I was surprised to find that the remastering in the latter two original Star Wars movies didn’t bother me nearly as much as “A New Hope.” There might be a few reasons for this; for one, these two movies clearly had a much bigger budget than the first one, so the visual effects are noticeably better, meaning the changes don’t feel as dramatic when it comes to explosion effects. Also, “The Empire Strikes Back” has barely any changes. Still, “Return of the Jedi” does have a lot of changes, more significant than any of the other movies, so it should’ve bothered me far more than “A New Hope.” I think that by this point, though, I’d gotten used to expecting changes, so it didn’t annoy me as much.
There are some changes that do bother me, though. The abominable snowman-esque wampa at the beginning of “The Empire Strikes Back” is effective, but I was surprised to find upon researching the changes that the monster originally isn’t shown. That’s so much more effective for building suspense! Why did George Lucas need to add in multiple full shots of the monster eating? Also, there’s the infamous “Jedi Rocks” scene from “Return of the Jedi,” which is honestly ridiculous. Jabba the Hutt’s music works fine with those few shots of the people dancing, but that one alien just approaching the camera and singing directly to it is so inappropriate for the scene, so weirdly over-the-top. In the same vein as showing the wampa, I dislike how the remastered edition fully shows the sarlacc’s mouth and tentacles as it pulls people to their death. It’s so much more disturbing as a carnivorous hole in the ground.
There’s also the annoying added dialogue of Darth Vader saying, “No…NO!!!” as he suddenly attacks the Emperor and throws him to his death. Why is that necessary? It’s very hokey, and his change of heart would be so much more badass and affecting if he hadn’t said anything, just silently made the choice to switch to the light side. I don’t mind the added shots of Naboo and Coruscant and all those other planets celebrating the defeat of the Empire at the end, but I’m not a huge fan of the new music; I like that Ewok music. As for the infamous replacing of Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen, I don’t mind it much. It’s silly and unnecessary, but it doesn’t actively annoy me like it annoys some people.
As for the actual movies, they’re both very enjoyable and fast-paced. “The Empire Strikes Back” is known as the best one, and I can understand why. It’s a big step up in effects. It introduces many of the iconic characters, like Lando Calrissian and, of course, Yoda (I was surprised by how much I liked Yoda; he might be a wise old man, but he’s not extremely peaceful like Dumbledore. He’s pretty harsh with Luke, actually, and is initially reluctant to train him. I also didn’t mind the ugly puppet as much as I thought I would). There are lots of iconic lines, like when Leia tells Han she loves him and he says, “I know.” If I had one complaint, it’d be that Luke and Han really don’t get much time to know each other in these movies; their plots are separate almost the entire movie, and it might’ve been interesting to see more of their dynamic, since they’re kind of the two main characters. Still, the way their stories eventually weave together is smart and effective as Luke finally arrives in Cloud City to save Han and Leia.
Some of the moments in these movies are just naturally not going to hit as hard because I know how everything happens. Watching Luke find out Darth Vader was his father, I was conscious of Mark Hamill’s slightly silly scream instead of really feeling his pain and shock. It all happens more abruptly than you expect upon rewatch, like how Vader suddenly just says “I am your father,” not some dramatic, “LUKE…I AM YOUR FATHER.” Similarly, though I like the climactic fight in “Return of the Jedi” a lot, the final moment between Luke and Vader as Vader finally takes off his mask didn’t really profoundly affect me emotionally. I can’t tell you exactly why, because on paper, it’s really emotional and powerful. Maybe, again, it’s just because I know what happens, and so much of the story has entered pop culture that it’s hard to really feel as a story on its own.
