Review: Return of the Jedi

Directed by: Richard Marquand

Written by: Lawrence Kasdan & George Lucas

Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels

Rating: [2.5/5]

Bringing a conclusion to an incredibly popular series of films comes with the added pressure to craft something where it will pick up the threads of the precious stories, create something worthy of standing alone, and then end it all in a satisfying manner. Certainly, a feat to accomplish that despite all of its efforts, Return of the Jedi mightily struggles in handling. Instead, we get a complete mess of a film propped up by an epic finale bound to leave individuals feeling good at the end. 

In search for Han Solo (Harrison Ford) following his capture by Jaba the Hutt. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and the rest of the crew head out to free him through whatever means necessary. As they try to get their friend back they remain cognizant of the reality of the Empire beginning to wipe out the rebellion as Luke reckons with the news of Darth Vader (David Prowse) being his father. 

Return of the Jedi exists as a fantastic case study of how to end a movie on such a high it makes the audience completely forget everything that happened in the previous two hours to an impressive degree. A feat that allows this feature to be a favorite amongst Star Wars fanatics even sitting at the top alongside Empire Strikes Back and for all the faults that film carries, it looks like a masterpiece compared to what gets put out in this concluding chapter. Of the many aspects ailing it, the structure and cohesiveness of the story badly suffer in the attempts to connect all of the threads and eventually lead to the confrontation between Luke and Vader once again. 

The feature begins with the attempt to save Han from Jabba, providing a scene so lacking any real zip or energy it truly surprises. This moment is meant to represent Luke’s coming out as a Jedi master to demonstrate his skills and the entire scene lands with such a whimper, which includes everything happening at the Sarlaac pit. While trying to bring a distinct energy to the feature, it makes everything so incredibly bland and overly silly. Coming from the darkness of Empire Strikes Back this feature swung way too far in the other direction in the hope of bringing a bit more lightness into the story. After a while, it became difficult to take the film seriously in how it presented its scenes, which only gets worse when the Wookies make it on screen. 

Additionally, while this franchise never really hung its hat on excellent acting with its pulpy story we must address poor Harrison Ford and whatever he tried, or better yet, lacked in producing as Han. For someone who delivered the goods in the first two films, it proved evident in detailing the history of these films, he had enough of portraying this character by the time this feature rolled around and you can tell. Ford absolutely sleepwalks through the majority of the feature where he typically injects dynamism and roguishness to the benefit of everyone else. Some of his line delivery shocked in a way I’m sure director Richard Marquand and George Lucas could not believe. 

With all that said, the case study of this feature fulfills itself in the way it so emphatically concludes, which includes an impeccable throne room scene where Luke must take on Vader with the knowledge of him being his father all while the Emperor watches dangling over the threat of completely eliminating the rebellion. Everything about this scene demonstrates the excellence of the series in the stakes built up, the emotions of everything going on, and the ferocity of these swinging lightsabers. It stands as the zenith of this entire trilogy if boiled down to this one scene, it’s that excellent. However, this feature exists as more than just the throne room scene, and all of that does not come close to measuring up to what occurs here. 

Quite the disappointment other than the throne room scene, Return of the Jedi demonstrates the overall tonal inconsistency of this trilogy, which does not necessarily signify a negative on the face of it but in execution becomes quite jarring. We ultimately received a tremendous conclusion to the trilogy in paying off the emotional stakes of Skywalker and his father, but everything else in this feature gives the appearance of something dreamt up by a child and the execution does nothing to dissuade the notion. Definitely takes the cake for some with their adoration of it, but as a film, it heavily struggles in getting through until the climactic end.