Techtite DVD Reviews

The Film: By 1983, George Lucas had an arguably daunting task, that came in three parts. One, he had to end the trilogy in one singular movie, and try to make said movie as close to "two hours" in length as possible. Second, he had to tie up every loose end of the story in that single film: a daunting task, when the prior film was the extremely open ended Empire Strikes Back! Third, he had to appease the fans: a lot of kids who mostly had seen the film when they were under the age of 10. Now, nearly everyone old enough to see the first film in 1977, were now old enough to see R-rated movies. Could he actually achieve the impossible, and offer an end to the trilogy that pleased everyone?

The answer to that question is: well, "close enough." Because aside from all the nitpicking, and all the many shots of (ugh) Ewoks, Return of the Jedi was a fine finale to the saga. Sure, it made a lot of quickie exits for all the many evil-doers of the story. It was a great, action-packed final battle, however, and aside from Ewoks, what could've been better? This was a great finale to the trilogy, any way you look at it.

Not that there isn't room for debate on the matter. For one thing: poor Princess Leia. Poor, poor, poor Princess Leia! Apparently Lucas was beginning to have the hots for a then early-20's Carrie Fisher, so suddenly, Leia was in a skimpy slave girl's outfit. The story goes like this: Leia, a former Galactic Senator, and leader of the Rebel Alliance, tries to save Han from the metal shell he is imprisoned in, within the evil Jabba the Hutt's lair. She fails --quite miserably, in fact-- only to be captured by Jabba and made his new slave girl. Then she's reduced to being chained to this oversized muppet for the whole first third of the film! As if to add injury to insult: later, she gets nearly trapped by a bike-riding storm trooper, and must be saved by an Ewok. Yes, an Ewok. What a sad final film for poor Princess Leia. Poor, poor, poor Princess Leia!

There's also the revelation that Luke & Leia are siblings; a revelation I still feel, to this very day, was the crappiest plot twist of the entire trilogy. The only reason Luke and Leia were made brother and sister was to finalize a fiery debate back in the day, between fans who wanted Leia to end up with Luke, and those who wanted her with Han. Fans of dashing pirate rogues wanted Han to win out. Fans of knights-in-shining-armor love stories, insisted that Luke was a Jedi K-n-i-g-h-t, ergo he should end up with the princess. For better or worse; it's clear Lucas agrees with the pirate crowd, as he promptly added two pieces of storyline drivel that would piffle away the strength of Jedi lore, for all time. One; Jedi Knights, not unlike Roman Catholic priests, can never get married (say...WHAT?!?). Two: Luke and Leia are brother and sister. So, yadda yadda yadda, Leia falls for Han. Mind you, this is from a critic who, right up until this movie, desperately wanted Leia to wind up with Luke. After all: how cool was that kiss between them in Empire? Then again; how creepy is that same kiss, now that we know that they're related? Ewww.

Sorry if this all sounds like a bashing of Jedi. That was never my intention. I am well aware how much worse this sequel could be. Alien 3. Matrix Revolutions. Robocop 2 (which, BTW, had the same director as Empire Strikes Back). The list is actually quite long. Jedi is not a bad finale at all. It's just a little flawed; that's all. It's that the prior two films were so flawless, that makes Jedi slightly disappointing. However, it's still a good finale to the trilogy. Even where it isn't too good, it could've been infinitely worse.

So allow me to take equal time to comment on all the cool moments where the film succeeds. For one thing, every loose end of the story is tied up. As Vader would say: impressive...most impressive! Consider how the TV mini-series "V" had to tie up far few loose ends, and yet by stark contrast, V: The Finale Battle was quite disappointing. There are no little girls of enormous power here to resolve the ending in five minutes. Nor are there any War of the Worlds plot twists, where the empire gets exterminated with a strange new virus. Jedi was a final battle, and what's more, it was a completely believable one. Luke takes care of the last of the evil Sith, Lando's fleet takes care of the last death star, Han and Leia and Chewie kick major empire butt, while the rebellion destroys, apparently, every star destroyer in the vicinity. This was the final battle, big time. Flaws in the underlying story notwithstanding, this is one of the most vibrant battles ever seen in science fiction.

There are even little shots, too, that are worth a thumbs up for the film just by remembering them. The first time Luke activates his new light saber is a totally cool film moment. Likewise for the Imperial Trap, where countless Tie Fighters can be seen from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, literally swarming over the small band of rebel ships. Yoda's farewell was poignant, as was the final fate of Luke's dad. The list of cool moments can go on for many web pages and never let up. Oh; don't even get me started on "Princess Leia and the Gold Bikini" (see sidebar). Sure, it reduced the impact of Princess Leia as one of the leaders of the rebellion. It also introduced millions of boys to puberty.

Then there are the Ewoks. One rumor claims that early scripts had the last battle above the birth world of Chewbacca. The final battle would've been among Wookies, though to be honest, a whole screen of grown men in fur suits might've looked pretty silly. Another rumor is that Lucas wanted a Star Wars toy for his daughter, like a little teddy bear, hence the Ewoks. This is all tabloid rumor and hearsay, however, so let's just get to it: The land-battle, between hundreds of Ewoks and storm troopers, looked very schmaltzy if you ask me. Sure, I laughed like crazy back in 1983, when seeing the mighty AT-ST tanks pummeled by a bunch of little Ewoks and their little forest "booby traps." I was 15. As an adult, the scenes aren't as strong. It just isn't a believable final battle sequence at all.

However, I must reiterate: it could've been far worse. Furthermore: Ewoks or no Ewoks, this was still a cool movie. There's a lot of fun to be had, and best of all, not one question is left unanswered, leaving the final trilogy without one single piece of loose fringe. That's a hard task for any end of a trilogy. For one that followed such an open ended masterpiece as The Empire Strikes Back, it would've seemed impossible. For that reason, among others, this film shines.

The DVD: This is currently sold only in Trilogy form, in a four-disc DVD set. While it seemed only proper to review the films themselves individually, it seems equally proper to review the extras in the review of the trilogy DVD set, since upon the movies ever dividing into individual DVDs, the extras may change. Click here for the full review.

	Final Rating : Large Crater. Just one Ewok hair away from being as "classic" as the prior two films, but it's still a classic finale to a classic trilogy.
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Techtite's DVD Reviews!

Star Wars, Episode VI:

Return of The Jedi

A Techtite Review