These are some impressions of Return of the Jedi.
The visuals are nothing short of fantastic. I especially liked Jabba's
floating `barge'.
Before I go further with specifics, let's hit a few general points.
SW-ANH and TESB were good enough to stand by themselves. NO WAY for this
flick. There was very little continuity of action, and contrary to
other folks who have said that Mark Hamill can't act, I feel that he had
the only believably written part in the story. The dramatic pace of the
show was very badly handled, and many important scenes weren't believable.
Now specifics.
Jabba was ok, but there some things that weren't believable. The
glimpse after Luke destroys the Jabba's monster where some of Jabba's
folk mourn for it is not realistic. In a place such as Jabba's hall
where fear and pleasure alternate, it seems unlikely that the guards,
who might at any moment be terminated, would have had either the time
(high turnover in a place like that) or the inclination to gain
affection for the beast when they stood a chance of being a meal
for it sooner or later. And it just doesn't WORK in the film.
And the pace was wrong. The original picture of Jabba and his hall
was a little comical, but it grew frightening very quickly. From a purely
technical point of view, the comic relief should have been held awhile.
When Leia was releasing Han, she said she was ``Someone who loves you ...
a lot.'' This was not all that realistic. Think about it -- she is
trying to get him out of there. The greeting card schamltz would have
waited. And we would have seen Leia PROVE her love by enduring Jabba's
abuse. ... This should have been brought
into sharper focus. Even a remark from Han would do it.
When Leia strangles Jabba, it seems to be a little too pat, too easy.
It seemed too melodramatic, as well.
And Jabba, being apparently a lover of torture (applied to others) would
probably have carried the cat-and-mouse with Luke a little further. Next,
why did Luke wait until they were about to make him walk the plank before
fighting? After all, he could have jumped/flew out of the monsters
pit immediately. Was he just playing cat-and-mouse with Jabba? If so, his
demeanor with Jabba (``You should have bargained. I will destroy you.'')
was all wrong. Luke would almost certainly have been more coy. And this
is not acting. It is writing. Yes, acting might have saved the day.
(``-offhandedly: You SHOULD have bargained. I -gravely: WILL -quietly:
destroy you.'') But let us not fault Hamill for not being Brando.
In the opening, the introduction reads ``Little does he know that the
Empire is building a new Death Star'' or some such. OUCH! I had to
pull the corncobs out of my ribs -- and it got worse when Luke found out
AFTER rescuing Han abouth the new Death Star. That tidbit of information
was carried into the movie by an unmitigated Deus Ex Machina. If it was
important enough to rate explanation in the opening, why was it tossed
into the plot exposition with that kind of devil-may-care attitude?
In the big scene -- the scene with the Emperor -- the Wrath of the Emperor
is badly handled. He jumps up and gets VERY physical, throwing sparks
all over the place to zap Luke. Why? He does these things with his mind.
It would have been far better if he sat with his eye closed as the sparks
engulfed Luke -- and as Luke resisted by clearing his mind of hatred.
And, just as the Emperor is about to overcome Luke, just as all his
energy and conciousness are focused on Luke's destruction, Vader smites
the Emperor with Luke's light sabre and they both are engulfed in a
blaze of glorious purple (not blue, please) sparks. A horrible scream
is heard, and the Emperor's body disappears. Then he appears in
``holographic'' form, and, with a look of panic and terror, fades
thinner and thinner until only a shadow is left. Finally the shadow
fades as well. That is how it COULD have been.
Why didn't the battle with the Empire's fleet more closely track the
battle between Luke and the Emperor? Yes it might have been corny if
overdone, but is could have been believable>
If Yoda, on his deathbed (contrived, no?) tells Luke that Luke had learned
all he needed from Yoda, why was it that in TESB Yoda wanted Luke to stay?
And why wasn't Yoda available in ``holographic image'' just as soon as
he died? Ok, it's not unreasonable, but not explained either.
And why didn't Anaken Skywalker, after his salvation from The Dark Side
of the Force, disappear immediately upon dying?
And, if Leia is strong of the Force, and has experienced it (when Luke
called out to her near the end of TESB) why didn't she at least have
some view of the Three Transfigured Jedi (Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anaken (sp?))
when Luke could see them? At least to feel their presence?
Then there were the scenes where the furry litle people are destroying
the two-legged tanks (whatever they are called). They find about six or
seven ways to do it, and this is a little TOO much comic relief. Also,
they could have been saved for a whole bunch of action-twists, each
alternating with a hopeless or disasterous situation.
And why was the rebel cruiser able to withstand the planet-bursting
blasts of the ``fully operational Death Star''? If it had been only partially
operational, it might have been more credible from BOTH the point of view
of the cruiser and the point of view of the amount of time needed to
complete the station.
Oddly enough, Obi-Wan's explanation of how he had not lied was
believable -- perhaps because that is the way I would have written
it myself.
What else? Well, in going from the destruction of Jabba, to Yoda on
his deathbed, and back to the battle group, the pace was lost. After
the first drawn-out and terrible vanquishing of an enemy, we should
either set up for a higher tension or see some kind of escape valve
(eg comic relief) before the vastly different type of emotions needed to
deal with the Yoda scenes -- and we should have had a little more
build-up on the way back. The placement and handling of the Yoda
scene destroyed the flow of the action.
Well, I could say a lot more, but
this should be enough to start things
going.
Mark Terribile
Duke of deNet
