Now, this review is going to be spoiler heavy, as this movie
does tie in with the other movie’s plot. You’ve been warned.
Return of the Jedi is the final Star Wars movie that came
out in 1983, the one everyone has been waiting for in really long time. They’ve
all wanted answers ever since the last movie The Empire Strikes Back, the one
where it ends with a cliffhanger, and the father and son relationship between
Darth Vader and Luke is still unclear. People are questioning whether what the
revelation Vader had revealed to Luke is true or not. Well, this movie is the
key to all answers, with everything coming to full circles.
The Pros
Luke Skywalker – Luke’s
personality trait has completely changed from the first and second movie. He’s
not a whiny brat anymore. He’s not a guy who always makes mistakes and fails
every test Yoda gives him. He’s now a Jedi.
Yes, Luke Skywalker is now a badass. Return of the Jedi is
the movie where I truly appreciated Luke’s character for the first time, and
the change of him is pretty shocking, just like Sandy from Grease. It’s
awesome, because we finally have another Jedi in the universe of Star Wars (the
original trilogy, I don’t count the prequels). Luke doesn’t sound whiny at all
in this movie. He took on a dark character, and accomplished most of his
training, and you finally see him use the force with ease! Hell, he even did
the Jedi mind trick on Bib Fortuna with ease.
“You will take me to see Jabba now.”
He even force choked some Gamorrean Guards, make a blaster
and his own lightsaber come zooming to his hand without having second
tries…see, Luke has come from a farm boy to a fully-fledged Jedi Knight. He’s
not useless anymore, he’s not weak, and he constructed himself a lightsaber,
and he was perfectly matched with Darth Vader in their second round of duel on
Death Star 2.0…loved Luke way more than I have expected. He redeemed his
character way more than he did from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.
The use of the color
Green – There’s more use of the color green than any Star Wars original
trilogy movies that existed. Let’s see: a green lightsaber, green leader during
The Battle of Endor, and the forest moon of Endor itself…
A green lightsaber?!
- First, let’s talk about the green lightsaber. Apparently, the production
company wanted to have a second blue lightsaber, but decided the blue skies of
Tatooine can make the lightsaber less eye-catching, so the next opposite
contrast of blue is green. I love the decision they made when they filmed the
scene from The Great Pit of Carkoon. I thought the lightsaber was eye-catching
in every level. Not only because before Return of the Jedi existed, I’ve always
thought it’s just red and blue lightsabers. Green lightsabers are great
additions to the saga.
The forest moon of Endor – It’s definitely very nice to see
the finale of the movie to take place around a planet surrounded by forests and
trees, giving us something we see a lot in our modern world, as well as helping
to create an atmosphere filled with shrouded secrecy, in such a wonder that we
audience are thinking about what lives around these forest grounds. Also, after
seeing a lot of deserts and ice lands and marshes and huge cities, I think finally
seeing a forest planet is a nice way to end the original trilogy.
The great pit of
Carkoon Sequence – That sequence was entertaining on a lot of levels.
Everyone is doing something, with Luke fighting off Jabba’s goons by deflecting
and reflecting their blaster bolts back to them, Han and Chewie trying to save
Lando from getting eaten by the Sarlacc, Leia (who surprisingly didn’t affect
me as much when I was a child when she was in her bikinis, mainly because she
didn’t create sexual tension and atmosphere around her) who was strangling
Jabba to death, R2-D2 saving C-3PO from Salicious Crumb…it was entertaining to
the very least.
Luke and Leia are
brothers and sisters?! – Another smaller revelation, after the reveal of
Vader being Luke’s father, is the truth that Luke and Leia were non-identical
twins separated after birth so the empire can’t find traces of them. Now, I
thought that is a very smart idea.
For one, we don’t need to have a love triangle between Leia,
Han and Luke anymore, since I don’t want the movie to get Twilight-ish, which
can be some indulgent cheese I will not find enjoyment in.
