Luke is no more a hypocrite than any large number of movie heroes. And I think you can set him apart from prequel-Anakin based on intent/goal. Anakin went on a murder spree in the name of senseless killing. Luke went on a murder spree to fight the Empire. We can, of course, get into the details on how ethical that is and whether that's any more or less "evil", but Anakin's behavior is a great deal less grey.

And Luke's sudden growth in the Force is somewhat accounted for by the fact that, supposedly, there was a great deal of time and untold "plot" that happened between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, that we don't get to hear about until after the movies came out. Of course, that could have totally been made up by Lucas after the fact. but it may not of. I also don't think this is any more unusual than any other similar situations in most fantasy/sci-fi heroes.



As another side note, about Anakin as Darth Vader and him bowing to people like Tarkin and constantly being told what to do...I think that, partially because of always being told what to do, Anakin/Vader NEEDS that kind of "strong guidance". I get the impression that if he didn't have it, he'd sit like a lump and not really do much of anything, except whatever impulses he had at that exact point in time.