I don’t really remember exactly what I thought of this when it came out, but I’m sure my sophisticated fourteen year old brain thought “this lacks the subtlety and nuance of The Empire Strikes Back- it’s leaning too hard into the fantasy action tropes that Star wars so deftly homages.” Except I probably condensed that to “this is dumb.”
I watched it last night, and my main thought was “OH YEAH! THIS IS RAD!” Sure, I could expand on that and talk about the wholehearted embrace of serial archetypes, the intricate costume and set design, and of course the roaring score by Queen, but I’m old enough to know my original response is the most honest.
And every shot of blessed Brian Blessed is pure gold.