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| INCEST |
Secondly, it made sense to why Leia saw Luke under those
antennas underneath Cloud City. Leia is also one with the force. And how do we
make that possible? By making her tie in with the members of the Skywalker.
Also, it was another way to entice Luke to the dark side.
With Vader taunting Luke that if he wouldn’t fall for the dark side, Leia might
turn. Luke loved Leia as well, before even he knew she was his sibling, so that
was a nice plot device to be used in this movie.
The space battle of
Endor – It was the grandest space dogfight I have ever seen in the original
trilogy. It was a nice adaptation of the Death Star Assault, except this time,
it was much more claustrophobic, with a lot of explosions occurring, and it
actually felt like a real space battle. The battle between cruisers and a lot
of new additions to the vehicles being used by both the Rebellion and the
Empire made up a really solid fight. Space isn’t as empty as it was before, so
that was nice.
The special effects used in that scene blew me away, and is
probably one of the only redeeming special effects that made up for the entire
movie, and I will be talking about some other special effects on my other
section.
The Emperor – We
first met him in The Empire Strikes Back, as we truly see who Vader took orders
from. We finally get to see him in real life on the big screen, and here is
what we got.
He’s an old man who looks ugly. I mean really, really ugly.
You see his brain bulge out, the skin of the Emperor showed all the veins that
popped out in his face…and you finally get to know what kind of man he is.
He is the man, that started all this; the extinction of the
Jedi, the fall of the Galactic Republic, the one who turned Anakin Skywalker
into Darth Vader, the one who made the Galactic Empire. He is the mastermind
behind all this. Now he is there to entice Luke to the dark side, turning
father against son, knowing that Luke might fail and join the place at his
side. He is a smart man, and I really like the villain of him, as you can see he
is much more evil than Vader. He has absolutely no empathy. He IS the dark
side. He’s an amazing addition to the Star Wars Original Trilogy, and probably
the best part in the prequels.
An emotional roller
coaster – Things get really emotional between Luke and Vader. This feels
like a space opera at this point, with so much emotion being brought between
Luke and Vader. Vader also wanted to stretch himself back out to the light side
as well, but doesn’t feel that way. Luke is trying to bring his father back to
the light side, and at one point when they were dueling, Luke wasn’t attacking
as much, because he doesn’t want to kill his father, but he knew he must face
him and defeat him at one point, but doesn’t know how. He doesn’t want to kill
his father, because that’s not Luke’s nature.
The death of Vader
– The death scene of Darth Vader is a really beautiful scene, as Vader gets to
look at Luke with his own eyes. The scene is not loud, over reactive, or
melodramatic, but just a simple dialogue between father and son, before Vader
dies.
And you finally see why Darth Vader needs that suit, because
he is a much damaged person. He’s got no hair, he can’t even breathe without
the suit, and his hand’s limbs aren’t even there anymore. He’s not a guy in a
suit, there’s more to his physique.
Neutral
The Ewoks – You thought
I’m going to put this as a Con? Smh, you’re only hoping I can tear this movie
apart.
No but seriously, from then to now I have absolutely not
much of a problem with Ewoks being there in the movie. They are cute and funny,
they are fuzzy, and they are the cutest alien species found in the Star Wars
universe, even until now. They are practical as well, so you see them all
huddled up, and they are of course, real, not a bunch of blue screen CGI teddy
bears, if this movie came out on par with the prequels. Seriously, the Ewoks
are nowhere as annoying as Jar Jar Binks. I’m fine with them staying, even
though it would have made a difference of the Ewoks giving comic relief.
I just have a few issues with them. The fact is, do they
really have to be in the movie? Like, really? I get it, the rebellion needs a
powerful army to fight against the Empire Troops waiting down below on the
forest moon of Endor, but the Stormtroopers get defeated by being thrown at
with rocks and sticks? They scatter even more quickly when they were shot with
a hail of arrows than just a blaster? I mean, that’s just cheese, its nuts.
