved green lightsaber, though I somewhat preferred blue. Boba Fett also goes out like a wimp, but the sequence is still fun. Salacious B. Crumb is a great character, and I can't deny that Carrie Fisher in a bikini improves the sequence. The middle portion, however, is much less fun, mainly due to one of the worst additions to the franchise: the Ewoks. These guys aren't funny, they aren't awesome, and it's just stupid that these teddy bears are battling elite stormtroopers and winning. However, I will praise the film for how it handles the characters. C3PO's at his best here, especially when the Ewoks start thinking he's a god. It's hilarious how even with that, they don't listen to anything he says. Luke is also at his best here, though admittedly this has to do more with his relation to Darth Vader than anything else. I think this film really demonstrates Luke's strength as a hero. Even when Yoda and Obi-Wan are convinced Darth Vader cannot change, he chooses to maintain hope, and it's this faith that ultimately redeems Darth Vader. It's a beautiful story of redemption, and an amazing throughline for the trilogy. The action here is also pretty good. Admittedly, I don't like the fact that we just have another Death Star here, and it comes off as much less intimidating than the first one. The first one blew up a whole planet while we only get to see this one blowing up ships. However, other than this, the action is quite good. The lightsaber battles, while admittedly weaker than those of the previous film, are fun in themselves, and there's a lot of symbolic imagery, especially in the final battle between Luke and Darth Vader, which I feel to be incredibly emotionally strong. The space battles are also very good here. As much as I dislike the return of the Death Star, the whole battle sequence in space is very fun and good to watch, perhaps even more than the Battle of Yavin from the first movie. However, the best thing about this movie is that it introduces my favourite character in the whole franchise: Emperor Palpatine. This guy is far removed from Vader's complex portrayal: he's evil, he loves being evil, and he loves talking about being evil. The glee he has about his evil nature makes him very fun to watch, especially with Ian McDiarmid's performance. I will admit he was better in the prequels, but he's still very effective here. He also has easily the best use of the Force in the original trilogy. Forget lightsabers, forget the psychic powers, the coolest thing in Star Wars by far is him shooting lightning from his fingers. He's just such an effective villain on every level, and immensely entertaining in my opinion. In the end, this movie has a lot to love from its first and last acts, but a middle section alternating between boring and annoying really drags the film down. It's good, but only that.