8.5 / 10
From my point of view, having started with A New Hope, Jedi was the last truly good Star Wars film. I'm going to review it as I saw it - i.e. unaltered with young Anakin, etc.
Pros
Nice continuation of Luke's character arc to become a Jedi
The Emperor & Darth Vader work well together
The 'temptation' scene
Rolicking Star Wars action still rooted solidly in the characters and their goals
Jabba the Hut
It wraps things up pretty well and there's a real sense of full on closure at the end
Another cracking film score from Williams.
Nicely handled final duel and resolution.
Vader funeral pyre.
Cons
Luke/Leia revelation feels very forced, really only existing to give Luke something he couldn't fail to be baited with by Vadar, rather than the oddly right feeling revelation in Empire about Luke/Vader's relationship.
Silly disposal of Bobba Fett - way to make a character a cool badass then play him as a bumbling incompetent.
While I don't hate the Ewoks after A New Hope / Empire there was the definate sense that some elements veered too far into out and out sillyness (and oh how prophetic that sense would turn out to be)
It feels a little rushed. Empire left everything so gloriously up in the air, with the whole Galaxy to be saved, and huge issues to be resolved for all our main characters, that in the end I always felt Jedi has to really rush to conclude some stuff. Han / Leia for example is really skimped over, and even Luke/Vader situation feels like more was required. More coverage of The Emperor the Sith and the Jedi would have helped too.
A probably inevitable sense of not quite hitting the high of Empire. But oh, if Lucas had knocked it out of the park again.
Mixed
I both really liked / somewhat disliked Vader death scene. I thought the concept and basic handling of the scene was good. But - perhaps inevitably - the man under the mask had little impact. Of course, given Lucas started the whole damn thing in the middle so that what should have been a huge unmasking really could only show a stranger, it couldn't be otherwise. In a way it sums up my view on the slight come-down from Empire to Jedi. In Empire you get that teasing shot of Vader's head from behind and your imagination goes wild, it was iconic and just grabbed your attention. In Jedi you see him from the front and it's just some guy you've never seen before. The music, Luke and the moment carry it, but it somewhat undermines the whole moment.
I guess Jedi is when it really became clear to me that certain aspects of the narrative could only remain unsatisfying or elusive because Lucas had skipped the films that would give them relevance and hadn't worked out - despite the indications in Empire that he might actually be able to - how to instead factor the additional needed backstory into the equation.
Mind you, I'd have preferred they remained skipped once I actually saw them.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
