Return of the Jedi - Movie Review

Return of the Jedi I cannot believe that we're already in November next month his force awakens I can't wait to see the new Star Wars film and as you guys know I have been reviewing every single Star Wars theatrical movie all year since May and now it's finally time to talk about the finale of the original trilogy the one that ended it all or so we thought and just as a warning this review is gonna contain spoilers you've been warned let's talk about it as a kid this was my VHS tape for Return of the Jedi this was where I got all of my Return of the Jedi entertainment I must have watched this thing I don't even know remember pressing in this little thing and looking at the tape and being like sorry and as a kid this was always my favorite film returned the Jedi is by far my most nostalgic Star Wars movie it's the one that I have the most personal connections with in preparation for this review I of course rewatched the movie and my parents were over at the time so I rewatched it with them so it was like the prime experience like return the Jedi with my family how I grew up watching it it was like this gigantic arc happen from childhood to adulthood it was insane all of the little puzzle pieces were just in the right place for me to have the greatest experience ever and relive my return the Jedi nostalgia but re watching the movie it does have some flaws it is not a perfect movie so let's discuss some of those flaws as well as some of the positives the movie opens with Darth Vader coming out of his ship and it's this big epic intro with his music playing and he's walking through this new Death Star which is kind of a silly idea it's like the last one didn't really work out guys you might not want to try that again and you really don't want to have another reactor or something that someone can fly into and blow up because it didn't work out for you last time and Vader warns this extremely frightened man that the Emperor is on his way to observe their progress the Empress coming here that is correct commander and he is very displeased with your apparent lack of progress we shall double our efforts it is really hard to say that as fast as he says that we shall double our efforts and after hearing about Jabba the Hutt through whispers through the last two films we finally get to see him when c-3po and r2 to go to Jabba's palace that's right Jabba was an in Star Wars a new hope no matter how much Lucas wants you to think he was he wasn't and I gotta mention Jabba's design and the practicality of it the fact that it's a real thing operated by many people it's incredible design and to this day I look at that thing and think that is a living breathing creature now Han Solo is still there frozen in carbonite from Empire Strikes Back and this is one of the first examples in Return of the Jedi where I noticed there was going to be a lot of exposition c-3po was like Luke Captain solo and he's still frozen in carbonite just in case you forgot and of course siliceous krama one thing I noticed about Jedi rewatching it was that are too similar to at the beginning of the first Star Wars movie r2 is on top of things and c-3po was like hmm and I like the callback to that formula from the first one and throughout the scene we see that Boba Fett is at Jabba's palace as well as Lando in disguise and when a dancer doesn't quite satisfy Jabba he throws her into this pit and I love the screams that set up whatever is going on down there and when this bounty hunter brings Chewie to job I'd holds a thermal detonator I've always loved how after that entire sequence is over boba looks over at the Bounty Hunter and just nods it's like they have some sort of silent Bounty Hunter respect and in the following scene this bounty hunter frees han Solo from the Carbonite you have hibernation sickness your eyesight will return and of course it's revealed to be Leia and it's just sweet like um and like hime lay out together yay job is there in ruins at all slimy bastard and I've always loved the following scene where Han gets reunited with Chewie in prison and she was just hugging him and everything Hans like come all right boom-boom room but before Chewie hugs him and he's not sure if that's Han this sound that he makes when he's in the dark it's my favorite Chewie sound ever it's like now we get introduced to Luke Skywalker but he's not the Luke Skywalker from a new hope and he's not the Luke Skywalker for Empire Strikes Back this guy is a badass he no longer wants to go to the tashi station and pick up some power converters he no longer wants to blast off and face his father without completing his training you will take me to Jabba now go to Java before Jabba Luke reveals his plan to bargain for Han Solo's life in some way and Jabba doesn't want anything to do with that sends him into the rancor pit and we get to see what this creature is and it is a marvel of stop-motion however today certain shots don't hold up that well at least compared to the special effects of the first two films usually whenever Luke is on screen and he's obviously looking at a blue screen of some kind and it just doesn't hold up as well anymore but the actual stop-motion creature any wide shot of that thing moving it looks magnificent still and I got to talk about the rank rope-keeper okay I gotta talk about him you're the big chubby guy who looked at the rancor he's like his little friend he's like he's so sad about the rancor and when I was a kid and I collected the Star Wars figures that was one of the last ones I got and I was like do I really want this thing then the following scene were introduced to something