I know as a Star Wars fan that I've failed miserably when it comes to reviewing the greatest Trilogy in movie history. 2017, I was personally trying to establish what my movie blog could be as a fan of film, moreover was indulging in a lot of shit especially movies that were coming out of that year. 2020, well there really is nothing to say we as a society were locked down by the real life Galactic Empire aka the stupidity of that is American politics but more importantly Covid 19, so really it was a matter of keeping my sanity and getting through those years I wish to forget. So, now that we're in the final days of 2023 I knew deep down celebrating the third installment in the Original Star Wars Trilogy, Return of the Jedi that I was not going to pass up. And going back to the third installment it brings a huge smile on my face as well as picking up new things that I've never recognized while watching the film again, more like a study lesson of film, but enough talk let's begin our celebration with Return of the Jedi.
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamil) battles horrible Jabba the Hutt and cruel Darth Vader to save his comrades in the Rebel Alliance and triumph over the Galactic Empire. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) reaffirm their love and team with Chewbacca, Lando Calrission (Billy Dee Williams), the Ewoks and the androids C-3P0 and R2-D2 to aid in the disruption of the Dark Side and the defeat of the evil Emperor.
I do have some memories of watching Empire Strikes Back as my first encounter of Star Wars but they were just mere memories, but really it all started watching Return of the Jedi that my father checked out at our local library and we watched from start to finish, and what I remember most is was the Star Wars preview and all of the Star Wars films were presented from the first installment to the final installment even seeing the terrifying Emperor electrocuting Luke Skywalker moreover being a little scared. But then at the very end I'm not going to lie when I say that I was literally crying when Darth Vader died at the end of the movie it was really one of the most saddest things of a villain saving his own son suddenly redeemed and deep down I knew that Darth Vader would be my favorite Star Wars villain of all time along with the Emperor and Darth Maul. And after Return of the Jedi I begun watching the very first Star Wars aka A New Hope, and make a long story short thus became my love affair of Star Wars, which deep down The Original Trilogy is still to this day the greatest movie Trilogy of all time, but let's continue are sole celebration of Return of the Jedi. People say if I recall saying that Jedi is the lesser of the Original Trilogy which I beg to differ, now having seen it twice I begin to see more of it as an equal to both A New Hope and Empire, like there is so much of the film that when I watched it and really I watched the Blu-Ray, I begun to see a lot of scenes that you can see a lot of meaning to it, great example of that is Darth Vader and Luke reuniting after their battle on Cloud City and they have this one conversation and Vader examines Luke's new lightsaber and it really shows just a pride moment of a father almost being proud of his own son in what he became and at the end of the scene Vader has that moment of silence where he's not sure if what he's doing is right and props to David Prowse with doing such a fantastic job in acting with a mask because the most difficult thing is really expressing emotion through a mask that has no emotion and Prowse does such a great job at that. Even with Vader, Luke and the Emperor are in the throne room and Hamil is being tempted to kill Palpatine and the Emperor who is the great example of Lucifer is tempting Luke and you can see Hamill feeling that rage, is just excellent and the great thing about the movie is that you can really see great emotion acting through each of the actors. Speaking of Emperor Palpatine, if I have to give one actor such praise and don't get me wrong everyone is spectacular in the movie from Hamill, Ford and Fisher but really the true scene master of the entire movie is Ian McDiarmid who does a fantastic job playing the real villain in the Star Wars universe, Palpatine aka Darth Sidious whom like Vader I was just so fascinating with in fact I dressed up as Palpatine in my grade school years for Halloween, but really what struck me most about Palpatine as a Star Wars fan is that he's a clear representation of the Devil and you can see great examples of his performances in both Episodes III and VI where he's tempting both Anakin and Luke into the Dark Side just showing him what he can do to lure them moreover promising and yet destroying their lives at the same time, and with Jedi is a great example of Lucifer tempting Jesus whose wondering in the desert but simply failing and the same praise goes to Mark Hamill as well because even he does such a great job playing the true hero of Star Wars but also being the opposite of his father where he does feels tempted but begins to see what he's doing and by the end tells the Emperor "no" and knowing how the Emperor has met his match to defy him and it's just perfect action from both Hamill and McDiarmid do such a great job in that battle of Good vs Evil. Jedi is also famous for the return of Harrison Ford, because it's been said about a certain killing off Han Solo which is surprising when you think about because Ford wasn't really going to sign for the third and final installment but out a series of conversations and convincing with both Howard Kazanjian and George Lucas that Ford would Return for Jedi. Now this is just me saying this and mostly a conversation with my brother that Lucas saw Blade Runner and thought that this would damage Ford's career and so both him and Kazanjian told Ford that he had to return after that slump of Blade Runner. I've seen pretty much every version of the Original Star Wars Trilogy from the original version to the Special Edition to the really the Blu-Ray versions of the Original Star Wars films, and my thought of Lucas completing his films to the way he envisioned it, has always been more supportive moreover don't care upon which version is better, because really when Lucas created Star Wars he had to make the movie with the tools he only can use to bring his vision to life moreover had to overcome obstacles from both producers and the crew around him and going back, redoing some scenes that he wanted to make better it's him re-envisioning his franchise into the trilogy that he was seeing ever since 1977, and sure seeing Hayden Christensen in the ending of Return of the Jedi in 2004 when the DVD trilogy came out, did seem weird but deep down when you think about it, if I was Luke seeing my fellow mentors as well as the young version of my father, I would imagine that to be my father deep down, not being confused if that was my father or not. I will say till the day I die that the Original Star Wars Trilogy is the Greatest Movie Trilogy of all time, and Return of the Jedi was without a doubt the greatest conclusion to how Star Wars as a movie franchise should really end. So, if you're a Star Wars fan as I am, I would highly recommend celebrating Return of the Jedi's 40th Anniversary by binge watching the Original Star Wars Trilogy, even on Christmas time if you feel bored in watching Christmas movies.
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