RETURN OF THE JEDI - Another Viewing, Another Chance to Analyze What Went Wrong

[AndyDursin]

Watched this again (4K restoration of the 83 theatrical cut -- no Special Editions will be screened in this household!) with Theo, who spent all of church Sunday morning drawing the major pertinent scenes in the movie in his notebook

I don't want to be misunderstood -- I like the movie a lot, I'd watch it again tomorrow, and I like the fact the movie is upbeat as opposed to the overall darkness of EMPIRE. Still, it's hard to argue this isn't objectively an inferior movie to the two pictures that came before it, as JEDI's mid-section grinds to nearly a halt before it wakes up prior to the end.

And weirdly, I think I've always felt that way. I was 8 when this movie came out and I saw it once originally, then again in the 1985 re-release. I didn't love it. I had action figures from STAR WARS & EMPIRE from my childhood I played with -- but by the time JEDI came out, I didn't want any more. I didn't want the Ewoks and I didn't need any of the playsets. I think I had moved onto STAR TREK and was fully invested in Kirk and Spock.

What happened?

People like to criticize director Richard Marquand, but I'm not sure -- the more I see this film -- that any of it was his fault. I'd probably blame the screenplay by Lucas and Kasdan, because after a great, rousing start on Tatooine, JEDI just kind of sits there for nearly an entire act.

In fact, that mid-section needed some work -- some action, some dramatic movement (the stakes for no character actually changes other than Luke and his battle with Vader). It really is missing "something." Instead of the crackling pace of STAR WARS and EMPIRE, we get to Endor...and stay there. Instead of exciting set-pieces...we meet the Ewoks. Instead of dramatic, suspenseful confrontations...we get the Ewoks and the Rebels throwing rocks at now-hapless stormtroopers and befuddled Empire scum.

I get kids enjoy some of that...and it's mostly fine...but the pacing of it is SO stodgy. Maybe it was just that the overall energy level on the movie was low. But speaking of that -- it's funny Harrison Ford has always said he wanted Han to get killed off and was there only for the contractual obligation. But within the scenes, I find he's ironically the only one ACTING most of the time. At least he looks like he cares. His mugging and reaction shots are fun. On the other hand, Carrie Fisher might as well have been in another movie, her performance as Leia lacks any kind of intensity and she seems far removed from the character who was "taking charge" in EMPIRE (and frankly, maybe she was pretty hazy at the time for real, if you know what I mean). Hamill is okay, but his "serious Jedi Luke" doesn't seem like he has any of the zest of the character in the previous two movies. Maybe that was the point -- to show the progression of Luke from a farm boy to this stoic Jedi Knight -- but it's not much fun either. Barely cracking a smile, he looks like he's at a funeral. Even Obi-Wan looked like he could cut loose at times!

What works is the opening 30 minutes, and then all the Vader-Luke-Emperor scenes in the last 30 minutes. Those bear Marquand's dramatic strengths and they work. And I agree with Paul who said watching the prequels really does ADD to these moments. Ian McDiarmid is hugely underrated. His Emperor is delicious -- scary enough for the little ones, but almost with a wink to the adult audience that what you are watching is a kids fantasy through and through. He's hammy and just delightful, the best part of the prequels and a big asset to this movie when it needed something to juice up the sleepiness.

I've outlined what I prefer about the theatrical cuts to the Special Edition edits -- including Williams' rescoring, which doesn't work for me, and the added FX at the end, which I feel are unnecessary and dull down the last scene, which is really well-executed as it is -- but whatever cut you watch, the flabbiness of RETURN OF THE JEDI is still there. After all this time, it's still a compelling mystery to examine why this concluding part -- fun and entertaining as it still is -- didn't click on the same cylinders as its two classic predecessors.