There’s still so much to like in these movies, though. I really like the icy planet of Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back” and the forest climate of “Return of the Jedi.” I really like the opening of “Return of the Jedi,” when Luke saves Han and Leia from Jabba (especially the fact that Leia is the one who kills Jabba!!!). I love how Leia and Han’s romance progresses, especially with her line to Han in the last movie when he tells her he loves her and she shoots back, “I know.” I like how Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO are used in both movies. I love how Luke, so whiny and inexperienced in the first movie, progressively becomes more and more badass. When he’s force-grabbing his lightsaber at the beginning of “The Empire Strikes Back,” or flying around and taking down those AT-AT Walkers, he’s a certifiable badass. Maybe it’s a bit premature since he hasn’t even trained with Yoda yet, but it doesn’t matter. Star Wars is very much the kind of franchise where you can wave away logic (the Force in general is pretty undefined) in favor of, well, cool shit.
“Return of the Jedi” is known as by far the worst of the original trilogy. At first, I didn’t really get this. The heist-like rescue scenes at Jabba’s palace might be completely unrelated to the main plot of the movie—if you think about it, Jabba isn’t related to Vader and the Empire at all—but they’re so fun that they don’t just feel like dealing with business before the real plot kicks into gear. And the forest moon of Endor is pretty cool; seeing all that green vegetation is refreshing after the all-white and all-brown worlds we’ve been used to. And that first Endor battle scene, with Luke and Leia flying through the forest and watching stormtroopers crash into trees, is so dynamic and fun.
In terms of flaws, one of the small problems is that the Emperor isn’t a super satisfying villain. Darth Vader is so effective because he has an emotional tie to Luke. He’s a tragic figure, a Jedi turned to the dark side. The Emperor, on the other hand, is a pure figure of evil, completely dark, the puppet master controlling Vader. He’s cool, and Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor is great, always spouting stuff about the dark side and encouraging Luke to join. It’s an interesting conflict, even though it’s clear Luke is never really in danger of joining his father. On his own, the Emperor is cool, but the fact that he suddenly becomes the main villain kind of telegraphs that Vader is going to have a change of heart. This isn’t a huge problem, but it takes away a little bit from a wholly surprising and fascinating ending. At least Vader still dies, so it’s not overly happy or anything.
The only real problem, though, is an obvious one: the Ewoks. When the Ewoks first showed up in that scene with Leia and helped her out, I thought they were cute and inoffensive. I wondered why people hated them; it’s not like they were the major driving force of the story, right? It’s not like their narrative would threaten to overtake the main characters’, would it? Then they became an increasingly large part of the narrative. There’s the needless digression of them capturing the main characters. I like that it’s a moment of lightness, and it’s clever that Luke would force-levitate C-3PO to make him seem like the god the Ewoks fear, but it all goes on with too long. And they become even more important later on. Look, I don’t really mind the plausibility of them defeating the stormtroopers. I can accept Lucas’s half-baked Vietnam metaphor, with the technologically inferior natives beating the superior invaders. I can buy that the Ewoks would have some ingenious tricks to take the Empire by surprise.
It’s not an issue of plausibility; it’s an issue of what’s good for the story. The Ewoks are basically the ultimate case of deus ex machina. Part of what’s so engaging and appealing of the Luke-Han-Leia trio (with Chewie, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Lando helping out) is that you feel like it’s just them against a massive Empire. Even with some remaining Rebel pilots, how could they hope to destroy multiple Death Stars and end the tyrannical Empire? But the Ewoks—these random aliens who, like the Emperor, don’t really play a role until the third movie—are basically the ones who save the day. Han and Leia barely do anything at the end, and they’re some of the best characters!
The final battle sequence is a bit strange—while really serious character conflict is happening with Luke, Vader, and the Emperor, the battles outside are light, fun, and almost comedic. Some of the ways the Ewoks defeat stormtroopers are practically slapstick. I like that the battle is fun, but the Ewoks’ dominance makes it feel even more silly and inconsequential, as opposed to the sky battles with Lando.
As an individual film, “Return of the Jedi” may have a lot of flaws that bring its quality to a lower level than “A New Hope” or “The Empire Strikes Back.” But as the conclusion of a legendary film series that permeates pop culture, it’s satisfying. It’s easy to forget that these films have very real issues when their influence is so prevalent, but all of those issues have contributed to the full legend of Star Wars that exists today, Ewoks and all.
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