"STAR WARS: EPISODE VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI" (1983) Review
The third movie and sixth episode of George Lucas' original STAR WARS saga, "STAR WARS: EPISODE VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI", has become something of a conundrum for me. It was the first STAR WARS movie that immediately became a favorite of mine. But in the years that followed, my opinion of the film had changed.
Directed by Richard Marquand, "RETURN OF THE JEDI" picked up a year after "STAR WARS: EPISODE V - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" left off. The movie begins with the arrival of the Emperor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious and his apprentice, Darth Vader to the Empire's new Darth Star, which had been in construction above the moon of Endor. Luke Skywalker, Jedi-in-training and Rebel Alliance pilot, finally construct a plan to rescue his friend, Han Solo, from the Tatooine gangster Jabba the Hutt. His plan nearly fails, despite help from Princess Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca and his droids C3-P0 and R2-D2. Despite the odds against them, the group of friends finally succeed in rescuing Han and killing Jabba.
Following the Tatooine rescue, Luke returns to Dagobah to finish his Jedi training with Jedi Master Yoda. However, Luke discovers Yoda on the verge of death from old age. When the old Jedi Master finally dies, Obi-Wan Kenobi's ghost appears and verifies what Luke had learned on Bespin in "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" - that Darth Vader is his father, Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan insists that Luke has to kill his father in order to destroy the Sith Order, but the latter is reluctant to commit patricide. Eventually, Luke returns to the Rebel Alliance rendezvous point, and volunteers to assist his friends in their mission to destroy the the Death Star.
I was not kidding when I stated that "RETURN OF THE JEDI" was the first STAR WARS movie to become a personal favorite of mine. I disliked "A NEW HOPE" when I first saw it. It took me nearly a decade to get over my dislike and embrace it. "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" creeped me out a bit, due to its dark plot, the revelation of Darth Vader's true identity and Han's unhappy fate. The movie has become one of my two favorites in the franchise. But I loved "RETURN OF THE JEDI" from the beginning. By then, I finally learned to embrace Lucas' saga. And the positive ending with no potential of a sequel made me equally happy. And yet . . . my feelings toward the movie gradually changed. Although I still maintained positive feelings toward the movie, I ceased to regard it as my personal favorite from the STAR WARSfranchise.
"RETURN OF THE JEDI" did have its problems. One, the movie featured both a second Death Star and Luke's return to Tatooine. For me, this signalled an attempt by George Lucas to recapture some of the essence from the first movie, "A NEW HOPE". In other words, I believe Lucas used the Death Star and Tatooine to relive the glory of the first movie for those fans who had been disappointed with "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK". And there is nothing that will quickly turn me off is an artist who is willing to repeat the past for the sake of success.
Tatooine proved to be an even bigger disappointment, especially since I have never been fond of the sequence at Jabba's palace. I never understood why it took Luke and his friends an entire year to find Han. Boba Fett had made his intentions to turn Han over to Jabba very clearly in "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK". So, why did it take them so long to launch a rescue? Exactly what was Luke's rescue plan regarding Han in the first place? Not long after she arrived with Chewbacca, Leia made her own attempt to free Han from the carbonite block and failed. Had Luke intended for this to happen? Had he intended to be tossed into a pit with a Rancor? Were all of these minor incidents merely parts of Luke's plan to finally deal with Jabba on the latter's sail barge? If so, it was a piss-poor and convoluted plan created by Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan.
"RETURN OF THE JEDI" also featured the development of Luke's skills with the Force. Since the movie made it clear that he had not seen Yoda since he departed Dagobah in order to rescue Han, Leia and Chewbacca from Bespin; I could not help but wonder how Luke managed to develop his Force skills without the help of a tutor. I eventually learned that Luke honed his Force skills by reading a manual he had found inside Obi-Wan Kenobi's Tatooine hut. Frankly, I find this scenario ludicrous. Luke's conversation with Obi-Wan's ghost on Dagobah featured one major inconsistency. Obi-Wan claimed that Owen Lars was his brother, in whose care he left Luke. Considering Obi-Wan's unemotional response to Owen's death in "A NEW HOPE", I found this hard to believe and could not help but view Obi-Wan's words as a major blooper. Especially since Obi-Wan had reacted with more emotion over Luke's reluctance to become a Jedi and kill Darth Vader.
