MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Discussion > when Jedi came out in '83 everyone thoug...

when Jedi came out in '83 everyone thought it sucked..

posted 5 years ago by bozo_500 (13228)
24 replies | jump to latest

..or did they?

I saw it but I wasn't aware. too young to notice reviews etc. In fact I wasn't interested at all in SW and hadn't seen the previous 2 (too young and not on TV yet and no VHS then) plus before the film they showed the trailer for Superman III which blew my mind as huge fan having seen Superman II at cinema and the 1st on TV and had no idea it was coming out so for the remainder of the weird sword&sorcery muppets&carebears in space movie all I could think about was Superman III

[–] Forky (1739) 5 years ago

No.

[–] pjl69 (2647) 5 years ago

Return of the Jedi and E.T. were the beginning of kiddie movie era of the 80's. I was a bit disappointed in ROTJ even back then... esp after the phenomenal Empire.

[–] Enigmaticocean77 (2488) 5 years ago

I was six when Jedi came out and I was massively disappointed. If a six year old who is obsessed with Star Wars is disappointed you know the movie didn't live up to its predecessors.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

And we care what you think because...?

[–] Enigmaticocean77 (2488) 5 years ago

You cared enough to reply to me on a message board where people post their opinions. I was disappointed in Jedi, why you have a problem with that is beyond me...

[–] kuatorises (7467) 5 years ago

ROTJ has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from the fans and 82% from critics. That's better both the fan and critics reviews for Revenge of the Sith, which is supposedly the best prequel. But yeah...it's "hated". Sure.

[–] AP (5291) 5 years ago

I was too young to remember it in theaters but I always loved it. In fact, I remember when it was up for debate whether Jedi or Empire was the best sequel (Clerks has an example of this very conversation). People tend to lean toward Empire but I never knew Jedi to be hated by anyone.

Then again, when The Last Jedi came out, people were trying to claim everyone hated that movie at first too as a way to say TLJ would be vindicated by movie history. Some people don’t want to admit their favorite movies might not be universally loved.

[–] pjl69 (2647) 5 years ago

I've learned to appreciate ROTJ (in its original form) more after the new movies...

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

^This.

People trying to point out there was 'hate' for ROTJ are just trying to deflect from the terrible quality and at least 50% dislike of the ST. literally at least half of the viewing audience hates the sequels (TFA included). No one really hated ROTJ, it is the weakest of the 3 for sure and started some bad trends that carried over into the prequels but it is Ben-Hur compared to the Disney era stuff.

One thing I will say; it was not when TLJ came out people were claiming everyone hated ROTJ, that started with TFA defenders; the "best star wars since empire, or maybe best one ever" crowd would constantly bash and point out every flaw of ROTJ (and the entire OT) so they can try to elevate the incredibly derivative, insulting, a lore breaking TFA.

[–] AP (5291) 5 years ago

I meant to say people were claiming Empire was hated when it came out. This was used to deflect criticism of TLJ. Now it’s ROTJ/ROS turn.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

Oh yeah; I forgot about that one; people did try to claim that. I asked them to provide some evidence that Empire was hated; reviews, fans discussions, fringe outlets, anything; no such evidence could be provided. By 1985; when I was old enough to start remembering this stuff; Empire was already universally considered the best of the OT. I was not here yet in 1980 so I don't know what the 'initial' response was, but the love of that film grew rapidly. The love for TFA has been fading ever since it was released; TLJ was despised by nearly everyone and no fondness for it is growing; and TROS is a general 'meh' reaction meaning it is going to be forgotten about in a few years. That is a big difference; ANH and ESB made the love for STar Wars grow; everything since has been sucking the love away.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

As the first Star Wars movie I ever saw in cinemas, I thought it was the GREATEST THING EVER!!!!!!

[–] furiousstyles (4391) 5 years ago

i loved it , for a time it was my favorite star wars movie , remember as if it was yesterday.

[–] Threadkiller (3086) 5 years ago

All the OT films came out before I was born the so I was in the somewhat rare position of being a fan introduced to it when the popularity of Star Wars was at somewhat of a downturn right in the middle period between the OT and the PT. ROTJ resonated with me the most as a kid because for the first time we got to see Luke really cut loose as a lightsaber weilding Jedi in a way we hadn't seen in the previous films. It made me obsessed with lightsabers before I was ever truly a Star Wars fan.

As an adult however I've objectively come to see it as the weakest of OT films even with the excellent Luke/Vader/Emperor confrontation in the final act that IMO saved the film from relative mediocrity.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

I think it is somewhat the same for me; I was not old enough to see any of them in theaters, I was like around 2 when ROTJ came out; but I think ROTJ was either my favorite or second. For me as a kid ANH was my least favorite just because there is a lot of 'downtime' a slower pace and exposition scenes. In fact I remember as a kid I was not even interested in anything until Han Solo came on screen (I mean after the intro to VAder until that moment). As an Adult obviously that changed and I recognize the objective, ROTJ was definetly the weakest of the OT but still a solid movie and satisfying conclusion.

I would compare it to Endgame; flawed by satisfying way to end the series.