I love Return of the Jedi. Although 1977's Star Wars is that "perfect film" that everyone loves and The Empire Strikes Back is the little-sequel-that-could and the series' artistic and dramatic apex, RotJ is "my Star Wars film". By this I mean it was the one I was conscious of as it came out when I was growing up. I was 3 years old. My older brother was bought the toys related to that film, not SW or TESB. When I watch RotJ I feel at home. I remember my childhood. I get warm, fuzzy, ewok shaped feelings.
Unfortunately, from a critical point of view, it is greatly flawed. It does have the best set pieces by far - the swashbuckling sail barge fight, the nailbiting speederbike chase, the breathtaking flight into the Death Star's superstructure - but many fans will agree that some key areas of the film signalled bad things to come.
While the special effects and music are top-notch, the film somehow looks cheap. Not in terms of sets and costumes, which are fine, but in the grainy film stock used and flat, lifeless patina that's a huge step down from TESB's beautiful, layered lighting setups.
Elsewhere the actors look, for some reason, so much older, tired and bored. The dialogue is stilted and lacking the sharp wit and edgy banter of the previous two films, and even though our team of heroes are back together and fighting side by side the chemistry has gone. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Threepio and Artoo all go on an adventure together - and we feel nothing. Most importantly, though, the story is a cobbled together, committee driven let down. In the first two films our friends had to get from point A to point B via a couple of stops. Simple. And the clock was ticking or the chase was on. In RotJ, while the clock starts ticking after 45 minutes, there's no real journey. Han is freed from Jabba and then our friends muck around in a forest for an hour with teddy bears.
I understand why RotJ is the way it is, though, and - if I'm right - it's a great shame.
Up until the explosion of the internet TESB was considered "the bad one". Professional critics rated it less than SW and RotJ. This was going on up until the mid-90s when the geeks started taking over the film review business and rebelled against the crusty old naysayers. TESB began to be and is now generally considered the original trilogy's high point. But for a while there it wasn't, and I believe Lucas viewed Irvin Kirshner's film as a failure, which is why RotJ is so "safe". It's back to basics. Han wears his 1977 SW costume, we have ewoks to mimic the "cute" jawas, Darth Vader is back as a mere henchman and there's even another Death Star.
Safe.
But bizarrely, by the end of the film I feel satisfied. I feel happy. I've watched the end of the Star Wars trilogy and I don't want it any other way. Genuinely. It's fine. While the story lacks drive, it still manages to hit a few of the right emotional and excitement buttons. Luckily for us the big, important buttons. But those flaws mentioned above are gaping ones that, if mended, could have made this final instalment a piece of art along with TESB.
So even though, deep down, I don't want RotJ changed, if I were to be Quantum Leaped back into George Lucas' body circa roughly 1981 just after TESB was released and was in charge of making the third film all over again, what would I do differently?
Well, in the form of a basic outline/treatment, maybe something like this...
TO BE CONTINUED...
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