ATMachine said:

Actually, to judge from The Making of ROTJ, quite a lot of thought was put into Luke's ultimate plans behind the whole scheme to infiltrate Jabba's palace. The problem was that almost none of it ended up conveyed on screen.

I haven't read that, but the way I interpreted the story Lukes intention was to only use violence as a last resort. First he tried to negotiate, then he tried to sneak him out, then he tried mind control, then went ham when they were about to kill him. That would show that he has developed a more Jedi like demeanor.

But if Jabba had decided to negotiate, would he have just left the droids? Was Leia going to sneak around the palace and free Chewie and the droids too? Kind of falls apart for me there. So the best explanation ends up being "He was listening to the force", and that just seems like a cop out.

I still love the film though because I love the characters. Plot holes aren't as big of a deal when your audience cares about their well being. That's why the prequels ultimately fail as films in my opinion.