Review of Return of the Jedi (1983) by Jason C — 01 Apr 2014

RotJ is as deeply entrenched in the SW canon as the rest of the OT, and has been for my whole life, so it's interesting to note now how it seems so flawed in comparison to the previous two. The mere idea, for instance, of literally replaying the Death Star plot but with more action, is totally laughable, nearly as bad as the superweapon of the week plots of the Bantam era novels. The Ewoks seem like a terrible choice in general, in the same vein as the Gungans if not nearly as egregiously offensive.

The entire plot of the movie is literally to wrap up the threads established in the previous two films; Han is in carbonite and must be rescued; Luke is ready to defeat Vader and the Emperor but hasn't yet done so, so he's gotta get on that. The Death Star plot is added in to create an entertaining multi-dimensional action backdrop for Luke's fight, raising the tension a bit and giving the Emperor at least one plausible thread to tug on in his underwhelming attempt to turn Luke to evil (say what you want about the prequels, but Anakin at least had a logic for his temptation. Luke doesn't have to struggle to resist it, so it doesn't feel earned or even relevant. Like, you ask yourself why the Emperor is even bothering to engage in this tawdry charade of an effort.) There is no spontaneity or surprise and not even a convincing amount of internal logic.

It also inaugurated the inexplicable self-referencing that has terribly plagued the EU for so long. The first half takes place on Tatooine; the second on the Death Star. Lando joins the Rebellion because that's the sort of thing Good Guys do and because he starred in ESB. Yoda makes a cameo in order to remind Luke that he is the Hero and then die.

All that said, it's still a Star Wars movie, and while the Ewok ground battle is tiresome and drawn out only in order to justify the extension of the space battle long enough for Luke to finish his business with the Emperor, the space battle is so iconic and amazing that it's impossible not to love it. Jabba's Palace achieves the same levels of implied depth found in the Cantina scene. And Luke Force chokes those two Gamorrean guards, showing that the films still achieve a complex and broad characterization not found in the EU despite the onset of sclerotinization.