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STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI - REVIEW

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The Star Wars mania which had rocked the late 70's and become a huge phenomenon real quick finally came to an end in 1983 with  Return Of The Jedi ,   the third instalment of the space opera which saw our heroes fight back after losing some steam against the Empire in the last movie. Still frozen in carbonite, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), is hanging as a wall decoration in an alien blob's humble abode. Said blob is Solo's last employer Jabba The Hutt, a cold, vile and greedy creature who not only lets the guy gather up dust but soon reduces Leia (Carrie Fisher) to a scantily-clad slave woman and sets a trap (it's a trap!) for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), before almost having him thrown in the Sarlacc (don't ask) pit for lols. Luckily, Luke has now pretty much mastered the powers of the Force and is a bonafide Jedi master so the gang are promptly reunited and escape, droids and all. The tone for this one is a little different than in the previous films. A New

STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - REVIEW

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After the runaway success of Star Wars , George Lucas handed the directing reigns to Irvin Kirshner for the sequel which is still seen by many as the franchise's best instalment. The Empire Strikes Back , as the title suggests, is not the upbeat adventure with the fairy-tale ending the first film was. This time, the Empire gets its revenge following the destruction of the Death Star in A New Hope and our heroes suffer for it. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), after having a bad run-in with a Wampa (some abominable snowman-looking beast) and a chat with the ghost of Alec Guinness, departs for the Dagobah System to learn the ways of the Force from Yoda (Frank Oz) leaving Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Chewie (Peter Mayhew) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) to be betrayed by old friend Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). This gives ample opportunity for galactic badass Darth Vader to plot against our heroes. Character development-wise, a romance finally brews between Solo and Leia, Luke goes

STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE - REVIEW

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Back in 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars , an epic sci-fi fantasy space opera with a save-the-princess plot and it soon became a phenomenon, to say the least. It would later be retitled Episode IV: A New Hope as Lucas decided to expand the storyline further. The film was such a commercial hit that two (soon to be three) more films would follow, then three prequels, countless tie-ins, endless novels, tons and tons of merchandising, several cartoon series, it made Harrison Ford's career and Jedi even became a legitimate (-ish) religion! And the crazy thing is the franchise is still as huge as it ever was, with many, many more films planned so let's take a look back at the movie that started it all. Star Wars opens with a captured Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) sending a couple of droids off to planet Tatooine to bring back help. She is being held by iconic baddie Darth Vader (played by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones) who is running a gigantic space station f

STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH - REVIEW

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George Lucas' Star Wars "prequelogy" finally came to its epic conclusion back in 2005 which saw the long awaited birth of Darth Vader come to fruition. Was it all worth it? Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith definitely took a page out of Attack Of The Clones in that it prioritised big, visually impressive action sequences over anything else though an important concern, this time, was of course linking everything together in a way that makes sense. Good old Ian McDiarmid finally gets a chance to go full Palpatine in this one which leads to some enjoyably hammy, shamelessly over-the-top dialog and scenes. The dodgy Chancellor's slow yet meticulous way of getting into Anakin Skywalker's head is pretty masterful and you definitely buy that Anakin would turn to the Dark Side at the hands of this lightning-spraying ghoul. As for Hayden Christensen, he does a decent enough job this time and, at the very least, looks convincingly pissed off. The plot this time is

STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE - REVIEW

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To say that there was a lot of anticipation for George Lucas' Star Wars prequels back before they were released would be sugar-coating what was probably one of geekdom's all-time biggest events. Seeing the rise of Darth Vader could only be awesome. ...right? Well let's just say that if ever there was a way not to start that trilogy, The Phantom Menace was it. Not that it didn't deliver anything of value but the backlash that followed the film was so huge that it made everyone very worried for the rest of the prequels. Jar Jar Binks became the single most hated Star Wars character of all time and The Phantom Menace, by extension, the most hated Star Wars movie of all time. But was that backlash an overreaction or was it somewhat deserved? While I'd love to say that The Phantom Menace was in fact a misunderstood gem, one can't deny just how inept parts of this movie are. Yes, Jar Jar Binks was a bad idea from the start: his bumbling antics unfunny f