“Return of the Jedi” Review
“Return of the Jedi” sees Luke Skywalker (Right) confront his father Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones, to bring balance to the Force.
Hollywood loves its trilogies. From the “Planet of the Apes” films to the “Back to the Future” trilogy, three just seems to be the magic number for a series of films mainly because it is an elongated version of a three act structure. In a film’s story, you have a beginning, middle and end. However, imagine making three films that not only have a three act structure, but also make each film one piece of a larger story.
The point is that trilogies are hard to pull off and after two groundbreaking films, “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” expectations were high for “Return of the Jedi.” While not as amazing as the first two films, “Return of the Jedi” is still a great conclusion to the original “Star Wars” trilogy and has some of the finest moments of any film in the franchise.
Taking place one year after “The Empire Strikes Back,” the film sees Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3PO, played by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels respectively, come together to free Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, from the hands of Jabba the Hutt.
After Han is saved, the Rebels discover that the Empire has built a second Death Star, bigger and more powerful than the first. They also find out that both Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones, and Emperor Palpatine, played by Ian McDirmand, will be overseeing the construction of the battle station.
Seeing this as an opportunity to destroy the Empire and end the war, our heroes prepare to destroy the station with Han, Leia, Luke, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 going to the forest moon that the Death Star orbits to destroy a shield generator that protects the station. Once the shield is lifted, Lando can lead an attack of starships on the Death Star to (what else?) fly inside of it and blow it up.
However, Luke separates himself from his friends and purposefully gets captured so he can go to the Death Star and confront Vader, believing there’s good in his father. Once he’s on the station, Luke meets the Emperor and he is tempted to join the dark side of the Force resulting in an epic confrontation of father and son.
While this seems like an incredible conclusion, my biggest problem with this film is that the plot detours quite a bit. The scene at Jabba’s palace, while interesting, goes on for way too long. I explained what happens in just one sentence, but, by the time Han is rescued and the heroes leave Tatooine, 40 minutes have gone by.
This is because the film really takes its time when it comes to rescuing Han Solo. At first it looks like Leia, disguised as a bounty hunter, is going to rescue Han after unfreezing him from carbonite. But Jabba captures her and puts her in the iconic slave outfit. Then Luke enters the palace and defeats a giant monster and it appears that our heroes have won. But then all of our heroes are captured and are taken to an even larger monster resulting in an exciting action sequence which sees Jabba getting murdered by Leia and all of our heroes escape.
So if this sequence detours from the main plot, why do so many fans, including myself, enjoy it? That’s because Jabba is a cool character. He’s a disgusting gangster slug who has a rocking alien band, monsters for pets and is friends with Boba Fett, played by Jeremy Bulloch, one of the coolest characters in “Star Wars.”
While the scene goes on for too long, the escape from Jabba’s palace is fun to watch just because of how vile Jabba (Center) is.
Besides the Jabba sequence, there are a few other scenes that distract from the main plot like a chase scene where Luke and Leia get on a speeder and chase down some Stormtroopers. Our heroes also get caught by Ewoks, a race of little bear-like creatures, on the forest moon who think that C3PO is a god because of his golden coverings. Eventually, the Ewoks do help our heroes defeat the Empire but, for a while, it seems like this species only serves to distract from the plot.
However, while this film has a lot of filler, “Return of the Jedi” has some of the finest scenes of any of the “Star Wars” films. One example occurs when Luke meets a dying Yoda, puppeted and voiced by Frank Oz, who tells Luke that Darth Vader is indeed his father. This is especially mind blowing because, back when the films were first released, many people thought that Darth Vader was lying when he told Luke that he was his father.
That means audiences speculated for three years before they were told the truth so this scene has a large amount of weight to the story. Following this scene, the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, tells Luke that Leia is his twin sister which completely changes the relationship between our heroes.
The entire film, like “The Empire Strikes Back,” seeks to evolve the main characters. When we see Luke Skywalker enters Jabba’s palace in a cloak and a black suit, this isn’t the wide-eyed Luke from “Star Wars” or the emotional fighter from “The Empire Strikes Back.” Luke has become strong in the Force and is someone to be reckoned with. Also, he’s got a green lightsaber which I love a lot more than his original blue saber.
Han and Leia continue to grow their romance and Leia even gets a more action-oriented persona as she helps lead an attack against stormtroopers. One scene shows Han held at gunpoint by Stormtroopers and Leia subtly shows her blaster, implying that she’s going to save Han. Han says to Leia, “I love you” and Leia says “I know” before she blasts the two Stormtroopers which is a great role-reversal of their declaration of love in “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Even Lando gets a bit more evolution as he goes from a difficult to trust scoundrel in “The Empire Strikes Back” to a respected general who leads the attack on the Death Star by piloting the Millenium Falcon.
I also enjoy just how diverse the Rebellion is in this film. The first two films mainly had an all male, human roster, but here, there are women and alien creatures present. Not only does this make the Rebellion more believable, but it also helps evolve the universe.
Much like “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Return of the Jedi” had triple the budget of “Star Wars” which allowed for more spectacular visual effects than in the original films. “Return of the Jedi” has some of the finest action sequences in the entire franchise including the climactic Battle of Endor which juxtaposes an epic space-battle between Rebel starfighters, Imperial Star Destroyers and the second Death Star with a ground battle between Rebel/Ewok forces and Imperial walkers.
The finest part of the film is when Luke gets captured and is taken before Vader and the Emperor. When Luke confronts Vader, there’s a real sense of tension and dread as he’s tempted to join the dark side. One of the most eire shots of the entire “Star Wars” franchise occurs when Luke and Vader lock lightsabers and the Emperor is in the middle, laughing. From this shot, we know just who is controlling everything.
This shot of Emperor Palpatine, played by Ian McDirmand, is not only one of the creepiest shots in “Star Wars,” but also shows just how the Emperor has been manipulating both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
When Darth Vader taunts Luke by saying if Luke won’t turn then Leia will, Luke snaps and becomes a whirlwind of rage. Throughout the sequence, you’re hoping that Luke comes to his senses and the only thing that causes him to snap is when he cuts his father’s hand off and sees that it is mechanical which causes him to think ‘I’m becoming my father.’
Not only does it tie back into the vision Luke had in “The Empire Strikes Back,” but the scene is made more effective when Luke says to the Emperor that he will never join the dark side. This results in Vader killing the Emperor to save his son, redeeming one of the most iconic villains of all time. When Vader asks Luke to take off his mask so he can see him with his own eyes, the entire scene is filled with so much emotion and Sebastian Shaw, who portrays Vader when the mask is removed, delivers a magnificent performance.
By the time the film ended, everything just felt right. The Rebels won, the Empire was defeated and the Jedi had returned to the galaxy. While “Return of the Jedi” isn’t as strong as the first two films in the original trilogy, it remains a fantastic film and an incredible conclusion to three amazing films. However, while most audiences back in 1983 thought that “Star Wars” was over, the saga had only begun.
