A year after Luke's fateful confrontation with Vader, our heroes (including Lando now) are back on Luke's home planet of Tatooine to try and free Han from his carbonite prison in the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. Afterwards they reunite with the Rebel fleet, now much larger and more powerful than ever, where they plan a strike to destroy a second Death Star being constructed under the direct supervision of Emperor Palpatine. The resulting mission climaxes with a dramatic confrontation between Luke, his father, and the emperor to decide the fate of the Skywalkers, the Jedi, and that of the entire galaxy.
Coming to the end of the saga is always such a bittersweet experience for me. I know that RotS was the last one made, but watching this movie is when it really hits me that George Lucas will not be making any more movies like this. The SW saga has had such a treasured place in my heart for my entire life, and the pale imitations that Disney keeps pooping out are more of a reminder of something I can't have any more of (new SW material) than any actual consolation.
That said, this is unfortunately a rather flawed movie. I think it's the most inconsistent in quality of the six movies, with very high high points but a lot of mediocre stuff as well. Lucas really tied his hands by not resolving anything in ESB, especially by leaving the Han Solo cliffhanger, which leads to the awkward situation where the first act of this movie is not really related to the overall plot. As such, the whole story here feels disjointed and not smooth. Let's get into it.
THE GOOD
- All the scenes with Vader, the Emperor, and/or Luke are really the core of this movie and what saves it from mediocrity. I'm constantly impressed by Palpatine's skill at manipulating people. Even though Luke knows he is being manipulated, he still can't control himself. And sure, part of that is the Skywalker impulsiveness, but major credit goes to Palpatine for being so good at what he does.
- As a kid, the final space battle is really why I loved this movie. To see how far the ILM team came in just 6 years is very impressive, because the scale of that battle is something they could only imagine when ANH was made, and it probably pushes the limit of what can realistically be done without cgi.
- It's really satisfying to see Luke finally as a fully-powered Jedi. The way he completely dismantles Jabba's private army hearkens back to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan being utterly unstoppable against the battle droids in Episode I.
- I know I've mentioned it several times before in other reviews, but Ben Burtt's sound design is just fantastic. The sounds of the speeder bikes in particular are something that has always stuck with me for how cool and unique they sound.
- The choral music that comes in during the final part of the duel between Vader and Luke is amazing and gives me goosebumps every time.
- There are some strong Messianic themes associated with both Luke and Anakin. Luke has come to redeem the sins of Anakin the same was Christ did for Adam. Anakin and Adam both chose themselves and their selfish and prideful desires over doing what was right. Luke, son of Anakin, and Christ, son of Adam, make the opposite choice, choosing self-sacrifice over evil, thus redeeming the sins of their fathers. But in the end it is Anakin, conceived of a virgin, who ultimately destroys death (Palpatine) and restores life (bringing balance to the Force)—sacrificing his own life to do so before being reborn in the Force. So in a way he plays both Adam and Christ in this particular Messianic tale.
- I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I absolutely love that the DVD/bluray version has Force ghost Anakin played by Hayden Christensen. There's something so powerful about seeing him the way he was before he defiled his soul with evil—smiling and happy with his old friends and mentors again. It gets me in the feels every time.
THE BAD
- The entire first act on Tatooine. The only benefit of it is that it establishes Luke as a full-on and very powerful Jedi now. Aside from that, it serves no real purpose for the plot.
- Boba Fett's inglorious end.
- The Ewoks. They bog down the story and it's not really believable to see them beating the Imperial troops. It was an interesting idea to try and parallel them with Germanic tribes beating the Roman Empire, but the execution was ruined by the fact that they are two foot tall teddy bears.
- Death Star rehash. I get that this is the way Lucas originally wrote it and that the Death Star stuff was moved to ANH just in case that was the only movie made, but once it became clear that the whole trilogy was getting made, he should have come up with something different for this movie rather than just doing that again.
- I don't like the special edition diegetic music at all. Give me back the Yub Yub song, please.
- I also don't care for the beak they put on the Sarlacc. Overall, the special edition changes were definitely not a improvement for this film.
THE UGLY
- It's a little odd that Palpatine doesn't struggle at all when Vader picks him up. He just like "Yep, this is my life now" as he gets tossed down the shaft.
- The look of betrayal by Vader when Palpatine tells Luke to kill him (great job by David Prowse portraying that shocked reaction without any facial expressions or dialogue to work with). It's the exact same look Dooku gives Palpatine when he tell Anakin to kill him. I really don't know what Vader thought would happen when he brought Luke to the Emperor. He knows there can be only two Sith at a time, so either he was hoping Luke would kill Palpatine (no indication given of that in this movie) or that Palpatine would kill Luke (in which case why bother capturing him). My only conclusion can be that Anakin is just not very bright at all. Which retroactively make Vader much less cool than we used to think he was. He really does seem like a tragic Shakespearian character in the end, a fool like Othello who wasn't smart enough to see how Iago was manipulating him the whole time and his lack of perception and critical thinking was what undid him. The difference between him and Othello is that the latter is a pawn all the way to the end, while Anakin seizes some small measure of agency by killing his Iago at the end. However, much like with the Shakespeare play, I think it's possible that the SW saga can be interpreted in such a way that the villain is actually the protagonist and the supposed hero is merely a pawn in his game. Throughout the saga, it is Palpatine who always is in control and proactive in pushing forward his own goals. He has almost all the agency in these movies and thus in many ways he is the protagonist, just like Iago.
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