that was I believe integral to my puberty and that is Carrie Fisher s Slave Leia there's been a lot of talk about this you know disrespected her strong character and everything but when I was 12 it really didn't bother me and during this sequence where Han and Luke are meeting each other again and Lucas telling Han to be calm it's gonna be alright we have a plan there's a lot of that blue screen projection shot stuff going on right here and it doesn't hold up anymore and since I talked about the degrading effects of Phantom Menace I have to talk about them when it comes to return the Jedi as well the other two films barely have anything like that this film overused that technique so we come to the Sarlacc pit sequence in which Java is going to throw Luke and all of his friends into this mouth in the ground and be digested for a thousand years Luke looks up towards r2 who as I said is a head of things that lightsaber shoots through the air Luke back up and it's green now look we all know it's green but what I first saw that I went oh my god a green lightsaber Wow like I had never thought of that as a kid I was just like yeah they're all blue and red right when I was a kid the only reason I told everyone my favorite color was Green was because of Luke's lightsaber and he starts slicing and dicing and I got goose bumps everywhere watching this movie again recently Lando reveals himself he starts helping out now let's talk about Boba Fett in this sequence I love the line and he just dies like in the easiest way it could have been like so much better than that but I have a feeling the filmmakers almost underestimated how popular Boba Fett was and Leia gets her revenge on Jabba by choking him out with a chain which in some way also added to puberty I'm not sure how probably said too much now we watching this sequence as an adult I must admit there are times throughout this scene where some of the shots could have been better a lot of the shots where say Lando is about to fall into the pit are from far away very zoomed in not a very impressive shot really so after they escaped Tatooine Luke heads off to Yoda for some unfinished business and we get our first real introduction to the Emperor now in McDormand as the Emperor he's amazing I mean he just was vile and disgusting and just gross and it's not just the makeup the way he moved his body the way he held his hands the way he hunched over his vocals everything was just pitch perfect also it was very jarring in a good way to see Vader subservient to somebody this is who he serves this is his superior and that was something we hadn't really seen in the other films just like with Empire Strikes Back Yoda is the best he's still happy and optimistic and silly I do yes I do when 900 years old you reach look as good you were mad hmm and as you guys probably know Yoda eventually dies in this scene but before he does he confirms to Luke that Vader is in fact his father as well as the fact that there is still another Skywalker out there somewhere and Luke was just sitting there like why don't people tell me things obi-wan didn't tell me about my father what's this I have a relative like he's like the most oblivious person to his family watching it as an adult though it did feel a little rushed I felt like I was still kind of getting into the movie and not quite ready yet for a Yoda death scene and even that was also very rushed I wish there was a little more with him because the Yoda stuff and Empire was riveting just the one scene in return was great to see but it was just it felt abrupt and like I said earlier return is a bit exposition heavy Obi one spirit comes in to tell Luke some more stuff he needs to know it's a little silly that he sits down like his spirit sits down on a rock yeah I'm not like it's nitpicking excuse me Luke just take a load off being a ghost is very tiring and this is where Luke figures out that Leia is in fact his sister and it's a cute scene you know but then you think about Empire Strikes Back you know like oh boy they kissed I imagine Luke was in his x-wing and probably got some of his Jedi mouthwash and was just gargling for an hour know in this sequence Yoda as well as obi-wan are both just telling him you had to face Vader they keep saying it over and over again to remind the audience he can't be a Jedi unless he faces Vader I get it they just keep bringing it up like you need to face Vader but he's my father doesn't matter I can't do it doesn't matter sorry now we cut to the other rebels han and Leia and they're planning the eventual assault on the Death Star which includes going to the planet Endor where they have a base that needs to be destroyed because that's where the shield generator is around the Death Star now in this scene Han meets Lando again and they are fine I guess hey Lando betrayed you you might want to be a little mad we're to assume that in the time that's passed they've made up but the fact the script glossed over that confrontation took a lot of the emotion out of what could have been there between those two characters and I love our heroes teaming up Luke coming down there I'm with you two guys a little bit too closely a let's back off a little bit what's wrong Luke asked me again some time now we get a scene of the Emperor and Vader talking and it's really just the Emperor going is what do you have to do do this bye-bye it's just an exposition scene that isn't really that interesting in the long run and nothing really happens except the audience just told more information that we need to know now there's a little bit of suspense generated by the fact that the rebels might not have the correct code they