The only thing redeeming about the Ewoks is how they defeat
the AT-ST Walkers, which is smart. They make 2 logs crash into the walker (I
have no idea how they even have the time to set that thing up) and make the logs
spill and make them slip (I have no idea for that one either). But after that,
it just got cheesy. The comic relief from those little fellas are dumb-downed
humor. I personally found it alright, but in the end, that’s not the kind of humor
we get from Star Wars.
Speeder Sequence –
The speeder sequence was a quick and fast-paced action sequence, which I
actually enjoyed. It was well edited, it lacked music, it was extremely tense
as you see the speeders dodge trees, and it is an intense scene that I actually
enjoyed.
The only issue I have with that scene is that it does expose
the use of the green screen. It doesn’t hold out as well anymore, and it doesn’t
look real. There’s an over-reliance of the green screen in that scene, and I
thought some shot could have been shot better, for the sake of that sequence.
The Cons
The pacing – The pacing
of this movie is admittedly either a bit too rushed, or a bit slowed down. I
mean, we’re too quick into the third movie, and Yoda died. Yes, Yoda does die,
but it felt really rushed, and we’re not ready for that character death yet.
Another thing that slows down the movie is the Ewoks going to cook the heroes
for C3P0 as an offering. I mean, really? Another dumb-downed humor that actually
slowed down the movie, and made it stall. Sometimes I’m rolling my eyes and
waiting for the third act to start. The third act is amazing, and at least
helped heal the movie for me on itself.
Cinematography –
The Empire Strikes Back had some of the best cinematography I’ve seen from a
Star Wars movie, the only competitor it had was The Force Awakens. I mean, The
Empire Strikes Back was a better looking movie than Star Wars (the original
movie) itself. Long shots of people acting and talking is what made The Empire
Strikes Back amazing.
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| This looks bland, seriously |
Return of the Jedi had some really dated way of filming. And
I mean, kind of disappointing too. They could have been shot in a better way,
and constantly had jump cuts of people talking, not direct shots of everyone in
the same scene. I also imagined myself watching a scene where Vader and Luke walk
across the bridge, I have a feeling it could have been filmed in a better way
in The Empire Strikes Back. In that scene in particular, it was straight looks
and shots of people talking, it’s not impressive. I like third dimensional
angles a lot better, something the director from The Empire Strikes Back has
used.
The use of the green
screen – Return of the Jedi does have an overreliance use of the green screen.
Some scenes do look dated, and they don’t hold up as well. The scene where they
are travelling to the Great Pit of Carkoon, whereas Han and Luke exchange a
dialogue, and it is noticeable the background is not par with the character’s color.
You can see the background being brighter than the actors on the front.
Conclusion
Before you knew it, the original trilogy is over, with the
Empire being completely wiped out by the rebellion, while also having The Emperor
and Darth Vader dead, killing off two of the most important positions in the
Empire. The Rebellion is celebrating, everyone is having fun, and… that’s it.
That’s the end of the movie. It’s a nice, clean and tidy ending that doesn’t convolute
anything else.
Return of the Jedi is a satisfying send off for a great
trilogy, even though considering that it is a disappointing movie compared to
its predecessors. Some special effects looked dated, the cinematography
weakened, the pacing is not very good for a Star Wars movie. I’m not comparing
this movie to the other movies that existed today, but I am comparing it with
all the other Star Wars movies that happened before.
Overall, I still enjoyed this movie than a lot of other
movies in the 80’s, and Return of the Jedi is definitely way better than the
Prequels. If you are fans of the prequels, that’s absolutely fine. For me, they
just…you know.
The Pros - 9
Neutral - 2
The Cons - 3
Rating: FULL PRICE AWARD (5/6)
That's itt for my Star Wars Saga reivews. I'm excited for Rogue One and Episode VIII coming out this year and next year. Who isn't?
What's the best thing about the Star Wars Original Trilogy? Wouldn't mind if you pop that opinion below in the comment section ;) see you!
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