Film Review: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

• Publisher: 20th Century Fox
• Production Studio: Lucasfilm
• Release: 25 May 1983
• Genre: Action, Science-fiction
• Director: Richard Marquand
• Producer: Howard Kazanjian
• Writers: Lawrence Kasdan (Screenplay), George Lucas (Screenplay/Story)

Previously on the SDP, I reviewed Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, in anticipation of the new movie coming out.  And now, the saga continues.

Previously on Star Wars, our heroes of the Rebel Alliance narrowly avoided capture by the Galactic Empire, with the exception of smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), who was frozen in carbonite and delivered to Jabba the Hutt, a slug-like mobster.  The film starts with our heroes, including Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).  Leia does manage to find and revive Han, but gets caught in doing so, and is taken as Jabba's slave.  You know what's coming next.

You're welcome.  In fact, this fanservice almost, nearly almost, makes up for the musical scene done for the Special Edition onward, which is one of the most excruciatingly painful moments I've ever had to sit through in all of Star Wars.  And this coming from a guy who... kind of likes Jar Jar Binks, just a little bit!  But I'll deal with the Special Editions in a separate article.  For now, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) bursts in and tries to negotiate for his friends' release.  It does not end well; first, he falls into a trap and has to fight off a big monster, which he does.  That taken care of, he and his friends are "rewarded" by being taken out into the desert for execution.  They work together to survive the trap, and bring down Jabba while at it.  It is a scene of swashbuckling satisfaction, although one wishes they gave a more climactic send-off to Boba Fett.

After that burst of excitement, the movie takes a break when Luke diverges to Dagobah, the swamp planet, intending to pick up on his Jedi training where he left off in The Empire Strikes Back.  He returns, only to find his master Yoda on his deathbed.  Before the old Jedi expires, he confirms to Luke that Darth Vader is indeed his father, as well as that he has a sister, whom Luke deduces correctly is none other than Leia.  As with the same scenes in The Empire Strikes Back, this moment is slow on action, but pay attention and you'll really get a feel for the stakes at hand.

When Luke finally returns to the other heroes of the rebellion, they plan a new operation to bring down the Empire.  There is a second Death Star under construction over the forest moon of Endor, which is personally being overseen by Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones) and the Emperor himself.  It is protected by a shield generator on Endor's surface, so Luke, Han, and Leia lead a strike team to shut it down.  If they can do that, a fighter squadron led by Lando will swoop in and destroy the Death Star II from within.  Upon landing on Endor, the good guys engage in a speeder-bike chase through the forest, which features some nifty backgrounds shot with time-lapse photography, and run into the planet's natives, a tribe of tiny, furry, teddybear-like creatures called Ewoks.

I have nothing against the Ewoks themselves, but their scenes do drag down the plot.

Back in the good old days, Return of the Jedi was seen by fans as the "bad" Star Wars movie, and the presence of the Ewoks is an oft-cited reason for such.  I imagine their heavy merchandising back in the day didn't help matters.  They had their own cartoon, for the Force's sake!  Of course, now that the prequels are a thing, and the franchise has moved onto bigger and badder things, the Ewok hate seems to have died down.  Maybe it's because I grew up during that post-prequel period, but I never had a problem with the little guys.  Yeah, they do try to kill our heroes at first, and that misunderstanding is kind of a jerk move on their part.  And some of their scenes bring the action down again, without the plot significance of the Luke-and-Yoda scenes.  But, at least, the Ewoks pull their weight in a battle against Imperial reinforcements, taking down Stormtroopers and even a few walker mechs with makeshift wooden weapons.  Implausible, maybe, but establishing the heroes as underdogs, facing a vast power gulf between them and the villains, makes for dashing good storytelling.

Supporting characters like Han, Leia, and Lando have less character development than in the previous films, now that they've been firmly established.  Fortunately, all that evolution has gone to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.  Once on Endor, Luke surrenders himself to Vader and is brought before the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid).  The Emperor taunts Luke with the impending failure of the Rebel's attack, and dares him to treat him with a lightsaber facial, as it were, but Luke holds out as long as he can.  At first, I never realised why Luke wouldn't just kill the Emperor and get it over with.  Not only does the Rebel Alliance want him out of the picture, but he's also the pre-eminent Sith (the evil branch of Jedi) Lord of the times.  But after having watched Return of the Jedi again after reviewing its predecessor, I finally get it.  It was a test to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side of the Force.  Surely a good Jedi wouldn't kill someone with such a passion as the Emperor tries to evoke, assuming it's okay for them to kill at all.  As for the whole "getting himself killed" thing, maybe he was counting on Darth Vader to protect him, which indeed he does.  But even if Luke was actually to kill the Emperor in such a manner, it would only lead to him taking control of the Sith, essentially moving the universe from suck to different suck.

Return of the Jedi takes themes from Empire and turns them up a notch.

This theme had already been explored in The Empire Strikes Back, but is taken even further here.  Just as the Emperor tries to draw out the darkness in Luke, Luke in turn tries to draw out the light in Darth Vader.  In the end, it is Vader who finally kills the Emperor, dumping him down one of those bottomless pits that litter the Star Wars worlds for some reason, and then only out of a desire to protect his son.  Sure, he himself dies from his injuries, but As Vader himself said, "the circle is now complete".  And then he reincarnates as his twenty-something self because... the will of the Force?

Oh, and the shield around the Death Star II finally goes down, allowing Lando and the other pilots to fly inside the half-finished space station and destroy it from the core.  The space battle that takes place in this movie is basically an evolution of A New Hope's capstone conflict, but the grander scale makes a world of difference.  We get to see far more ships on-screen at once, zooming in and out of hyperspace, and executing more complex maneouvres.  They even find a way to bring down one of those giant Star Destroyers, a little moment which is both clever and heavy on impact.  When we first met Industrial Light and Magic they were but the learner, now they are the master.  ...Only a master of special effects, but still.

As for Return of the Jedi as a whole?  After the one-two punch of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, it's hard for this three-quel not to feel like a disappointment.  However, watching those movies beforehand may help you better appreciate its strengths.  The pacing does feel like a roller coaster throughout much of the run time, with more than a few slower moments throughout.  Return of the Jedi is a good ten minutes longer than either of the first two films, and one wonders if maybe some scenes deserved to be cut.  I, for one, would start with the Max Rebo Band scene because, like, gag me with a spoon!  But valley-girl-speak-inducing rage aside, Return of the Jedi offers a mighty payoff for the end of a mighty trilogy.

Positives:
+ An expansion of The Empire Strikes Back's theme of moral duality.
+ More intense and creative battle scenes.
+ Leia's slave outfit.  'Nuff said.

Negatives:
- Some characters have more development than others.
- The pace drops a bit much in the middle.
- The Special Edition changes are, IMO, the worst out of the trilogy.

Acting: 4 Ewoks out of 5
Writing: 3 Ewoks out of 5
Special Effects: 5 Ewoks out of 5
Visual Design: 5 Ewoks out of 5
The Call: 85% (B+)