Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi Review

Rated PG (Sci-Fi Action Violence)

Running Time: 2 Hours & 15 Minutes

Cast:
Mark Hamill-Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher-Princess Leia Organa
Harrison Ford-Han Solo
Billy Dee Williams-Lando Calrissian
Peter Mayhew-Chewbacca
James Earl Jones (voice)-Darth Vader
Ian McDiarmid-Emperor Palpatine
Frank Oz (voice)-Yoda
Anthony Daniels-C-3PO
Kenny Baker-R2-D2
Warwick Davis-Wicket W. Warrick
Tim Rose-Admiral Ackbar
Kenneth Colley-Admiral Firmus Piett
Alec Guinness-Obi-Wan Kenobi
Denis Lawson-Wedge Antilles/Red Leader
Hayden Christensen-Anakin Skywalker

Directed by Richard Marquand

Father and son confront each other in "Return of the Jedi."

George Lucas completed his epic space opera in 1983 with “Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi,” though he wasn’t finished with the story yet as evidenced by the prequels. Like “The Empire Strikes Back,” Lucas decided not to helm the film and since he was unable to hire his good friend Steven Spielberg after leaving the Director’s Guild of America, he settled for Welsh director Richard Marquand. Episode V was a hard act to follow and as expected, Lucas wasn’t up to the task. This is by no means an indication that the film is terrible, in fact it is an excellent and dramatically satisfying conclusion to a franchise that have touched the hearts and minds of many and changed American cinema forever. The main problem of “Return of the Jedi” is the cutesy factor, which is somewhat jarring considering the serious nature of the film. Still, all the plotlines were resolved and Lucas once again ups the ante in special effects, providing one of the most epic space battles to ever grace the silver screen.

One year after the events of “The Empire Strikes Back,” Han Solo (Harrison Ford), still frozen in carbonite, is taken by the fearsome bounty hunter Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine. Unwilling to let his friend spend the rest of life as a decoration on a wall, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), now a fully trained Jedi Knight, devises a daring rescue plan along with Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). Leia, disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, gains entrance to Jabba’s palace with Chewbacca pretending to be her prisoner. When everyone has fallen asleep that night, Leia frees Han from the carbonite but Jabba wakes up and captures them both. Luke arrives the next day to persuade Jabba to let his friends go or suffer dire consequences. The Hutt refuses to bargain and pressing a button, Luke falls to an underground chamber that is home to a vicious Rancor. Fortunately, Luke lures the beast under the gate of its cage and throws a rock at the button, activating the gate and crushing it. Furious at this turn of events, Jabba decrees that Luke, Han and Chewbacca be tossed into the Great Pit of Carkoon, which is home to a man-eating Sarlacc. Traveling through the Dune Sea on Jabba’s Sail Barge, Luke is forced to walk the plank but not before giving a salute to R2-D2 (Kenny Baker). He suddenly leaps into the air and grabs his newly-constructed lightsaber, throwing everything in chaos. Leia strangles Jabba to death and the rescue attempt is successful. With his friend back, Luke returns to Dagobah to see Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz), while Han and Leia meet up with the rest of the Rebel Alliance fleet on Sullust. On Dagobah, Yoda confirms that Darth Vader (voice of James Earl Jones) is Luke's father. With his dying breath, he reminds Luke to remember what he has learned and pass it on to future Jedi. He also reveals that there is another Skywalker but finally succumbs to old age and becomes one with the Force. Meanwhile, the Galactic Empire has built a new, more powerful Death Star in orbit over the forest moon of Endor. Vader and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) arrive via Imperial Shuttle to oversee the final stages of its construction so that they can crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all and turn Luke toward the dark side of the Force. However, the Rebels manage to obtain the schematics of this new Death Star thanks to a group of Bothan spies. Since the battle station is protected by a deflector shield on the surface, Han will lead a strike team to disable it while Lando and Admiral Ackbar (Tim Rose) will lead the main fleet and try to destroy the Death Star by blowing up its main reactor. Luke and Leia accompany Han to destroy the shield generator but run into trouble when they are captured by the planet’s furry natives, called Ewoks. They soon manage to gain their trust thanks to C-3PO, whom the Ewoks believe is a god. As Han prepares to destroy the deflector shield and the Rebel fleet arrives to destroy the new Death Star, Luke confronts his father, Darth Vader, one final time in a desperate attempt to save him from the dark side. He must also contend with the powerful Emperor and destroy him in order to free the galaxy from his iron grip.