[mkaroly]

I always liked Luke's story arc...petulant impatient farm dude to a mature Jedi Knight. And for me that is the only compelling story arc in JEDI. I agree that Fisher was absent in mind during that film, and Ford has a solid performance...but he didn't have all that much to work with because of Fisher's performance. The Ewoks get worse for me each viewing (lol), but will never be as bad as Jar-Jar Binks (an abomination if there ever was one). Even Williams' score for JEDI is not one I revisit often (though his material for The Emperor-Vader-Luke story was super inspiring and moving to me). I agree that the prequels help to make that climactic moment of the story even better (sans Vader's NOOOOOOOOO!), but overall JEDI is the weakest of the original trilogy for me by far.

[AndyDursin]

I read somewhere the word "ewok" is never uttered in this movie -- which says a lot about how publicized they were in terms of merch leading into the movie. As well as the fact they're never developed into specific characters really beyond being "cute and cuddly."

Even Williams' score for JEDI is not one I revisit often (though his material for The Emperor-Vader-Luke story was super inspiring and moving to me).

I have the same feelings Michael, it's my least favorite of his original trilogy efforts and I also don't play it all that often.

I actually found, on this viewing, there were even some portions of the score that were downright thankless. The scenes on Endor have a lot of "sneaking around" where there's no suspense actually taking place, but Williams' music has to convey the "menace" and it's musically not that engaging. But that's what the middle of the movie does, and his music doesn't have the verve or excitement of STAR WARS and EMPIRE as a result of what's happening (or, to be more specific, NOT happening).

The thematic components of the score are solid, but I wouldn't call them spectacular -- "Into the Trap" is okay, it's not my favorite. The Luke-Leia theme is fine, but it's not the Han-Leia theme from Empire. The Ewok music is alright, but it's kind of "cutesy" like the characters. The sound of the score also seems really "brassy" for lack of a better term. I wonder why that is, if it he was favoring those instruments or it had something to do with the recording quality. The Vader-Luke-Emperor material is the core of his efforts and it's great, and so is how he musically wraps the film up, into the End Credits.

And that's why I don't care for the music changes in the Special Edition. Ironically I love the way the Ewok Celebration starts with the "ethnic" Ewok language before taking a segue into an adult chorus and orchestra. The last scene -- Luke looking over at his father joining Yoda and Ben -- is the best moment in the movie and the score for me, which is why I just don't like the re-scoring he did for the Special Edition. Plus the fact I think most people thought he was going to write something drastically different for the Special Edition -- a straight orchestral finale kind of like "The Throne Room" -- and instead he wrote a new piece along the same lines, just a different tune without the Ewoks.

I also think the shots of the X-wings blasting off the fireworks at the Endor tree line is enough to know what's happened, so those new FX aren't necessary. We watch this trilogy through the lens of a couple of characters, Luke and the gang mostly, so cutting away to galaxy celebrations on other planets (most of which weren't viewed in this trilogy) kind of betrays the perspective we've been watching for three movies.

Plus all those FX are a firm product of the 1990s -- and look it. They have not aged well at all.

[BobaMike]

I agree with everything said above. Not as good as the first 2, but still a fun movie.

The FX are great. One thing that always stands out to me is the space battle over Endor. The amount of moving ships still is impressive- that shot of all the tie fighters racing towards the camera is a delight. I don't think it was ever equaled in any of the other main star wars movies- the battle over Coruscant that opens Revenge of the Sith is a overwhelming mess, and the less said about the sequel battles the better. In fact, only Rogue One's end battle has the same sort of energy as Jedi.

Also, the POV shots as the Falcon fly into the reactor core of the Death star are perfect.

ANd then there is the matte paintings: top-notch work, with so many completely unnoticeable.

[mkaroly]

The Vader-Luke-Emperor material is the core of his efforts and it's great, and so is how he musically wraps the film up, into the End Credits.

And that's why I don't care for the music changes in the Special Edition. Ironically I love the way the Ewok Celebration starts with the "ethnic" Ewok language before taking a segue into an adult chorus and orchestra. The last scene -- Luke looking over at his father joining Yoda and Ben -- is the best moment in the movie and the score for me, which is why I just don't like the re-scoring he did for the Special Edition. Plus the fact I think most people thought he was going to write something drastically different for the Special Edition -- a straight orchestral finale kind of like "The Throne Room" -- and instead he wrote a new piece along the same lines, just a different tune without the Ewoks.

