The greatest saga in cinematic history - Return of the Jedi Reviews

The following is my response to my friend commenting on the shallowness of the characters in relation to the special effects. Here's my take: It may have been universal in themes, good v. evil being the most obvious. "Opposites attract" rings true in this saga as well. Han & Leia could not be further apart in background. Remember the scene (one of my favorite) when they were in the "hunk of junk" fixing the hyperspeed in the belly of the beast? (Well, they didn't know they were in a belly, but they found out soon enough.) He says to her, "I think you like me because I'm a scoundrel." He is a scoundrel, & she is a princess who is forced in situations that require people's attention to be diverted elsewhere other than on her. Thus, I cannot argue that the themes are universal, but are they shallow? I found the character development to be deep, deep enough that I was captured from the get go. Take the love affair between Han & Leia (again). You see them go from strangers to two very real people who are developing feelings for each other & don't know what to do with them. They first become quite apparent when Han is preparing to leave Hoth without her. She objects, but she never gives the real reason, but he knows it. She knows that he knows it, & he knows that she knows it. As it turns out, he never gets to leave without her. At that point, I think he would have found it hard to do so, anyway, even if he could have followed through with his original plans. I was drawn into their adventures together. When they kissed before he got sealed in that box, I was right there with them. Of course, there are other characters & other story lines stemming from the other characters, such as Luke, but I always was drawn to Han & Leia the most. There is nothing shallow about how they fell for each other over time. My childhood was not a happy one generally speaking. When I watched this film, I escaped into another world where I came alive. I became Leia, & I sure as hell felt the kisses they exchanged. When she saved him from Jabba the Hut, I had tears in my eyes when she said, "Someone who loves you." Then, of course, Jabba the Hut captures her & makes her wear that beautiful bikini on her then-awesome body. Of course, the music scores & the special effects definitely add to the movie's greatness. I agree that it would not have been the same if the special effects had not been so awesome. I simply cannot understand why shallow would be used in any sense of the word to describe this film, the one that carried me away with it "a long, long time ago."