Outer Space Fairy Tales

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2011)

Return of the Jedi is a spectacular climax to the Star Wars series. It builds on the previous two movies, but it's bigger, brighter, and more colourful. There's the explosive final battle against the evil Empire as well as the resolution of the more personal conflict between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. However, it's not quite a tour-de-force: there are some cumbersome info dumps, which slacken the film's pace, and the direction and photography are a little too simple. Worse is the treatment of the supporting characters, since just about everyone besides Luke and Vader get reduced to minor roles.
The action scenes are definitely the movie's greatest strength. In the first act our heroes rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, with both a classic Ray Harryhausen monster fight and an all-out brawl on Jabba's sail barge. The speeder bike chase on Endor is a breathtaking highlight, filmed entirely with models and steady-cams; it's better than Episode I's pod race and just about outdoes the first movie's classic trench run. The Battle of Endor itself is an amazing accomplishment, and the space dogfights went unmatched for the next twenty years. Luke and Vader's lightsaber duel is more emotional than technical, but satisfying anyway.
The exposition, though, is really a problem. There are two kinds of scenes in Jedi: action set pieces and info dumps. Luke visits Dagobah again so that Yoda can confirm that Vader is, in fact, Luke's Father; Luke then gets the full story from Ben Kenobi's ghost. There's also a pause for Luke to reveal to Leia that they're brother and sister, which only functions to write off the romantic triangle of the previous film. Many of the scenes with the Emperor are talky and static. This all feels like the perfunctory tying-up of loose ends, which could have been handled in a more exciting and dynamic way.
The script closely follows the story of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, to the exclusion of Han, Leia, Lando, and the others. George Lucas has said that the entire six-part series is really about the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, and Return of the Jedi bears that out. Their conflict is the solid emotional centrepiece of the film, coming close to its mythic, Oedipal roots. The final triumph of both the Rebellion and the Light side of the Force is a very satisfying moment; it's good to see the good guys win big. If only the other characters had more to do.
The Star Wars movies have always had great design, effects, and music, and Jedi is no different. The themes are strongest in this one: the cold, mechanical quality of the Empire is emphasised by the skeletal image of the new Death Star, which matches Vader's scarred face and the Emperor himself. The music is suitably sinister. The Rebels, on the other hand, are colourfully democratic: there are many different alien races and different types of starship in their fleet, and the costumes are mainly earthy greens, browns, and reds. The Ewok planet, filmed in the redwood forests of California, is also terrific. For me that's the best part of the movie, and the series as a whole. The ultimate victory over the totalitarian Empire is an act of ordinary people (and Ewoks), rather than superhuman heroes.