The Force Has Left The Building

Rating: 6/10 (1 May 2005)

Does anyone ever watch this movie pure, without any preconceptions? Without seeing the earlier films; without having some degree of personal investment in the "Star Wars" franchise of movies, books, videogames, and the rest; without having some knee-jerk reaction of contempt about those fuzzy Ewoks?
I doubt it. I know I didn't, when "Return Of The Jedi" was released in theaters in the spring of 1983. By then, I had watched "Star Wars" on videocassette many times. I fantasized about how I wanted the story to end, who would end up with whom, what would become of the droids, and who got to kill Darth. I wondered if the filmmakers would forget about that guy Wedge that was flying Rebel craft in both the first two movies, figuring they would.
I guess I left the theater feeling impressed and disappointed. Impressed because the film played with my expectations some, and managed to bring the story to a satisfactory close. Disappointed because it wasn't more than just satisfactory after all the imaginative aspirations I had invested in the film going in, that the ending felt too neat by half, and that I wouldn't be seeing any more of the characters who pulled me into the world of "Star Wars" nearly six years before.
Watching "Return Of The Jedi" again reminds me of the title of the Robert Graves memoir, "Goodbye To All That." It's a sloppy piece of work when seen with adult eyes, horribly acted by performers who seemed to have lost interest in the franchise that made them stars. The story has none of the sweep of the first two installments, that sense of a band of outlaws riding through the night of space one step ahead of Imperial predators; it's all formal with lots of talking-head scenes. Director George Lucas seems to be carried away by his desire to connect every character through some familial bond, but his new role as an epic-ologist leaves little room for the entertainer I enjoyed. And yes, I STILL hate those Ewoks.
Goofy dialogue, too: "Soon I will be dead, and you with me." I mean, rilly...
But you know what? "Return Of The Jedi" is not a bad film. It's actually pretty good. It is entertaining, throws all the fans their bones (like Wedge for me), wraps the series up on an up-note after the downer that was "Empire Strikes Back," and manages to have its share of funny moments. I love the scenes of Darth Vader hotfooting the construction process of the new Death Star with some of his subtle pricking: "Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them." Leia in that slave outfit is a hottie highpoint, and the final attack on the Death Star is still an apex of special effects work.
Even those Ewoks. Still worse than Stalin with herpes, don't get me wrong, but they do make a nice point about technological progress not being everything. If cute was so bad, why aren't more fans up in arms about the constant presence of R2-D2? It's funny to read that Lucas was stuck for ideas for the first half of the movie. Definitely it's underdeveloped, with various heroes popping up here and there, but the battle around the Sarlacc pit is a terrific thrill-fest, with a line by Lando ("Hey, wait, I thought you were blind!") that still kills me after more than 20 years. Jabba is the one cool new character in this film, a slimy blend of menace and humor. I kind of wanted the rest of the film to keep going like that, but Luke had to seek out his Jedi destiny and break up the team once again.
The changes Lucas made to the later editions of the film seem improvements to me, taking out lousy music and bad special effects. Too bad he couldn't do anything about the acting.
There's a lot of things that bother me about "Return Of The Jedi," but at least it answered the questions I had and sent the series out on a happy note. Now if only I could pretend he never went back to the well and did those prequels...