Chad’s Grade: B
The third time is rarely the charm in the film trilogy world, especially if the second installment is as good or superior to the original. I return to my “Godfather” example as the first two chapters were both critically and commercially loved as classics. But 1990s “Godfather: Part III” landed with a thud and had a cool reception (although the recent “Coda” recut is a slight improvement.) James Cameron’s sequel “Aliens” was followed by the brooding, nihilistic (and underrated) “Alien 3.” Ditto for the endless follow-ups to “Terminator 2.” And in the superhero realm, “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Spiderman 3,” and “X-Men: The Last Stand” all failed to close out their respective franchises in a satisfying way.
Sadly, not even George Lucas was immune to the “three is the magic number” curse. After a pitch-perfect first film and a pitch-perfect sequel with “The Empire Strikes Back,” the pressure was on to close out his groundbreaking trilogy successfully. “Empire” was a divisive entry (at the time) with the fans, and the cliffhanger ending left many loose story strands dangling. And there were doubts that Harrison Ford would return, as he was unhappy with Han Solo’s story arc.
Lucas convinced Ford to put on his smuggler’s boots once more and gathered his production team to wrap up his space opera franchise. He almost lured David Lynch to direct (can you imagine!), but Lynch turned the gig down to direct “Dune” instead. Lucas needed to keep the budget under control after the costly “Empire” shoot almost bankrupted the franchise. Eventually, Lucas settled on Welsh director Richard Marquand, promising he could bring the film on time and under budget. Lawrence Kasdan was brought back to co-script the final installment based on Lucas’s outline.
“Return of the Jedi” is the final installment of Luke Skywalker’s hero’s journey to becoming a Jedi Knight. After Luke and his allies free Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, our rebel heroes discover that the evil Empire is finishing constructing a new, even larger version of the Death Star. Princess Leia and her rebel allies see a chance to deal a fatal blow to the Empire when they learn that Darth Vader and the Emperor himself will be overseeing the final phase of the construction. The rebellion mounts a daring plan: Send an undercover team (led by Han, Luke & Leia) to the Endor Moon (the site of the Death Star’s construction) to take down the protective shield. Then the rebel fleet (with Admiral Ackbar and Lando) will attack and hopefully destroy the Empire’s new weapon. Meanwhile, Luke finally embraces his Jedi destiny and attempts to defeat the Emperor and save his father, Vader, from the dark side of the force.
The first twenty minutes of “Return of the Jedi,” particularly the Jabba the Hutt sequences, have the franchise firing on all cylinders. It’s great fun to see our heroes slowly infiltrate Jabba’s palace to save Han Solo. Princess Leia almost pulls it off when she disguises herself as a smuggler who’s captured Chewbacca, melting Han out of the carbonite, only to be caught red-handed by Jabba himself (and then placed in the controversial, PG busting slave bikini of many adolescent fantasies.) Luke gets the franchise’s coolest entrance, waltzing into Jabba’s palace, wearing an almost Sith-like hooded outfit, showing off the Jedi abilities he learned from Yoda with utter ease.
Near the end of the Jabba sequence, we get one of the more unique action scenes of the franchise. As Luke is about to be fed into the carnivorous Sarlac pit, our Jedi jumps into action with his new green lightsaber. It’s great fun watching Luke embrace his inner Errol Flynn in the swashbuckling sequence, freeing his captive friends and causing mayhem. Even Leia gets in on the fun, going full-on, “I am woman, hear me roar,” and strangles the slug-like Jabba with her kinky chain neck hold (maybe that slave outfit was helpful after all.)
And Lucas continues his baffling habit of killing off the cool, fan-favorite villains in the dumbest fashion possible. My beloved Boba Fett gets offed by Han Solo accidentally hitting the bounty hunter’s jet pack and launching him into the Sarlac Pit. It was insulting to Boba Fett fans, as the mysterious Mandalorian was shown to be a dangerous badass in “Empire” (although he would later escape per the underwhelming “Book of Boba Fett” show in 2022.)
