They Sort-Of Stuck the Landing – Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

All chapters have a beginning, middle and end. How you stick the landing for that concluding arc matters. We remember The Return of the King fondly (despite its six endings) because the filmmakers pushed every last character to their breaking point – physically and emotionally. As well as upped the ante for the final battle between a beleaguered army of Men and Sauron’s forces of Orcs, mercenaries and dark creatures.

Whereas we remember something like The Matrix Revolutions for offering few revelations about what was revealed in Reloaded, and for getting lost in an already convoluted story. So how do we remember Return of the Jedi – as a crowning achievement of the vision of George Lucas? Or as a disappointing finale that fails to satisfy all that buildup in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back?

One year after the events of Episode V, the Empire are on the verge of completing a second Death Star, one that’s even more powerful than the last. In a desperate attempt to stop it’s completion, the Rebel Alliance counter the Emperor’s deadly weapon with an all-out attack on the station itself. A move that could bring about the end of the Galactic Empire and restore peace and freedom to the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker must face one final test before he can be called a Jedi. Confront his father, Darth Vader and destroy him. Luke must make a choice: can he save his father’s soul and bring him back to the Light, or will he be forced to kill the man formerly known as Anakin Skywalker?

So you might have noticed a few things. Firstly, that screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas are diving into the well of A New Hope, and making part of the climax of the film Rebel forces taking out the Death Star a second time. Only now it’s incomplete, seemingly defenseless and it’s the entirety of the Alliance forces in one unified effort to bring down the Empire.

Secondly, that the theme of confrontation is ever prevalent again. Only this time, the conflict is more straightforward than it was in The Empire Strikes Back. This is not to say that the writers have gotten lazy in trying to bring the series to a close at the time, or that they’ve run out of ideas. But the subjects they’ve drawing back to aren’t as exciting or thematically rich as it was when they were covered in previous outings of the trilogy. In layman’s terms: When you’ve seen a space station being blown to oblivion the first time, you’ve seen it a thousand times in some form or a similar fashion afterwards.

Oh, and Ewoks, man. Ewoks. Just the mere mention of that species of alien is heralded as a prime example of why Episode VI falls short of the splendor of the first two installments. As well as being dubbed as the silliest of the lot. Yes, those particular creatures that came from the mind of Lucas are silly, but allow me to expand on why these creatures don’t work beyond the obvious take.

They’re a primitive race of teddy bears who couldn’t threaten or intimidate a six year-old, let alone Stormtroopers. Much less penetrate and/or kill large groups of them with bows and arrows, rocks and spears. The assault on the forest moon of Endor would have been a slaughter from the very beginning. And Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca would have all been Bantha fodder, as well as the rest of the Alliance in space.

Look, I get that this whole series is a sci-fi fantasy, but the presence of the Ewoks as key allies in the victory of the Rebel Alliance is just laughable on its face. To paraphrase Han himself: primitive beings and their equally primitive weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.

Despite drawing from other elements and motifs from previous installments, Return of the Jedi is still quite a bit of fun to watch. Seeing Mark Hamil’s character grow from a poor farmer boy from the middle of nowhere, to a capable and powerful Jedi Knight has been one of the joys of this series.

The early twenty or so minutes we spend back on Luke’s home turf of Tattoine. Planning the rescue of Han Solo from his carbonite-induced prison and from being slowly digested for a thousand years in the Sarlac Pit. Reminds us why we fell in love with the series in the first place. The whole thing plays very fast and loose, it doesn’t try to take itself too seriously and it’s pretty funny to see Harrison Ford stumble blindly (quite literally: his time in Carbonite temporarily blinds him) into a fight.

And despite the mission to blow up the Death Star being very familiar, it’s still a well-paced and exciting sequence. It also helps that they had the ever-cool Billy Dee Williams lead the charge into battle, who makes even being led into a trap by the Emperor look and sound life fun.

The best thing about Return of the Jedi is the theme of redemption. Luke returns to visit Yoda before he departs into that great gig in the sky. Only to be told that he must defeat his father in order to become a full-fledged Jedi, which he refuses to do.

Believing that he can turn his father back to the good side of the Force, he willingly surrenders to Vader, forcing him to either kill him, or turn and to let go of his hate. David Prowse played the physical role of the fearsome Sith Lord, while James Earl Jones provided the character’s voice. Giving both frames into a complete and terrific performance of a tyrant finally developing a conscious for what he’s done and the prospect that he’s not the monster he been molded and shaped into.

His unmasking, revealing an aging, tired, but grateful Anakin Skywalker, along with his pyre funeral by his son, is still one of the satisfying arcs in the series. As well as one of the most poignant, as a testament to how even lost souls can be redeemed, if they listen to what their hearts are telling them.

But back to my original question. Is Return of the Jedi the crowing achievement of the series? Or an underwhelming final chapter to the main Star Wars trilogy? It’s a bit of both. The filmmakers dip back into previous themes and plot points to lesser effect. And it is sillier than A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, thanks to the introduction of the Ewoks. But it still captures the spirit and the thrill of watching a Star Wars movie. And the theme of sons redeeming their father’s souls brings the whole thing to a satisfying close.

Or so we all thought. Because the advancements in visual storytelling, thanks the the success of films like Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, Mr. Lucas returned to the series that defined his career as a director in Hollywood, to a very underwhelming (which is putting it nicely) response. That’s right, folks: buckle up, because now we’re going from the Original trilogy to the controversial Prequel trilogy. May the Force be with us all.