Solo: A Star Wars Story the first financial failure in the history of the Star Wars films.
Does ‘Return of the Jedi’ Actually Suck?
After ‘Solo’ and ‘The Last Jedi’ it’s time to rethink the conclusion of the holy trilogy.
Despite making $1.3 billion and receiving mostly glowing reviews from critics, The Last Jedi was a (needlessly) controversial film among hardcore fans, with more than 100,000 fans signing a petition urging Disney to scrap it from the official canon. One idiot went so far as to re-cut the film to not have any women in it.
But many critics praised The Last Jedi, mostly in tones similar to The Atlantic, which said it was, “arguably the best the franchise has offered since Empire.”
Yes, the prequels sucked, The Force Awakens was a glossy retread of A New Hope, and Rogue One was a flawed but interesting addition to the universe, but in our haste to hold The Empire Strikes Back up as a near-perfect piece of cinema and compare all subsequent films to it, I believe Return of the Jedi (1983) receives short shrift among Star Wars fans.
Many “best of” lists rank it anywhere from fourth to seventh in the series, and while Empire earned its spot at No. 1, is Jedi—the conclusion of the original trilog y—really as bad as its reputation says it is? Given Solo, the prequel trilogy and the new movies, I believe Return of the Jedi has to be considered one of the strongest entries in the entire franchise.