Following the premiere of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, George Lucas was on top of the world. On top of launching his dream project the Star Wars trilogy, he'd even found time to launch the Indiana Jones series starting with Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was a worthy and riotous follow up to the Wars films, and remains the most thoroughly entertaining popcorn film of all time. Yet even with such a great new iconic franchise being brought to life, the entire world impatiently waited for the grand finale to the series that made Lucas such a household name in the first place.
Despite Empire’s initially mixed critical reception, it rightfully received stronger notices on re-evaluation years later, and served as a proper set up to grander things to come. Such things would finally come to pass three years later in Return of the Jedi (originally titled Revenge of the Jedi), where the trio of Luke, Han, and Leia would band together one more time in one last assault against the Imperial forces. It was nothing short of the grandest finale for Star Wars… until The Phantom Menace rolled along… and now the saga is about to continue once more, but I digress.
So with all that excitement, did the film live up to its
expectations? For the most part, yes it did. Once again, it continually
developed the characters and previously established lore and worlds, and gave
us an epic last action hurrah, though not without some stumbles along the way.
Set a year after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi
knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) leads a daring mission joined by Leia
Organa (Carrie Fisher) and Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) to rescue the
captured smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from the clutches of the vile
gangster Jabba the Hutt. After saving him, the rebels then attempt an attack
against a newly constructed Death Star over the forest planet of Endor. At the
same time, Luke discovers that his father, Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), is
aboard the massive space station, joined by his ruthless master The Emperor
(Ian McDiarmid) who plans to use Vader to seduce Luke to the dark side of the
Force, while the rebels attempt to destroy the space station and free the
galaxy.
Although it was a great success, when Return of the Jedi
released in theaters, many fans then and now often considered it to be the
black sheep of the original trilogy. Though it lacked nothing in the same scale
and characters that fans grew to love, its own occasional story deficiencies
were something of a disappointment for viewers. Perhaps it was a testament to
just how strong and how beloved Star Wars had become that this finale would be
held under especially tight scrutiny, but that’s not to say that the film is by
any means bad. It still remains a great film and a spectacular culmination of
the Star Wars universe… at least, until it kept continuing on.
After the bleaker tones of The Empire Strikes Back, Return
of the Jedi refreshingly returned to the lighter mood of the original Star Wars,
which was especially apparent in the film’s 35 minute opening stretch on
Tatooine, where the film unashamedly embraces a sort of Flash-Gordon style of
excitement and adventure, and featured more of the priceless banter and
meaningful relationships between the several main characters. This whole series
of sequences was a brilliant way of tying up several loose ends before the epic
assault on the Imperials, and quite honestly could have made for just as good a
solo short film. Though the following 100 minutes do have their hiccups, the
opening rescue appropriately made for a superb warm up for bigger things.
Once again, the characters are the strongest element, with
one of the more surprising cases being Luke. Comparing him to the once whiny
and impatient young boy wishing for more on Tatooine, all of his experiences,
triumphs, trauma, and sacrifices since then have evolved him in so many
meaningful ways. Now, he exudes such a calm and powerful presence, having
become a strong-willed leader, and a noble warrior. When seeing him, you can’t
help but think “Now this is a Jedi.” But even then, he’s still not entirely
without those older issues of his. Having been horrified to discover the truth
of his heritage in the last film, he’s come to accept it and deny it in so many
ways, gaining a desire to bring back the good and humanity he sees in his
father, but feeling afraid of the temptation of the Dark Side, and of the
scenario of being forced to strike him down.
In many ways, it becomes the Luke Skywalker show, tying up
all of the character’s loose ends, meaning that Han and Leia end up taking more
of a supporting role, but fittingly so. Their relationship continues to see its
ups and downs, and has many tender moments, and with so much invested in the
characters since the beginning, once the action is in full gear, we truly fear
for their lives as the movie progresses. Darth Vader continues to be (as far as
I’m concerned) the greatest villain in cinematic history, and very
refreshingly, this new entry gives the character much more humanity and empathy
than ever; with some of the best body language the character has had in the series.
