Subject: Review: Return Of The Jedi: Special Edition (1997)

From: "Joe Chamberlain" <[email-masked]>
Date: 23 Dec 1998 05:28:28 GMT

Return Of The Jedi: Special Edition
A review by Joe Chamberlain

Starring Mark Hamill; Harrison Ford; Carrie Fisher & Billy Dee Williams
Return Of The Jedi: Special Edition is the third installment of the Star
Wars trilogy, and the second best of the three. (Star wars being the best.)
Although, it is probably the most disappointing when it comes to the Special
Edition version. It picks up where The Empire Strikes Back left off -- Han
Solo is feeling somewhat confined and Luke Skywalker is dealing with some
serious parental issues. In this film, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke
Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) travel to the
forest moon of Endor. There they must try to deactivate the generator that
powers a shield protecting the Empire's new Death Star. Once the shield is
down the Rebel armada plans to attack the Empire's new space station in
their final showdown with Darth Vader and friends. If you don't know all
this by now, most likely you have either been in a coma or living in a South
American jungle for the last 15 years.

Unlike The Empire Strikes Back, which bordered on depressing in places,
Return Of The Jedi is much more fun. The scenes on the Endor Moon involving
the Ewoks are especially good. They are probably the cutest creatures to
ever hit the big screen, with the possible exception of E.T.. Return Of The
Jedi also benefits from what seems like the most action of the three films.
This is highlighted by the spectacular battle between the Imperial forces
and the Rebel/Ewok team.

I must confess to being a much bigger Han Solo fan than I am a Luke
Skywalker fan. So if I have one criticism of the movie it is the extended
periods in the film that focus on the Emperor's attempts to turn Luke to the
dark side of the Force. A minor complaint, but one worthy of note
nonetheless. But not a point big enough to prevent me from ranking Return Of
The Jedi as one of my favorite films of all time. Return Of The Jedi serves
as a fitting end to one of the greatest series of movies ever produced. It
ties up all the loose ends of the previous films and stands as a reminder
that sequels don't necessarily have to be inferior knockoffs of the original
film.

Now, my second complaint (actually more of an observation) is the fact that
updates that the trilogy received for its re-release in Special Edition form
did very little to benefit Return Of The Jedi. First of all, special effects
had been advanced greatly from the time Star Wars was made until the time
Return Of The Jedi was made. So Return really doesn't benefit from the
improved special effects that make the Special Edition of Star Wars such a
treat to watch. Nor does it contain any lost footage like Star Wars. All it
really does contain is a new dance sequence in Jabba The Hut's palace, a
couple of shots of various celebrations at the end of the movie and a new
musical score for both the enhanced dance sequence and celebrations. I have
to admit while the new dance sequence and celebration shots where nice they
certainly aren't worth watching the Special Edition for. As for the new
score to accompany these new sequences -- call me resistant to change, but
the old one was just fine. Changing the old score was the only thing that I
can honestly say that I think was a mistake. It's not that it was bad, but I
think most Star Wars fans are like me in that they have probably seen Return
Of The Jedi a dozen times. When a familiar piece of music wasn’t where I
expected it to be I felt as if I was missing something. Hey, the original
John Williams score was brilliant -- don't mess with perfection. But don't
let this minor criticism make you think that the update hurts Return Of The
Jedi, it's still as wonderful as it was when it was first relaesed. My point
is merely that if you can't find The Special Edition in your local video
store, don't be too disappointed -- the original version isn't a whole lot
different. For a few brief seconds towards the end credits, maybe it's just
a little bit better.

Whether you've seen the first two films or not, Return Of The Jedi is easily
two of the most enjoyable hours you will ever spend watching a film. A word
of warning though. If you are simply renting the Special Edition to see the
improvements -- don't bother. You will just end up being disappointed. Rent
the updated version of Star Wars instead.

10/10

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