Return of the Jedi (1983) (1 Viewer)

[Tommy R]

“Why don’t you use your divine influence, and get us out of this!”

How can you say that wasn’t Oscar worthy delivery?!?!?!

 

[Bryan^H]

This is a snippet of the Roger Ebert review (he gave it 4/4 stars)

"It was the correct decision for George Lucas to end with a trilogy and then move to another point in time for the continuation of the saga. To return to these characters a fourth time would destroy the mythic structure of the story and turn it simply into a series."

I have believed this since the release of "The Phantm Menace" .
We got 1-3, and 7-9 regardless. They are overall good to great, but I can't help thinking how amazing it would have been to have new characters, and a fresh take on the SW universe for these planned trilogies. I never thought these films were "beating a dead horse" but I often think they take a slight bit of the magic away from the original trilogy.

I honestly can't even imagine Disney being brave enough to try another completely original trilogy at this point. The cost, and being locked in for three movies (what if the first film disappoints?) is a giant gamble that I don't think they want to take.
Like it or not, I believe SW will forever be anchored to the original trilogy in some way.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The thing is, the movie didn't really need to push the idea that Luke was a fully trained Jedi Knight. Because the resolution totally works even if he's a fledgling apprentice who'd only recently begun to explore his connection to the Force. Wisely, the crucial moments on which both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy pivot come down to choices and not some manufactured measurement of Force ability. Anakin chose to be selfish, and it cost him everything. Luke chose to abide by his moral framework, even though it seemed certain to result in his own death and the deaths of his friends. Luke's failure to listen to Yoda before taught him some hard life lessons, and unlike his father he has learned from his failures.

Recall that the Emperor promises Luke to "complete your training" if he turns.

Also that there can only be two Siths at a time. When Vader and Luke stand before the Emperor, they must know that the Emperor will discard one of them.

 

[Sam Favate]

Also that there can only be two Siths at a time. When Vader and Luke stand before the Emperor, they must know that the Emperor will discard one of them.

But why? Wouldn't the Siths be stronger with an army, like the Jedi have? I always found the "only two" rule to be a step too far. It isn't plausible and destroys my suspension of disbelief.

And anyway, this is contradicted by Vader's chat with the Emperor in ESB: Vader says "If he could be turned, he would be a great asset." The Emperor likes that. "Yes, yes. Can it be done?"
And Vader says "He will join us or die, Master." (emphasis mine).

 

[Robert Crawford]

I remember Yoda saying there if there is only one Sith Master and one Prodigy. Something like it's always two of them.

 

[The Drifter]

Huge SW fan since SW: ANH made it's debut back in '77. I was in first grade when the movie was released, so IMHO was the exact age group the film was being marketed towards/for.

By the time ROTJ rolled around, I was in my early teens & though I was still a huge fan of the movies, by that time I watched films with a more critical eye. And, I definitely felt that - while ROTJ had some great elements - it was the weakest of all the original films. I felt this even back in '83, prior to these movies being analyzed ad naseum - in print & online, etc.

IMHO, ROTJ's two biggest problems were:

-The Ewoks - or rather, the way the Ewoks were presented. If they hadn't been cute, cuddly teddy bears we could have taken them a lot more seriously. Lucas could have improved these characters by either:

1)Making them a lot more sinister looking, and not cute....or, even better.....
2) Using Wookies instead of Ewoks - this would have added drama to the film & the Wookies would have been taken a lot more seriously.....and almost certainly done a lot more damage to the Imperials during the forest battle. In fact, I think an early script for ROTJ used Wookies instead of Ewoks - too bad they didn't stick with this.

-Han Solo had too many comedic lines & scenes, which to me just made the character look foolish. Yes, he had some witty lines in ANH & ESB, but not as many. They could have removed some of these from ROTJ & the film would have been improved.

That being said, ROTJ had a lot of great elements as well:

-The entire Jabba's Palace & Sarlaac pit/Skiff fight were great, from beginning to end (note I'm referrring to the '83 original film, not the 1997 Special edition - which messed these scenes up to some extent).

-Excellent lightsaber battle between Luke & Vader.

-Darth Vader/Anakin's redemption was very poignant & powerful. I.e., when he saved Luke from Palpatine & killed Palpatine by throwing him down the exhaust pit - wow. Great stuff here, and one of the best scenes in all three films.

-Very poignant final scene(s) with Luke burning his father's body on a funeral pier, and then shortly after seeing the ghosts of Yoda, Obi-wan, and his Father proudly looking on him with approval. Note this was ruined by the later 2004 DVD release re: having a young Anakin replace the older one - but that's another thread.