need to get to Endor but once they do I love the look of Endor I've always had a thing for the woods I think the woods are beautiful I love taking walks in the forest and so automatically I love the fact that part of this Star Wars when we takes place in a forest which is so awesome and it doesn't feel like a set ever it feels very realistic and I've always loved the scene where Luke tells Han to dispose of some guards quietly and Hans like hey it's me I've used that line in real life so many times at night my wife will be like hey don't forget to take out the dogs before you go to bed I'm like hey it's me now we get the speeder bike sequence which I think is edited beautifully unfortunately some of the shots just don't hold up anymore and again I'm not comparing them to today's films I'm comparing them to Empire Strikes Back and star wars the films that came before this that use similar technology and made it look better now we get to a very controversial subject that of the Ewoks these little guys are cute they're fun they're furry they're adorable do they really have to be in this movie not so much gratefully it's not like Jar Jar Binks level of annoying I mean not even close they're also not in the entire movie but they don't feel like they need to be there they're the very first thing I can think of right now from the original Star Wars films that felt like they were there for kids and I just don't really buy that they would do anything against Imperial Stormtroopers I get that they could topple over some walkers with their law and smashed them with tree limbs and stuff but the Ewoks throwing rocks at stormtroopers who are helmeted it doesn't make sense and our heroes are eventually captured by the Ewoks who suddenly think c-3po is like a god because of his golden armor right here the film just stalls nothing of interest is happening I don't care about the Ewoks I don't care about them burning our heroes alive because I know that's not gonna happen even if I had never seen Return of the Jedi I know the Ewoks are not going to burn Luke and Han alive I just know it's not gonna be in this Star Wars movie Leia shows up she's changed again I guess the Ewoks did her hair or something I don't know really actually it's kind of dumb it's like how many action figures can we get out of Leia in this movie that's what's every time she shows up she's in a new outfit whether she's the Bounty Hunter she's Slave Leia or she's like getting ready to go on a mission Leia or Endor Leia or hippie Leia it's a little sad actually Luke eventually uses the force to lift c-3po above the Ewoks to make them think that he's about to use some kind of magic on them and our heroes are freed stories are told over a campfire c-3po telling the Ewoks about the history of the rebels versus the Empire and eventually they become accepted into the tribe and they're gonna help them try to defeat the Empire okay now in the following scene Luke and Leia have a conversation that's very important in which Luke tells her that they are siblings and she seems to have always known this in her heart which is a very sweet idea I like that I like that she's not totally shocked by that she feels as if she already knows that's really cool because that is true to her character she has the force within her she has the ability to use that side of her and so I think that was a really good idea to make her suddenly realize that she's always known there was some sort of connection there but what's sad is that what she says next doesn't really make sense because of episode 3 Revenge of the Sith if you've seen Revenge of the Sith you know that the babies were taken away from Padme instantaneously so when Leia says the only memory I have in my mother is images and feelings logically she wouldn't have any of those because she never actually knew her mother at all so the only way that can be explained is that if in some way through some sort of force connection she has images of Padme in her brain and it's one of those things where it's like no I can explain it the force okay so it's because of the force you know I read a lot of books okay you're wrong the sad thing is I've done things like that to people to also this brings me to another missed opportunity in the screenplay just like when Han and Lando could have had some sort of emotional confrontation there should have been a moment in this scene where Leia stands back and realizes holy shit Vader's my father cuz Luke tells Leia Vader's my dad and Luke tells Leia you're my sister Leia Vader's our dad - there's never a moment in this entire film where Leia sits down and goes oh my god the second most evil man in the entire galaxy is my dad they could have done so much with that but they chose to avoid it Luke ven surrenders himself to Vader in the conversation that ensues is very powerful by far the best aspect of this movie is the confrontation between Luke and Vader psychologically emotionally and physically all of that stuff is really good it's very riveting and I like how Luke is trying to convince Vader there's some good left in him and you get a little look behind the mask when it's like it's too late for me son oh my gosh the ships everyone getting ready for the assault and the Death Star the Falcon flying around Admiral Ackbar knee numb and while Han and Chewie are breaking into that bunker Luke comes face to face with the Emperor for the first time and the Emperor starts taunting him he's like yeah we know what the rebels are doing and we're gonna kill all your friends he's trying to make Luke upset just like he did his father so they can cross blades which eventually happens and it's