Poor Return of the Jedi. Poor, poor Return of the Jedi. Having to follow up from Empire Strikes Back has to be possibly the cruelest thing you could do to a film. Unfortunately, thanks to Empire’s fantastic cliffhanger, something had to be done about it and that something would always be expected to top Empire. Does ROTJ succeed in doing that? No. Does that make it a bad film? Not at all.
Everything You've Come to Expect
ROTJ is very much still a Star Wars film and therefore has all the benefits you'd expect from one.
The outstanding practical effects, makeup, costume and set design, are obviously still present and are just as much of a joy to look at as before. We're introduced to even more aliens, including the rather polarising Ewoks (although I personally have no problem with them) as well as Jabba the Hutt, someone we sort of saw in A New Hope, but I'm not counting that scene as it was a later special edition release and doesn't feature any of the spectacular puppetry on display here either. The action sequences (of which there are a lot of) look the best they ever have and the planets and environments they take place in are still bursting with just as much life as before.
Our heroes continue to be very likeable and each of their character arcs come to a very satisfying conclusion. Luke's character has matured a lot more since his confrontation with Vader, Han Solo has become much more selfless and isn't just in for the money and Princess Leia has simultaneously become stronger and more empathetic (thanks to the relationship between her and Han). In the end, everything is resolved just as you'd want it to be. The good guys win, the bad guys lose and some are even redeemed. It’s a very rewarding ending and, as much as I like a good Inception style ambiguous ending, there's something nice about everything turning out just the way you'd want it to.
The improved filmmaking is also continued over from Empire Strikes Back. The script still sounds much more natural and is delivered just as naturally too, thanks to the still brilliant actors and the directing from Richard Marquand, who maybe doesn't do as good a job as Irvin Kershner, but still manages to bring out some excellent performances and directs some really emotionally strong sequences. The only place Return of the Jedi doesn't do quite as well in is the story telling.
Losing the Plot
This is a common issue I have with a lot of films, particularly the final films in a series. The Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Mockingjay Part 2 are two notable examples of this. They've finally reached the ultimate battle, the stakes at their highest point and everything rests on the shoulders of these heroes. So what does the film do? It throws the plot completely out the window and leaves us with an incredibly long action sequence.
The problem with this isn't just a nitpicky critic thing, it genuinely prevents my enjoyment of a film. My interest starts to gradually slip away as there's no storyline for me to follow and instead we just flip back and forth from ‘The good guys are winning!’ to ‘The bad guys are winning!’ until eventually one of them gets defeated and the other side cheer and hug each other. Nothing substantially changes and we're just stuck in action limbo for an hour. It's fine when it's just at the end of a film and it doesn't go on long enough that you don't notice that the plot has stood completely still, but when it lasts for a lot of the movie it just gets incredibly dull. The worst offenders are also completely void of personality and character throughout the entire thing (I’m looking at you, Transformers), but thankfully Deathly Hallows Part 2, Mockingjay Part 2 and ROTJ aren't one of those.
They all forget about the plot entirely, Deathly Hallows and Mockingjay are pretty much just the climax of one film stretched out to fill an entire film, but ROTJ isn't entirely like that. It's got a lot of plot for a lot of the film, but unfortunately the final battle at the end was much longer than is really necessary. In the end, you've got a film with about half a plot and then a load of fighting for the remaining running time. Fortunately, a lot like Deathly Hallows and Mockingjay, it's some of the most exciting, character driven and emotionally charged action I've ever seen.
High Stakes, These Are
As I've addressed before, I'm not a big fan of action in films. At least, not the usual stuff. It lacks any connection with the characters, who become more like puppets being manipulated into beating each other up, and the constant use of CGI means I'm never convinced any of these characters are getting hurt, due to the complete lack of physicality CGI brings, so I find myself entirely disinterested. ROTJ is nothing like that.
Despite the lack of plot, the action at the end of ROTJ is phenomenal. There's so much going on, yet you're completely invested in every single tiny piece of it. The stakes are enormously high, because you've been with these characters for so long now. To see them fail would be devastating, so you're on the edge of your seat constantly. Not because you’re concerned about the ‘fate of the galaxy’ or whatever, as I've said before, no one cares about ‘the world’ or ‘the universe’, because there is no personal connection with these things. No, you're on the edge of your seat because you need to see Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca even Nien Nunb succeed.
Throughout all this madness, these characters still continue to emotionally develop. You get to see how the action affects them. Physically, thanks to the fantastic and incredibly raw practical effects, and emotionally. Han and Leia, for example get their ‘will they won’t they’ relationship sorted out, thanks to the struggle they had to go through and the triumph in winning. You also get to see Lando Calrissian redeem his betrayal of Han, first by rescuing Han from Jabba the Hutt and finally by playing an incredibly key part in destroying the Death Star. Most importantly, however, is Luke and Darth Vader.
They face each other (“For the last time”) in what is, at least as far as I'm concerned, the greatest of all the lightsabre duels, an incredibly gritty, emotional and surprisingly violent battle. Luke overcomes the pull to the dark side, but not before almost completely succumbing to it, in what is the best portrayal of the dark side in any Star Wars film. It’s not just incredibly powerful, like it has often seemed, especially in the prequels, but also angry, messy and unfocused. You also see Darth Vader’s redemption, as you finally see the human in him when he rescues his son from the torture of Emperor Palpatine, a scene so good it’s only slightly ruined by Lucas's addition of the “Nooooooo” line.
Although it's still quite messy and unfocused (and long), ROTJ’s climax remains incredibly gripping and thoroughly exciting, thanks to the consistent emotional involvement with the main characters.
Verdict
Ultimately, Return of the Jedi does not top Empire and I don't think it ever could. It is still, however, a fantastic film and an entirely satisfying conclusion to the original trilogy. It's not as dark as Empire, it doesn't explore the characters in as much depth as Empire and the story is messier than Empire. However, the characters are still just as likeable and are now fully developed, the film still looks just as brilliant as before, with wonderfully creative characters and environments and ingenious effects, and the action is at its most tense and exhilarating. It may not surpass Empire, but it still follows it up impressively. It's a film that manages to conclude the trilogy on a slightly uneven, but ultimately positive, note.
8.4/10
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