A 20th Century Fox Picture, Written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan, Directed by Richard Marquand.
At the time of release, this was the much anticipated end to one of the defining trilogies of modern cinema, and with that in mind, this film does exactly what it needed to do. It is a compelling end to the story of this specific story, and a fitting end for these characters.
While it isn’t the dark character drama of Empire, it still digs further into who Luke Skywalker is, and specifically how his family will define the future of the galaxy. His decisions throughout the film are fascinating to watch, and feel very right.
All the characters get their due service and the cast as always does a good job. Carrie Fisher made the whole world fall in love with her all over again in her gold bikini (a very exploitative sequence that surely wouldn’t happen now) and she is great again here, but this is absolutely Mark Hamill’s show and he delivers.
This turned into not the end, but the start of a sprawling saga. While it is occasionally poorly paced and a bit silly, it is Star Wars to the core and is a powerful conclusion to this specific story.
Rating = 4/5
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