After our heroes leave Tatooine, Luke keeps his promise to return to Yoda and complete his training. It’s here that the franchise gives us a moving send-off to the feisty 900-year-old Jedi, and we get the news that Leia is Luke’s secret twin sister. This late plot development was a sloppy way to solve the franchise’s underdeveloped love triangle between Han, Luke & Leia. And a bit creepy when you remember the sensual kiss Leia gives Luke in “Empire.” The news is delivered by the great Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, marking his last appearance as Luke’s first Jedi Master.
Sadly, “Return of the Jedi” falters as our heroes land on the Endor Moon during its final hour. Despite a thrilling speeder bike sequence, Lucas made the disastrous decision to introduce the “cute to kids, annoying to adults” Ewoks that mostly distracted from the plot and seemed a blatant merchandising grab. Also, Harrison Ford’s performance as Han is uneven as his character has no story arc after the Jabba rescue. Ditto for Carrie Fisher as Leia, as there’s no suspense to romance after the sibling reveal.
Only Luke Skywalker’s Jedi arc remains compelling and drives the rest of the picture. There is a beautiful scene where Luke asks Leia about her childhood memories of her birth mother, then confesses that they are brother and sister. And Luke’s determination to turn his father back to the side of good anchors the final confrontation between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor. One of the film’s darkest moments is when Vader taunts that he will turn his sister Leia to the dark side of the force, sending Luke into a violent rage during their climactic lightsaber duel.
The second Death Star plot device hampers the film, as the final space battle, led by Lando in the Millennium Falcon, has a been there, done that feel. And while some of the Ewok’s antics are cute when they fight the stormtroopers, the Endor section begins to wear thin quickly. Lucas and director Marquand don’t help matters by constantly crosscutting between the three climatic set-pieces, draining any suspense on how the story will end. Lucas would use this same trick 16 years later in “The Phantom Menace.”
The visual effects still dazzle and are groundbreaking for their time. The Jabba palace scenes are a masterclass of animatronics and puppetry, and the slug-like Jabba is a frightening, imposing creature brought to life. The final space battle features hundreds of model ships flying through the frame as Lando in the Falcon delivers the killer blow to the new Death Star. The thrilling speeder bike chase seamlessly blended live actors on the blue screen, puppets, and on-location photography. It’s impressive all the curve balls that Lucas pitched to Industrial, Light, Magic, but the special effects house always hit grand slams.
“Return of the Jedi” manages to close out the grand space opera in a mostly satisfying way. But you can feel the movie losing steam as it nears its conclusion. Lucas has gone on record saying he was burnt out on “Star Wars” and wanted to move on to other projects. And with “Jedi’s” success, he was able to launch his Lucasfilm brand into all forms of media, keeping the Star Wars flame alive until the prequel films in 1999.
1997 SPECIAL EDITIONS:
Like the “Empire” special editions, the changes in “Return of the Jedi” are minor and don’t affect the storytelling.
The most glaring change is during the Jabba’s palace sequence. For some reason, Lucas felt the need to add a cabaret musical number just before Leia’s entrance as the disguised bounty hunter. The number is sung by a terrible CGI-looking Sy Snootles and features an assortment of alien backup singers. It’s a genuinely awful addition that looks like a bad SNL skit and takes away from the tense atmosphere of Jabba’s lair.
There is an impressive visual upgrade to the journey to the Sarlac Pit showing Jabba’s sail barge floating past a roaming pack of Bantha creatures. This was a solid improvement to the flat-looking original effects.
We also get a new Ewok victory song during the film’s closing moments, with a montage of the inhabitants of Tatooine, Cloud City, and our first glimpse of Coruscant, all celebrating the fall of the Empire.
This wouldn’t be the last time Lucas would alter his films, even the prequels. There are too many to list here, but Lucas seems finally content with his six-film saga. Thankfully, the sequel trilogy has been left untouched for now.
As a twenty-year old at the time of release. One word: Ewoks!
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Great review! Very on point. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that John Williams’ music for the final lightsaber battle between Luke and Darth Vader still gives me chills. It’s father versus son and the tragedy of that is all captured brilliantly in the music.