Yes...the way he wraps up JEDI is so triumphant - it gives me chills every time I hear it.

[Eric Paddon]

I agree that Jedi has problems. The Ewok thing takes up too much time and seems more like a marketing ploy stuck in the middle of the film. Not to mention Lucas's strange obsession with wanting to find a parallel of the Vietcong "defeating" the professional Army of the Americans (he admitted this parallel at the time). Hamill is indeed too stoic, and there's one other thing that's never made much sense to me. If it was wrong for Luke to rush off to face Vader in Empire because his training was "incomplete" why then does Yoda tell him when he returns, "No more training do you need."? Hello????? What was it Luke didn't complete yet??? Or was failing against Vader in Empire in effect the "lesson" he needed to take away in place of whatever he was supposed to do on Dagobah?

I also didn't like the "look" of the aliens, because in contrast to Star Wars and the Cantina sequence where I believed in these aliens who were gathered there with the gritty look, the aliens in Jabba's court, Admiral Ackbar and Lando's co-pilot all had too much of a Henson "Muppet Show" look to them, and at age 14, watching Muppets was something I was rapidly growing out of and had no use for by then. The fact that from the get-go, my first reaction to Yoda's voice was, "Oh, it's Grover" didn't help my impressions there either that parts of SW were now becoming a little too kiddy-fied for my young teen taste. Of course, Carrie's metal bikini provided the compensation there for the most enduring thing about Jedi in the minds of impressionable 14 year olds!

Agree that the original ending and Williams cue for the end in the original was much better. I only watched the SE one time theatrically and never since (and it still didn't have the Hayden Christansen tampering then. My goodness, why not replace Guinness with MacGregor for consistency if you're going to do something like that??). The only plus for me in the SE was the fact that the end credits, being slightly longer, allowed for Williams full End Credits to play unedited whereas in the original there is an edit toward the end when its reprising the ending music from the first film's end credits.

[AndyDursin]

The thing with Hamill -- there's a difference between being "serious" and looking so solemn that it sucks the joy from the performance. He's definitely overly mannered, something I would chalk up to Marquand's direction. Yet I've always felt he and Carrie Fisher are frankly the two elements of this that could have been switched with other actors and the net result still would've been a hit. At least when I saw, say, William Katt playing Luke in those screen tests -- that makes sense to me. Katt would've been perfect IMO, because he also had more of a sense of humor than Hamill did. Several girls I remember seeing in those screen tests who tried out for Leia also would've made sense. But the one performance that really isn't replaceable is Harrison Ford. I shudder to think Perry King could've played Han Solo!

EDIT - and for that matter Charles Martin Smith as Luke!!

[Eric Paddon]

King's performance as Han in the radio version I have always found to be the weak link among the casting there. His Han comes off as far less likable.

[AndyDursin]

So funny you mention that, because I've been playing that for Theo in the car to and from different activities in the last couple of weeks. I've noticed King's performance being pretty sleepy, it sounds like he's whispering for some odd reason. Also antagonistic towards Luke in a way Ford's Solo wasn't.

[Paul MacLean]

I saw Jedi opening night. Everyone loved it — yet at the same time there was sense of disappointment in the air.

Several audience members groaned when the scroll title revealed “The Empire has begun work on a new Death Star…”

I agree, dramatic tension is lacking. The Han / Leia relationship is kind of flat because they aren’t bickering the way they were in the previous films.

Some of the humor is irritating and unfunny — like Chewbacca’s “Tarzan howl” as he swings over to the walker. As the prequels confirmed, Lucas’ comedic sensibilities are of a strictly pre-teen mindset. The humor is also misplaced at times — as in the Ewok battle where we see Ewoks killed by blaster fire one minute and then taking pratfalls the next.

My biggest beef with Jedi tho is the colossal cop-out “What I told you was true — from a certain point of view”, and the ensuing attempt to explain it away with the cheap, throwaway “many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view”.

Was it so hard to have Obi Wan merely explain “Luke, you were young and naive. If you knew Vader was your father you would have tried to face him before you were ready — and been seduced”. Unfortunately we’re left with a movie in which the kind, wise mentor turns out to be a liar, and the villain the one telling the truth!