Most of the time, the third part in a series ends up being the weakest and this holds true here but I feel “Return of the Jedi” is an underrated film. It was not as terrible as some fans made it out to be and certainly not as bad as the crap we get from Hollywood nowadays. For a brief time, the film used the subtitle “Revenge of the Jedi” as co-writer Lawrence Kasdan felt the original was too weak. However, since Jedi do not take revenge, it was reverted back to “Return of the Jedi” a few weeks before its release. With this final film, Lucas neatly wraps up all the plotlines from both the prequel and original trilogies; Darth Vader finally turns from the dark side and fulfills the prophecy of bringing balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. Whether you like it or not, the prequels have changed the way we analyze the original trilogy because the entire saga revolves around Anakin Skywalker, not Luke. The moment that Vader becomes Anakin once more is reminiscent of his fall in “Revenge of the Sith.” As he watches his son in agony while Palpatine unleashes a torrent of Sith Lightning, he is again faced with a choice. Anakin fell to the dark side because he was unable to accept the fact that his loved ones will eventually die and Palpatine exploited this. Yet this time, he can save his son and in the end, he made the right choice.

However, some of the emotional depth of that moment is taken away by the inclusion of Ewoks. They are pretty much walking teddy bears wielding Stone Age technology. The problem arises when Palpatine says that he sent his ‘best troops’ to stop Han from destroying the deflector shield. How was it even possible for the Ewoks to defeat the legion of Stormtroopers and AT-STs roaming about using nothing but rocks and spears? You could argue that it was perseverance and that the Ewoks had greater numbers but the ground battle on Endor is a little hard to swallow, even by “Star Wars” standards. Originally, Lucas intended to use the Wookies but since they were already technology adept, he created a less advanced race to defeat the Empire. Looking at it pragmatically, the Ewoks were not as annoying as Jar Jar and they ended up being an endearing lot. Another bone of contention is the revelation that Leia is Luke’s twin sister. Some critics felt that Lucas was ‘making it up as he goes along’ and that Leia was not originally intended to have any familial ties to Luke. Others called it a cheap cop-out of the love triangle between Han, Luke, and Leia. Personally, I don’t have an issue with this but it does make the romantic tension in the previous films look, well, incestuous. Once again Lucas lets his imagination run wild with a huge assortment of aliens on-screen in Jabba’s Palace from the dim-witted Gamorrean guards to Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band. Many of them only appeared for a split-second and part of the joy of watching “Star Wars” for me is trying to identify as many as I can. Despite its drawbacks, the issues with “Return of the Jedi” are minor compared to Episodes I and II and it remains an amazing film that succeeds in the uneasy task of providing closure to one of the most celebrated science fiction franchises of the past three decades.

The acting is the strongest yet with Mark Hamill as a more mature, confident Luke Skywalker. The Luke we knew from Episodes IV and V would not have devised the daring rescue plan for Han Solo, showing how far he has grown. Carrie Fisher plays a more serious-minded Leia but what most people remember the most is the skimpy slave girl outfit she wore. She briefly became a sex symbol and was immortalized by many male and female nerds, her costume becoming a popular fixture in comic book conventions. Harrison Ford is still cocky and over-confident as Han Solo but he’s now fully committed to the Rebel cause instead of looking out for himself as he did originally. Emperor Palpatine makes his first appearance, played by Ian McDiarmid. With the appearance of a frail old man, he initially does not seem like much of a threat until he unleashes the full extent of his dark side powers at Luke in the final minutes of the film.

Since this is the last film, Lucas brought out all the stops to create as epic an ending as he could and the space battle over Endor is a visual treat. Rebel cruisers face off with Imperial Star Destroyers while X-Wings trade laser blasts with an endless supply of TIE Fighters. Han’s rescue is also impressive as Luke makes short work of Jabba’s guards but the final duel between father and son isn’t very memorable. Granted, Luke didn’t want to fight and acted in self-defense. As in the other films in the original trilogy, changes were introduced in the 1997 re-release and 2004 DVD edition. Major additions include the dance number in Jabba’s Palace with a CG Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza, and the ending, where scenes of celebration on Cloud City, Mos Eisley and Coruscant are shown following the destruction of the second Death Star. For the DVD version, a scene of celebration on Naboo was inserted and the Galactic Senate and Jedi Temple were added in the background on Coruscant. The final scenes of the film were also changed with Hayden Christensen replacing Sebastian Shaw as Anakin Skywalker. This proved controversial with some fans but Lucas’ explained that after Anakin redeemed himself, he returned to his persona before he turned to the dark side when he became one with the Force. Again, the restoration work had color errors with Vader’s lightsaber, which appears pink in some scenes.

“Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi” was released on May 25, 1983 to positive reviews but critics agreed that it was the weakest film of the trilogy. The film currently holds 77% on Rotten Tomatoes and at the 1984 Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Art Direction, Sound and Sound Editing, and Music but only won Special Achievement in Visual Effects. Counting all releases, “Return of the Jedi” grossed $309 million domestic and $475 million worldwide. There really is nothing more to say about the “Star Wars” saga as everything that needed to be said has already been said but with this film and the prequels, George Lucas has finally completed the story he set out to tell that has taken up the better part of twenty-eight years to finish. There have been ups and downs but “Star Wars” will remain as popular as ever, a crowning achievement in science fiction storytelling that we will never see again. George Lucas, I salute you!

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5

"Never. I'll never turn to the dark side. You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."