like oh my gosh this is exciting and I love this shot of the blades crossed with the Emperor laughing in the background because it shows this is the guy behind all of this this is the masked of all of the evil in the galaxy and as the rebels are approaching the Death Star they realized the shield is not down and it's a trap yes Admiral Ackbar it is you beautiful fish creature thing it's a trap Luke against his dad is extremely exciting and oh my god some of the best ship-to-ship battles in the original trilogy take place here also a really good idea in the sequences when the strong troopers come up behind han and Leia and Leia reveals her blaster and they say the exact dialogue they said in Empire Strikes Back I love you I know except in Reverse really clever idea the rebels finally break in destroy that shield generator and we cut back to Vader and Luke Vader antagonizing Luke about his sister about the dark side as Luke stays behind in the shadows and the split light and dark on either side of his face tell us that he is in the middle of a battle a battle taking place in his mind he knows that he has to be on the light side but that dark side is tempting him and he explodes on Vader the second he mentions the possibility of Leia switching over the dark side there's no choreography here there's no planning this is just pure rage and anger taking place and Luke overpowers this older man very quickly sees that he's chopped off Vader's hand realizing oh my god that's what my father did to me I'm becoming my father he throws the lightsaber away you failed your highness I'm a Jedi like my father before me the Emperor then shows that he is in fact not defenseless as he was saying that he was by electrocuting Luke with his fingers he can shoot lightning out of his fingers keep in mind we've seen that a billion times and the other Star Wars prequels when I saw her turn the Jedi as a kid I was like whoa that's scary like I terrified me when I was a kid the Ewok stuff was silly but the Emperor electrocuting Luke it's pretty hardcore for a Star Wars movie at the time and this whole sequence is very powerful with Vader looking back and forth suddenly feeling something's not right inside of him Luke is calling out to his father to save him and Vader does he picks the Emperor up and throws him down that shaft fulfilling that original prophecy that Anakin Skywalker would eventually bring balance to the force now one of the most sobering images in the entire original trilogy is Luke helping his father and every other person involved in the Empire is just running in the background no one gives a crap everyone's just running for their lives and there's Luke helping one of the most evil men in the entire galaxy walk now the death of Vader is handled very well it's not melodramatic there's very few lines said but it was perfect and the Falcon and wedge traveling through the Death Star still looks incredible to this day they find the reactor they blow it up they're racing to get out of there in time and I got chills over my entire body when the Falcon launched out of the Death Star it's so much fun Han eventually finds out that Luke and Leia are brother and sister and he doesn't seem terribly shocked by it he I was like this kind of comical like there's a lot of stuff in this movie that could have been more serious like I said it was all just more played for fun the funeral scene with Vader is very beautiful and something struck me when I rewatched it Luke is the only one in attendance he's the only one standing there I guarantee not a single other person wanted to stand at Darth Vader's funeral just Luke the celebration ensues the Ewoks are dancing everyone's happy and you know return the joy is over the Star Wars trilogy comes to an end not a perfect movie a disappointing movie when compared to the Empire Strikes Back it is now as an adult my least favorite in the trilogy which is strange because when I was younger it was my favorite in the trilogy I still have a lot of fun watching Return of the Jedi it has a lot of amazing sequences and some very good drama but some stuff is just glossed over a little too much and there could have been more emotional conflict that was never explored and it wasn't directed as well as the previous two also I'm gonna give Return of the Jedi a b-plus so there you go I get called a Star Wars fan boy a lot but in reality as of now my only love to Star Wars movies so yeah guys what are your thoughts on return the Jedi let me know below and oh my goodness gracious force awakens is next month I look forward to giving you guys my spoiler free review of force awakens as well as a spoiler review and a surprise Star Wars review look forward to that guys thank you so much as always for watching if you haven't seen my other Star Wars reviews I have a playlist of them on my channel you can check them out now as always you guys are the best thank you very much and if you like this you can click right here and get stuck mine eyes

Channel: Chris Stuckmann

Views: 946,783

Rating: 4.8948555 out of 5

Keywords: Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi (Film), Movie Review, Chris Stuckmann, 1983, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Frank Oz, David Prowse, Ian McDiarmid, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, George Lucas, Ewoks, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Luke Skwalker, Han Solo, Battle of Endor, Lando, Admiral Ackbar, It's a Trap, Death Star, Scene, Full Movie, Clip, Teaser, Trailer, Soundtrack, John Williams, Force Awakens

Id: 8W9_d02g694

Length: 22min 4sec (1324 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 12 2015