While The Empire Strikes Back was my first Star Wars movie, I was an eight year old boy when Return of the Jedi hit theaters and was exactly the right age to lose my mind over it. I'm not exaggerating when I say I saw it at the theater twenty times during its run. It was my primary babysitter during the summer of 1983. Even before the movie was released I remember sitting with my best friend and studying the Kenner action figure card backs with the upcoming figures in order to parse out story clues. What was a Gammorrean and why did it need to be guarded? It was the most toyetic of all the OT movies with more creatures, aliens, vehicles and more of just everything Star Wars.
The movie, however, leaves quite a bit to be desired. While it starts out strong with a fun section revolving around the rescue of Han Solo and is enjoyable for carrying both trilogies through to a satisfying ending, a lot of the movie feels lazy and uninspired. Much of the problem with the movie is in the fact that it rehashes elements of its predecessors. Jabba's Palace is an opportunity to do a bigger and better version of the Cantina scene. The movie's climax involves an attack on another Death Star but faster and with more ships. The movie feels a little samey.
And then there's the Ewoks. While the Stormtroopers have never been terribly effective, to see the Emperor's "best troops" easily dispatched by a bunch of teddy bears armed with rocks and sticks kind of ruins them and diminishes the Empire as a force for evil. The whole sequence-which is pivotal to the movie and trilogy-is silly when it needs to be serious.
The combination of a weak script which seems confused about what to do with its characters and a lot of actors phoning in their performances hobbles the movie. Ford and Fisher have traded in their great Empire Strikes Back chemistry for a vague romantic relationship which veers into a truly dumb and adolescent love triangle with Luke. I don't know how the carbonite affected Han Solo but he is really dopey in this movie. The two share a scene in the Ewok village that nears Attack of the Clones levels of melodrama.
However, like any Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi is more than the sum of its flaws. There is a lot to like about the movie and it still holds up as a rousing space opera adventure. While very derivative of Star Wars, the space battle at the end of the movie is truly spectacular. The Endor speeder bike chase also holds up as a terrific sequence which makes me sad that the movie has yet to make its way to a 3D presentation.
Perhaps Jedi's greatest contribution to the Star Wars mythos is Jabba the Hutt, a character who is among the series' most iconic. I am certainly not a practical effects fetishist (I wouldn't be sad to see the Yoda Muppet replaced) but the giant puppet that brought Jabba to life is one of cinema's greatest and most successful creatures. It holds up astonishingly well and could hardly be improved upon.
In terms of its connections to the larger saga, Return of the Jedi ties up storylines from all five of its predecessors and particularly connects to and reflects The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith (Ring Theory!), where Luke and Anakin's journeys strongly parallel one another. Most noticeably, Anakin's encounter with Dooku at the beginning of Sith on Grievous' ship strongly mirrors Luke and Vader's duel on the Death Star with Palpatine presiding over both.
Jedi also brings back prequel mainstay Palpatine in the flesh. He has lured Luke to him to test him against Vader and also caught the Rebels in a trap by feeding them bad information. Classic Palapatine! It's good to see that he is still doing what he loves.
Jedi has some of the more controversial Special Edition changes. Jabba's palace gets a new musical number which replaces "Lapti Nek," which is not bad but some of the ostentatious CG could have been toned down. The The Sarlacc gets CGI tentacles and a beak which is cool and makes it a little more active than just a toothy hole. The horrible There are some nice subtle touches added to the Blurays, such as a Dug skulking around Jabba's palace and blinking eyes on the Ewoks.
The movie's finale gets perhaps the biggest changes. The music on the Endor celebration has changed to a more somber and epic song befitting the conclusion of the saga and no takes us to the Empire's fall on several locations we have visited in the saga.
Perhaps the most controversial change is the swap of the original actor who played Anakin's ghost with Hayden Christensen which, on some level, is a hilarious troll to the original trilogy fundamentalist crowd. The argument against this is usually something like "How dare they replace that guy who was in the movie for two minutes with the guy who played that character in two movies! I loved what's his face! Childhood! Ruined!"
Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter
The movie's finale gets perhaps the biggest changes. The music on the Endor celebration has changed to a more somber and epic song befitting the conclusion of the saga and no takes us to the Empire's fall on several locations we have visited in the saga.
Perhaps the most controversial change is the swap of the original actor who played Anakin's ghost with Hayden Christensen which, on some level, is a hilarious troll to the original trilogy fundamentalist crowd. The argument against this is usually something like "How dare they replace that guy who was in the movie for two minutes with the guy who played that character in two movies! I loved what's his face! Childhood! Ruined!"
Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter
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