My other problem — and this isn’t Jedi’s fault, but an issue created by the prequels — who is Leia talking about when Luke asks her about their mother? Since the prequels came along it now obviously can’t be Padme she’s describing. So what we now have is Luke listening intently as Leia describes Mrs. Jimmy Smitts!

Likewise, the previous Star Wars movies made frequent mention of this mysterious "Jabba" who was after Han Solo -- and his eventual revelation was quite a shock when seeing the original Jedi for the first time. Alas the "special editions" let the air out of that big reveal.

Also, the revelation that Luke and Leia are siblings was so out of the blue, it felt like it was thought up at the 11th hour (which it may well have been!)

Is it true that Gary Kurtz was absent from Jedi due to a falling out between him and Lucas — because Lucas created the Ewoks primarily as a merchandising tie-in?

I love Williams’ score though. While it is less original than the first two Star Wars scores, Jedi is nevertheless the one I most enjoy listening to of the three. “Luke and Leia” and “Parade of Ewoks” are maybe not among his best Star Wars themes, but the score overall is bursting with great cues — “Into the Trap” and “Battle for Endor”, the sand barge cue (both versions), “Hyperspace”, etc.

But I think we all agree tho that the original single-disc album release was a slap in the face -- and the content of that album is so ill-conceived (“Han Solo Returns”, but not “Alliance Assembly”?), it wouldn’t surprise me if Williams had a 2-record set all ready to go and Polygram axed it at the last second.

I honestly don’t really have an opinion on which “Ewok Celebration” cue is better — I like the original film version and the re-score in the special edition. (I do not like the silly album version with the Ewoks singing however!).

[AndyDursin]

Someone finally uploaded this -- been looking for it since I saw it back in '98 lol! I nearly keeled over I was laughing so hard (too bad the sound quality is terrible)

[BobaMike]

I honestly don’t really have an opinion on which “Ewok Celebration” cue is better — I like the original film version and the re-score in the special edition. (I do not like the silly album version with the Ewoks singing however!).

I always enjoyed the Charles Gerhardt rerecording of the ewok song that is purely orchestral:

[AndyDursin]

My problem with the re-scored Special Edition cue is I just don't like the melody. It sounds like music for the "World Cup" or some international sporting event. I remember thinking he was going to write some epic ending or connect it with the then-unreleased PHANTOM MENACE, and instead Lukas -- who had first heard it -- told me "it's cool, like a Simon & Garfunkel song". I don't really understand why he bothered to rescore it to begin with then, unless it was just extended to cover for the added special effects.

If you're going to go with this "ethnic" kind of cue, I prefer the Ewok melody. The Ewoks singing isn't a problem in the movie really at all, and the theme itself is nice.

My other problem — and this isn’t Jedi’s fault, but an issue created by the prequels — who is Leia talking about when Luke asks her about their mother? Since the prequels came along it now obviously can’t be Padme she’s describing. So what we now have is Luke listening intently as Leia describes Mrs. Jimmy Smitts!

This is definitely an issue in terms of continuity, because clearly Leia in JEDI is talking about Padme or what was supposed to be Padme (why else would she have been "sad"?). As much as Lucas claims he "had it all worked out", obviously he didn't!

I saw Jedi opening night. Everyone loved it — yet at the same time there was sense of disappointment in the air.

Kind of like Eric, I was kind of in the "jaded kid" phase I guess by the time the movie was released, because I ended up seeing the movie days after it opened, and didn't really mind by that point. I think the Ewoks had turned me off, and it looked "kiddie". Not that I really recall at this point but I'm pretty sure I was a TREK fanatic by that point watching II, awaiting III, and seeing it on TV every day. The Ewoks were EVERYWHERE, all over every promo tie-in, and it just didn't excite me a whole lot by the time 2nd grade was winding down.

Yet there's no denying the movie was a bigger commercial hit than EMPIRE too, despite (or actually because of) the recycled elements from the 1st movie (another Death Star, return trip to Tatooine, etc.).