I liked Lynch Dune part I more than Villeneuve. There is no Lynch part II to compare part II to. I liked the second part I know people complained about the changes to Chani from the book.
I also liked the sci fi mini series all those years ago and the Children of Dune follow up.
Return of the Jedi is where the prequel rot started to set in, i still enjoy the movie but not the rough patches. And Darth is way weaker in that movie than The Empire Strikes Back and Han and Leia have pretty much nothing to do. The rescue of Han Solo makes no sense but i enjoy the movie serial silliness of it. All except the whiffle bat lightsaber that causes no damage to the aliens Luke is fighting over the pit of Carkoon. No one loses an arm or a hand or a head.
There are some impressive set pieces Jabba’s sail barge, Jabba’s palace. The Death Star II. The Ewok Village. Then you have unbelivable fake stuff like the Matte painting of the Falcon in the Rebel Hangar. Instead of a full size built Falcon.
The Redwoods provide a unique setting for the rebels to chase stormtroopers on Speeders and you believe in the action that they could crash into a tree.
The Space Battle. at the end still hasn’t been topped. I like the chorus and and the part with the lightsaber duel and Luke fighting Vader, but it has nothing on the duel at Bespin, and Vader fights like a weak and already defeated opponent. He is only winning when Luke refuses to fight. The fight is very one sided.
The version with Leia as Queen of her people and Han dead would have been poignant, but would have angered parents and disappointed children and you can’t sell dead Han toys. Leia ends up alone, Luke ends up alone. They both find their duty is separate from their circle of friends. No screenplay for this version exists, we but rely on Gary Kurtz recollection of the early idea for the third film. Han died in his attack on an imperial base. He survived Carbon Freezing just to bite it. As a kid I would have felt cheated if Han killed in such a lame way, I felt the same way in Force Awakens.
The film is an incomplete experience without Lapti Nek, Yub Yub or Sebastian Shaw as Ghost Anakin. I refuse to watch the later versions. I intensely dislike the version with Hayden at the end. I hate Jedi Rocks, and Victory Celebration sounds like an incomplete temp track piece. The Ewoks singing is much more mythological and fits with Threepio storytelling earlier in the movie. They’ve added themselves to the story by helping to fight the Empire.
