Return of the Jedi

Return of the Jedi (1983), directed by Richard Marquand

If the three years between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were long, the three years wait for Return of the Jedi was even longer (closer to four years for me, since I was living in Germany at the time, and it took an extra eight months to hit the local theater). The wait was harder because of the suspense, enormous for a pre-teen, wondering What Would Happen? Would Han Solo survive? Is Darth Vader really Luke's father? What would Luke do? Perhaps the long-awaited relief of this suspense made me consider the movie to be better than it actually was.

In my jaded present-day view, I see Return of the Jedi as a half-hearted conclusion to the strong beginning chapters of a trilogy. The wrong notes begin early on, with the rescue of Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. While the earlier films might have shown the deed as flashing display of derring-do, here it seems almost exploitative. The strong violence and display of female flesh was obviously meant to titillate, a complete change in tone from the earlier films. Another change in pace comes on Endor, where a bunch of obnoxious teddybears manage to defeat heavily-armed Imperial troops. Is Lucas a closet Luddite?

There is not a single extended sequence from this film that I can honestly say I enjoy. True, there are some nice special effects, but those are poor compensation. Nearly every scene in the film is marred by miscalculation. The Luke-Vader scenes, for instance, are filled with Mark Hamill's glum, wooden non-acting, and as the emperor, Ian McDiarmid's arch, shrill overacting. The biggest mistake is portraying Darth Vader experiencing a change of heart after a brief inner struggle: as he is masked, how can you tell that he is silently brooding, considering changing allegiance? And I don't like to sound like a broken record, but I must say again that the idea of cutesy Ewoks was a bad one. They might have sold a few plushies, but they nauseated millions of filmgoers.

Like The Empire Strikes Back, this film was directed by a director who is definitely not an auteur. Unlike Irvin Kershner, however, Richard Marquand did not rise to the occasion here.

In one sense, Return of the Jedi is essential viewing, since it wraps up an important trilogy of film (and it really is a trilogy rather than simply an original and two sequels). But, Jacqueline Susann to the contrary, once is more than enough.

Two-and-a-half stars (rating inflated because of the importance and quality of the previous films)