re: .

Empire is my favorite movie, all-time. Return of the Jedi, though flawed, holds a special place in heart because of my age when it was released.

My dad took me to see Jedi and the scene in Jabba's palace was unlike anything I'd ever seen in a movie theater. Jabba on the big screen was massive and his voice was booming and terrifying. The Yoda scene and the throne room all felt like I was there. Emotional and ominous.

I was 7 years old, so needless to say, the filter I was passing the film through was one of awe and childlike excitement. Obviously there's a reason why 7 year-olds don't write film reviews.

I've seen the original trilogy far too many times to count, especially since my 4 year old is into Star Wars and I have a strict, "No prequel" policy.

Return has some really strong moments and definitely some disjointed elements.

I think there was too much going on in parallel in the third act to really emotionally invest. The Ewoks to me weren't the problem so much as it was unnecessary to have the Endor battle consume so much screen time. The space battle was fun and the throne room scenes were great.

Unfortunately, when you put all the components together and bounce back and forth, it really pulls you out of the weight of the situation on the Death Star.

I'd heard that Lucas hired Marquand to direct Jedi because he saw him as someone who could pull emotional performances from actors. Many argue that Lucas wanted someone that wasn't established in Hollywood circles, so he could manipulate the direction of the film. In Empire, Kirschner didn't kowtow to Lucas' input and as a result the final product was critically acclaimed but one Lucas didn't feel met his vision for the film.

I love Jedi but it does fall third, in my opinion, of the original trilogy.

One scene though that always stands out to me, is the scene where Luke confronts Vader on Endor. "it is too late for me, son" was the first time you could sense humanity in Vader and see the internal struggle. Then as Luke says "then my father is truly dead" and is lead away, Vader steps to the rail and stares off into the night. Silent. The conflict was so well filmed that you could almost see emotion in that plastic mask. Really cool scene.