Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)

This is the seventh and final review in a series for the SciFi Drive's Star Wars Blogathon. Thanks for reading them.

When you take a movie like Star Wars and expand its scope to more than one film, you run the risk of the stories being more of the same thing - like a sitcom, where nothing changes and the characters only marginally grow, if at all.

And yet if there’s anything we learned from the original film and its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, it’s that a series like this can throw you a curve and make unexpected twists and turns. Just like life, it doesn’t necessarily have to play by the rules.

In the first Star Wars, everyone went out on an adolescent adventure. In Empire, they (and we) grew older and discovered that angst, pain and indecision are universal. And both films were also phenomenal successes.

How could you possibly improve on a formula like that?

In 1983, George Lucas released Return of the Jedi, marking a combination of styles and stories, good and evil, power and weakness, and traveling back to Tatooine, to the Forest Moon on Endor, and the gleaming menace of a second Death Star.

Of course, to wrap up the story threads left over from Empire, a rescue attempt is made to save Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from the clutches of (literally) slimy crime lord Jabba the Hutt; Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) returns to Dagobah to continue his Jedi training with Jedi master Yoda (Frank Oz); Darth Vader continues to seek out Luke under the behest of the even more intimidating Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid); and the whole group, including R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) team up to overcome the Empire’s last-ditch plan to defeat them with a fearsome new weapon. Even Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) makes a bright and shining cameo.

It’s interesting to the combination here; there’s some of the same light-hearted action and fun from the first film here, along with the dark, brooding undercurrent from Empire. This time, Lucas’ story was reinterpreted by Lawrence Kasdan, who had worked with him on Empire. The result is interesting, in that it is familiar, yet different; yes, we’ve been to this galaxy before, but never to this particular part of it. The story moves at such a quick clip, and there are so many characters to follow, it’s never boring a minute and - oddly enough - there’s even time for some poignancy this time out. But we’ll get to that later.

The director this time out is Richard Marquand, who worked wonders on such films as Eye of the Needle and underrated shocker The Legacy. Here, he brings out the golden tan sensuality of the Tatooine sands, the lush greens of Endor and the sleek dark gloom of the Death Star II. Not as much artistry as was evident in Empire, but enough visual power to make this stand proudly by its older siblings.

The actors inhabit their roles like a second skin. Who knows these characters better than they? Hamill’s Luke has tempered his brashness with the weight of his Jedi duty and his own emotional travails. Ford’s Han is still as brash and cocky as ever, making the most of his every chance to be the hero. Fisher’s Leia is a more somber soul but still radiantly beautiful. There’s even room for Williams’ Lando to make a name for himself as a hero herein. And Artoo and Threepio - ever-bickering and endlessly resourceful, the perfect compliment of logic to the chaos surrounding them.

The most ingenious character, though, is the Emperor. Supremely cunning and evil to a fault, his dialogues with Vader and Luke display how he has control over everything that transpires in both their lives. He toys with lives destroys the innocent for his own plans. Practically daring Luke to strike him down and step over to the Dark Side, the Emperor chuckles, mocks, ridicules and grimaces with the power of unimaginable evils lurking just below the surface. McDiarmid graces his role with a subtle overplay that compliments the loving detail that Lucas and Kasdan gave his dialogue, nailing it spot on.

In the last two installments, I failed to mention the important role played by the musical score. Indeed, John Williams created one of the most distinct and recognizable scores ever for this series. And with swelling strings, booming drums and stirring horns, makes the viewer realize how much more attached the emotions become when the music behind the scene is so stirring. Especially effective is the theme played between Vader and Luke, IMHO.

The effects this time out are even more plentiful with swirling stars, endless Tie Fighters, two-legged Imperial battle walkers, miles of exposed metal framework of the Death Star II wrapping around Rebel Fighters swooping in and out of beams to avoid attack and/or collision, speeder bikes speeding and swerving through Endor’s gnarled forests. It’s said there were three times more effects here than in the first film. I believe it.

There are no more than three climactic lines of action in the finale to follow (the attack on Endor, Luke’s battle with Vader and the Emperor, the assault on the Death Star II), with that much more to see levitate, move around, collapse and blow up. This of course gave Ralph McQuarrie, Ben Burtt, Richard Edlund, Joe Johnston, Dennis Muren and their assorted fellow effects crew members much to work with and the viewer much more to salivate over.

Now, as for the poignancy; it’s here in Jedi that all the previous threads of stories come together. Vader and Luke confront each other about Vader’s last declaration - the ultimate debate between a domineering father and his distraught, confused son. As they battle together near the end, resentment and anger surface and play a part in deciding a victor almost as much as forgiveness of sins past. Needless to say, it ends in what is perhaps (if you’ve never seen it before) a most unexpected selfless act.

Han and Leia explore further how they feel towards each other, perhaps not to the extent as they did in Empire, but here they display a more unconditional love. Maybe it’s all that bonding in battle that did it for them. And in the end, you actually find yourself caring about what happens to these characters - and dare I mention - wanting to invest yourself emotionally in their welfare.

What more can a movie do than that?

Needless to say, Return of the Jedi continued to build on the storytelling “empire”, for lack of a better word, that Lucas began seven years ago and proved that there was indeed a larger universe out there, one that welcomed tales of daring heroes and willful princesses, crushing defeats and uplifting victories, rousing adventure and brooding self-examination.

And when you can come out of a film thinking to yourself that rarely, if ever, has the paternal link been examined so well in science fiction, then all the better.