Return of the Jedi (1983)

Let me deal with the Ewoks first, because apparently we still have to. Everyone loves to sneer at them, and I have never understood it. Return of the Jedi had to do something almost impossible, carry the darkest hour of the whole trilogy, Luke's parentage confirmed, the Emperor in the flesh, a hero staring down the possibility that he might lose himself, and still send you home with your heart full rather than broken. Those little forest bears are a big part of how it walks that tightrope. They are the pressure valve, the warmth that stops the film tipping into grimness, and for me they land every time. So no, the Ewoks are not the problem. The Ewoks are fine.

I should be honest about where I am coming from. I rented all three films from my local video shop when I was about ten, my best friend and I marathoned them in a single sitting, and I have watched this one more times than I could begin to count. I still feel that childhood jolt when the fanfare hits. So I am not a neutral party here, and I would not want to be, because a film like this is at least partly about who you were when you first saw it.

People forget how strong the opening stretch is, too. The rescue at Jabba's palace is the film operating at full confidence, a parade of practical creatures with real weight and menace, a genuine sense of a lived-in criminal court, and then Leia turning her own chains into the instrument of Jabba's death. It is grotesque and satisfying and completely earned, and it tells you the good guys have grown teeth since we last saw them.

But the real heart of the film, the reason I love it, is Luke and Vader, and that final confrontation is as emotionally complete as anything the saga ever managed. Watch how it builds. The Emperor goading, Luke refusing, then that awful moment where Vader senses Luke's fear for his sister and Luke's rage finally boils over, the music surging beneath him as he batters his father to the ground. And then he stops. He looks at his own hand, at the mechanical thing he is becoming, and he throws the lightsaber away. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." It is a choice, not a fight, that wins the day, and when Anakin finally turns, when the prophecy is fulfilled and balance comes to the Force, a story that began with a broken man ends with him redeemed by his own son. As someone who holds Luke Skywalker as my favourite character in all of cinema, I find that unbeatable.

It is not as tight or as clever as The Empire Strikes Back, I will give you that. The pacing sags in the middle, the second Death Star is a shameless reheat of a plot we had already seen, and the film occasionally leans on the assumption that we simply love these people enough to forgive it. Mostly, I do. Because this is the ending I love most, the close of what I still think is the greatest story ever told on screen, and it earns every bit of the feeling it reaches for, right down to that quiet funeral pyre. That Disney later did what it did to these characters, in misfires like The Last Jedi, only makes me hold this one closer. Four and a half stars, and the finish line the whole trilogy deserved.

Rating: ★★★★½  | Year: 1983  | Watched: 1999-03-03

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
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Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
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Physical: Amazon US

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More with Mark Hamill: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) · Batman: The Killing Joke (2016) · Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) · Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
More from the 1980s: Nightmare City (1980) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Style Wars (1983) · Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)