Theres Still Good In Him
Return of the Jedi was probably the Star Wars film I watched the least growing up yet it still all feels so familiar to me. Return of the Jedi is the ending of the original trilogy and brings upon one of my favourite features from a Star Wars film, the battle happening in three different places at the same time. It’s something that is done really well in Return of the Jedi and then inspires Rogue One which uses the style well as well. The ending of Return of the Jedi has all of your favourite characters at risk at the same time but it doesn’t have the guts to take it to the next level and thats what I hope The Last Jedi does differently.
Watching Return of the Jedi on Blu-Ray is quite a strange experience as it looks almost brand new at times. Some of the visuals look as if they were filmed this year, and while some don’t look as good, Return of the Jedi really shows the skill and magic put into the original Star Wars films, they are and always will be an impressive feat of filmmaking.
Return of the Jedi is a little lost at times though, it’s story mainly happens after the first act as Han Solo being captured and then rescued by the gang is a side mission that both needs to and doesn’t need to happen. It’s a short little adventure that gets you back into the Star Wars spirit and catches you up with what your favourite characters are up to, basically it tells you that Luke is an even better Jedi who could actually confront Darth Vader. It’s something that now when I watch it i don’t enjoy it as much because i think it could’ve been written better than that but now that I think about it the scene is typical Star Wars and thats what makes it good.
The scene has each member of the gang working together to get out of a tricky situation whilst also being surrounded with every type of alien you could think of. If it doesn’t scream Star Wars than I don’t know what else in the movie does really. it is scenes like this that’ll be good for The Last Jedi when every main good guy is separated and need to come back together, I just hope it would be better used for the story.
The two questions that arise from Return of the Jedi are how did Kylo Ren get Darth Vader’s helmet when it is quite clearly burning after Luke gives him a peaceful farewell? And is Snoke really the Emperor? The first question I have no idea how that works unless Luke like took it off mid burning and kept it as a souviner, which I doubt, and then Kylo Ren stole it? It just doesn’t make sense and I can’t wait for The Last Jedi to maybe explain it. I also don’t think that The Emperor is Snoke because that would be basic storytelling and would make the great ending of Return of the Jedi not be as strong as it is. Return of the Jedi doesn’t do lots to the Star Wars story but it does set up and endless amount of options for films like The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi to explore and now that is one of the many reasons why I love it.