He never lets us forget the evil underneath the surface, and yet we still root
for him to redeem himself and see the light again. Lando makes a return as well
leading the attack on the new Death Star, Yoda and Obi-Wan return in very brief
but crucial reappearances, and the sidekicks Chewbacca, C3PO, and R2D2 also
make a return. That said, bounty hunter Boba Fett’s conclusion feels very
anticlimactic, with the filmmakers almost underestimating the popularity of the
character.
In addition, we also finally get the reveal of Jabba after
two films worth of build up. I don’t care what the Special Editions try and
tell you, we did not see Jabba until this movie. This was time well spent, and
once we finally see him, we find ourselves both repulsed by his merciless
criminal acts, but also by his putrid physical appearance, and I mean that in
the best way. The effects work and puppetry of the Jabba character is some of
the most seamless, weighty, and lifelike in the saga. When looking at this
thing, you buy into the illusion that this disgusting monster is real.
Meanwhile, the film also introduced us to The Emperor,
briefly seen through a hologram in the previous film, and seen here in the
flesh played by Ian McDiarmid. The confrontation with this character had been
built up as early as the original film, and with the creep factor already set
up before his grand appearance, the waiting paid off. Taking more influence
from religious philosophy, the character’s terrifying presence and powerful
manipulation felt like a Satanic demon in his own right, intoxicating the very
Force surrounding him, and even had John Williams fit him with a demonic all
male choir accompaniment. The way that he entices and provokes Luke for
reaction just gives me goosebumps every time, making me even more fearful for
Luke’s life by the second. By no means is it a subtle performance, but
McDiarmid is just so incredible that it doesn’t matter.
Outside of the characters, however, the story was notably
shaky when compared to its predecessors. For many, the problem started once
things finally moved to the planet Endor. After the thrilling - if sometimes
exposition heavy – rescue on Tatooine, a suspenseful sequence where the rebels
have to go through security clearance to land on the planet, and a superb
speeder bike chase, many fans were divided as to how to feel about the
indigenous Ewoks, the most notable face belonging to Warwick Davis’ Wicket.
While certainly cute in appearance, their antics sometimes distracted from the
intensity of the action, and even the most die-hard Star Wars fans admitted to
the fact that they were added into the film to appeal to the children in the
audience. I’ve personally never found them unbearable, but the fact that such a
primitive species would be able to take on Imperial forces does seem a bit far-fetched,
and even set in motion the eventual creation of the series’ most despised
character, Jar Jar Binks.
Even when the Ewoks weren’t proving distracting, there were
still some non-negligible issues. One notable element about the franchise is
how, up until Attack of the Clones, each entry of Star Wars had multiplied the
amount of locations that their finales would take place in. The original film
had flawlessly built up entirely to the attack on the Death Star over Yavin,
and there was a lot of great focus and tension because of it. With The Empire
Strikes Back, there were two simultaneous finales between Leia and Lando’s
escape from the Empire and Luke’s duel with Vader, which was easily manageable
with them both taking place in such close proximity and keeping their momentum
up. With Return of the Jedi, we end up cross-cutting between three final
battles, with Luke facing off against the Emperor and Vader on the Death Star,
Han and Leia attempting to disable the shield protecting the station, and Lando
and the rebels destroying the station once the shield is down. That’s not to
say it was a terrible climax, in fact it’s quite exciting, but sometimes you
often find yourself waiting impatiently for your favorite of the three to
finally roll their way back around, and this problem would be even further
escalated in The Phantom Menace when the film cut between four different
battles with wildly different tones.
That said, they’re all still very entertaining finales. I
admit that the attack on the shield bunker is my least favorite of the three,
mainly due to the sometimes too cutesy Ewok scenes, but it’s still a lot of fun
seeing Han and Leia in the thick of the action. The space combat scenes are
such a rush, featuring some of the most seamless and swift blue screen and
miniature effects of the saga, and even gave us good old Admiral Ackbar’s
famous “It’s a Trap” line that launched a thousand memes.
