Director: Richard Marquand
Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Ian McDiarmid, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz
Series:Star Wars
MPAA Rating: PG
Length: 136 Minutes
A Tremor in the Force
This review is of the 2004 DVD Re-Release, which includes re-touched footage and added sequences from the 1997 Special Edition (a.k.a. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi). However, while reviewing the film I actively ignored the Special Edition add-ons, and this review will be based on the original footage as well as my memories of the original cut of the film. In a specially marked section I will discuss the Special Edition footage, which includes a few spoilers for Return of the Jedi. There will also be spoilers for The Empire Strikes Back in the main article.
It had been a long time since I've seen Return of the Jedi. As a kid, I loved this movie. I loved the climactic space battle, climactic lightsaber battle, and when the ending rolled around on my first viewing of my dad's VHS copy, I wept. This movie hit all the right notes for me as a kid, but now that I'm a little older a few cracks have begun to show. This is still a fine film, and leagues ahead of the prequels, but it is the weakest of the originals.