 

[Denham]

I was 10 when SW landed in '77.
That was a great age as I was old enough to fully keep up with a narrative full of "out there" names/places/concepts that didn't resort to simplistic exposition every five minutes. But it was also an age that afforded plenty of time to deep dive into the minutiae of the world created and to enjoy all the toys that took advantage of that.

I was 13 when ESB was released. In the span of the first two films I entered puberty. While I could appreciate the feelings of jealousy Luke displayed in the cockpit after the escape from the Death Star in the first film, the ideas of sexual jealousy and sexual tension that become apparent in the sequel were now something I could fully comprehend and appreciate.
I was also at an age that the inconclusive ending wasn't a dampener to my enthusiasm for the material. Just the opposite- it ignited my imagination far more than even the first film did.

Following my exit from the theater after that first viewing in May 1980, up through my acquiring of the Marvel adaptation a week or two before the film was released, my imagination burned with wonder and speculation at how this epic story would be resolved.

• It was clear that Han had the better chemistry with the princess and that union would be the most satisfying to witness- but how would Luke react to that?

• If Luke and Leia go off on their own to rescue Han, wouldn't that put two high value targets of the rebellion in jeopardy? Would the rebellion leadership really give them carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to do? If they were out in the open, and could be snatched, they would have knowledge of how to get back to the remaining forces. What if Vader and the Emperor can already figure out that they would likely mount a rescue for their friend and have, if not Imperial forces then at least paid spies and trackers to keep tabs on them and report back. Considering how Luke rushed to save them on Bespin, it seems a safe bet he wouldn't then let him be surrendered to Jabba without a fight.

• Who would be revealed to have been lying to Luke- Vader or Ben & Yoda? If Vader is lying an Luke "feels" what he is saying is the truth, that is some heavy duty, scarily manipulative power Vader has. Luke is seriously outmatched
OTOH, if Yoda & Ben were lying to him that would seem like a huge betrayal. Something like that would seriously screw with your head and would not only be hard to forgive, but might cause him to question the very nature of his existence (does that tie into the riddle in the tree? Was that meant to suggest that Luke's true nature really was inclined to evil?)

• If when Han was rescued, would he ever be able to get over Lando's betrayal on Bespin? Would anyone in the alliance ever really be able to trust him? No matter how he tried to atone, he'd likely be eyed with some degree of suspicion for the rest of his days amongst them.

• Since Vader failed to capture Luke as the Emperor ordered, there was likely to be some serious retribution there- at least going by the way Vader himself treated subordinates who screwed up. Whether Vader was lying to Luke or not about wanting to overthrow the Emperor and rule everything, it was clear that the events in ESB had set up a huge conflict pitting Vader against the Emperor and possibly the rest of the Imperial forces he controlled.

• Because of the more mature tone of ESB, it's highly likely we would see that war is ultimately a destructive, unpleasant affair that takes a lasting toll even on "the good guys". There's likely going to be a lot of sacrifices to a greater good that are going to made, and it will be sad to see. An epic like this can't help but end in a moving and bittersweet way.

Yeah. I didn't get any of that.
I got a load of lazy crap that, when it wasn't rehashing plot points from the previous films, was dismissing any complex, long gestating conflict, by a few lines of contrived dialogue.
Luke bore no relation to the character who had just had his hand cut off and all of a sudden had a deep seated empathy for the monstrous obstacle standing in the way of his friends and their just cause. Han was suddenly a dopey, constantly mugging buffoon. The big, powerful and mysterious Emperor was just a cackling one-note character who has fantastic force abilities that no other character has ever displayed, yet can't turn those lighting bolts off while defending himself from an offensive move by an opponent who isn't anywhere near 100%.

I felt gut punched coming out of this movie- though my non nerd friends enjoyed it as an afternoon diversion.
I waited until late summer, well after school had already started, to catch it again and it was at that second viewing I had to finally admit to myself I hated it.

Now when you take in the scope of a nine plus movie saga/franchise, RotJ is a hell of a lot more emblematic of this material than the first two films that were made. Those are the outliers. Jedi, with all it's contrivances and retcons, walk backs and rehashing, is really what SW is in practice.

That's probably why Rogue One is the only one I truly enjoy at this point.

(and notice how in all of that, I never mentioned those $#%#ing Ewoks once)

 

[Edwin-S]

I kind of fell asleep watching this one. The "Stressless" recliner that I bought to replace my sofa seems to be doing wonders. Of course, it probably didn't help that I started watching it immediately after finishing "The Empire Strikes Back". One thing about the film is that it had some impressive low frequency sound effects in it compared to the other "Star Wars" movies that I have watched. There were a few explosive scenes in this one where everything in the room was shaking.

 

[Wayne_j]

As a kid this was my favorite Star Wars movie. Since the SE in 1997 I keep falling asleep during it.