By far my favorite of the three is Luke meeting the Emperor,
and facing off with Darth Vader one last time. With the amount of history
between these two, the ruthlessness of Vader as he tries to lure his son over
to the dark side, and Luke’s temptation at the hands of the Emperor’s snakelike
words and threats, there's a lot of tension continually escalating at every turn. It’s second to their showdown in the previous film as the
best lightsaber duel in the series, once again reinforcing the point that
lightsaber duels have less to do with the flashiness, and more to do with the
boiling emotion under the surface, which gets brought to heated extremes after
one of Vader’s threats, leading Luke to angrily pin him to the ground in
submission and weakness, and being enlightened and horrified by what he’s done,
before deciding that he won’t be seduced like his father was, now becoming a
true Jedi.
Also, for this next part of the review, I will be talking
about major spoilers, so read at your own risk.
This then leads into what is not only my favorite scene in
the Star Wars saga, but one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema. When Luke
refuses to turn to the Dark Side, The Emperor then proceeds to torture Luke
with his ability to create lightning, tormenting him with his venomous words
and killing him, all the while Vader stands by. As the atmosphere takes on some
deeply grim lighting, Luke thrashes in agonizing pain, and the demonic all male
choir keeps getting louder and louder, what really makes it so powerful is
Vader’s complete silence. It’s here where David Prowse’s body language was at
its most powerful, showing all of the intense conflict within Vader, and if
only for a few seconds, actually made that expressionless mask show emotion.
Finally having had enough, he grabs the Emperor with a triumphant rendition of
the Skywalker theme accompanying him, and throws him off the balcony and into
the station’s reactor core. This scene stuck with me more as a kid because it
was the complete package of atmospheric, intense, restrained, and just
triumphant when we finally saw this despicable figure of evil meet his end. It
continues to give me goosebumps no matter how many times I watch it.
And then when the film released on Blu-Ray in 2011, George
Lucas felt the need to tack on the “Noooo!” from Revenge of the Sith to hammer
home Vader’s conflict in BIG, BOLD, RED LETTERS. Gone was the subtlety of the
original scene, which was so powerful *because* of Vader’s silence. Why does
this man feel the need to add unnecessary bells and whistles to what’s already
perfect?! Just be glad that the Disney buyout means he can no longer do such a
thing ever again.
As for the general craft of the film, that was all just as
fantastic across the board. Admittedly, I think this film has the least
impressive effects of the trilogy, but even then it’s still impressive.
Sometimes the green screen in the background can be all too obvious, and a
couple creature designs aren’t anything to write home about (which would be
made even worse by the dated, tacky CGI that would be applied during the
Special Editions, which I did not take into consideration when writing these
reviews), but for every effect that doesn’t hold up, there are least eight or
ten that are among the best of the series, such as the seamless stop-motion and
puppetry of Jabba’s monster pet the Rancor, the space combat sequences, and
even the Ewoks feel like living, breathing creatures. The art-direction
continued to be astonishing, the sound design by Ben Burtt was just as varied
and accomplished as ever, and John Williams (unsurprisingly) managed to tie up
every last musical loose end with a lot of skill and memorability, from the
Ewok march to the Emperor’s haunting demonic tones.
And with that, I finally conclude my analysis of Return of
the Jedi. It certainly isn’t as good as the Star Wars films before that set the
precedent for the series, but it was still a suitably epic and satisfying wrap
up to the Star Wars mythology – again, before it would eventually continue. The
action and the characters were of the same high quality as to be expected,
featuring some of the most engaging developments in the entire saga, and some
deeply powerful emotions throughout. I don’t care if the film has problems,
because the things that work well work incredibly well and no amount of
missteps along the way would be able to damage it. It brought Star Wars no less
than the finest finale that it deserved, and it continues to stick with viewers
even to this day.
Even then, the eventual additions to the mythology were only
beginning…
****1/2 / *****
With that, I am finally up to date with my reviews of all six previous Star Wars, but I’m still not done with my retrospective yet. Next
week will see the long-awaited release of JJ Abrams’ hotly anticipated Episode
VII – The Force Awakens, and you can bet I’m hyped up to finally see it on
opening night. I’ll be reviewing that film next Saturday to bring my rundown of
the series so far to a close, and then make one more post finalizing my thoughts
on the overall saga and my hopes for the future, as well as make a couple side stops along the way. See you then…
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