Many fans have complained about the cheesy acting and wooden dialogue found the Prequel Trilogy movies. These same fans have failed to notice similar flaws in the Original Trilogy movies, including "RETURN OF THE JEDI". Especially"RETURN OF THE JEDI". Mind you, the movie did feature some first-rate performances. But none of it came from Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. I really enjoyed Ford and Fisher's performances in "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK". But I feel they really dropped the ball in "RETURN OF THE JEDI". They seemed to be phoning in their performances and the Leia/Han ended up rather wooden and unsatisfying to me. This was especially apparent in the scene in which Leia, after learning the truth about Vader's identity, seemed too upset to answer Han's demanding questions about her conversation with the departed Luke. Both Fisher and Ford really came off as wooden in that scene. When I had first saw "RETURN OF THE JEDI", I despised the Ewoks. My feelings for them have somewhat tempered over the years. But I still find them rather infantile, even for a STAR WARS movie. Although I no longer dislike the Ewoks, I still find that village scene in which C3-P0 revealed the past adventures of Luke and his friends very cheesy and wince-inducing. Unlike the past two films, the camaraderie between the group seemed forced . . . and very artificial. The Ewok village scene also revealed a perplexing mystery - namely the dress worn by Leia in this image:
For years, I have wondered why Leia would carry such a dress with her, during the mission to Endor. I eventually learned that the Ewoks created the dress for her, after she became their guest. And I could not help but wonder why they had bothered in the first place. Luke and Han did not acquire new outfits from the Ewoks after they became the latter's guests. And how did the Ewoks create the dress so fast? Within a matter of hours?
Thankfully, "RETURN OF THE JEDI" had plenty of virtues. One of those virtues turned out to be Mark Hamill, who gave the best and probably the most skillful performance in the movie as Luke Skywalker. Unlike the previous two movies, Luke has become a more self-assured man and Force practitioner, who undergoes his greatest emotional journey in his determination to learn the complete story regarding his family's past and help his father overcome any remaining connections to the Sith. He was ably supported by James Earl Jones (through voice) and David Prowse (through body movement), who skillfully conveyed Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker's growing dissatisfaction with the Sith and himself."RETURN OF THE JEDI" also marked the real debut of Ian McDiarmid's portrayal of politician and Sith Lord Palpatine aka Darth Sidious. Although the actor achieved critical acclaim for his portrayal of Palpatine in the Prequel Trilogy movies, I must say that I was impressed by his performance in this film. McDiarmid was in his late 30s at the time, but I he did a first-rate job in portraying Palpatine as a powerful and intelligent Sith Lord and galactic leader, whose skills as a manipulator has eroded from years of complacency and arrogance. Billy Dee Williams returned as ex-smuggler Lando Calrissian, who has joined the Rebel Alliance cause. Although his portrayal of Lando did not strike me as memorable as I did in "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK", I believe he did a very solid job - especially in the Battle of Endor sequence. I finally have to comment on the Jabba the Hutt character, who proved to be very memorable thanks to Larry Ward's voiceovers and the puppeteer team supervised by David Barclay.
"RETURN OF THE JEDI" also featured some first-rate action scenes. The best, in my opinion, was the speeder bike sequence in which Luke and Leia chased a squad of Imperial stormtroopers on patrol through the Endor forest. This sequence was actually shot in the Redwood National Forest in California. The combined talents of Lucas, Marquand's direction, Alan Hume's photography, the ILM special effects, Ben Burtt's sound effects (which received an Oscar nomination) and especially the editing team of Sean Barton, Marcia Lucas and Duwayne Dunham made this sequence one of the most exciting, nail biting and memorable ones in the entire saga. But there were other scenes and sequences that impressed me. Despite my dislike of the entire sequence featuring the rescue of Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, I cannot deny that the scene aboard Jabba's sail barge proved to be entertaining. Even the ground battle between the Imperial forces and the Rebel forces (assisted by the Ewoks) proved to be not only entertaining, but also interesting. The idea of the Ewoks utilizing the natural elements of Endor to battle and defeat Imperial technology provided an interesting message on the superiority of nature. And if I must be honest, I found the destruction of this second Death Star to be more exciting than the first featured in "A NEW HOPE".
Despite the barrage of action scenes, there were a few dramatic scenes that I found impressive. The best one proved to be the confrontation between Luke, Vader and Palpatine aboard the second Death Star. Luke and Papatine's battle of wills over Vader's soul not only provided some interesting performances from Hamill, Earl Jones/Prowse and McDiarmid; it also resulted in one of the most emotionally satisfying moments in the movie. Another excellent dramatic scene featured Luke's discussion with Obi-Wan's ghost regarding Vader's true identity. Both Hamill and Alec Guinness gave excellent performances in the scene. It also, rather surprisingly, revealed the flawed aspect of the Jedi's righteous nature for the very first time.
After the release of the six STAR WARS movies produced by George Lucas, I realized that I no longer regarded "RETURN OF THE JEDI" as the best in the saga. Unfortunately, I now rate it as the least most satisfying film in the saga produced by Lucas. Certain plot holes and some weak performances made it impossible for me to view it with such high esteem. Yet, I cannot say that I dislike the film. In fact, I still enjoyed it very much, thanks to a first-rate performance by Mark Hamill, who really held the movie together; some excellent action sequences and a surprising, yet satisfying twist that ended the tale of one Anakin Skywalker. Despite its flaws, "RETURN OF THE JEDI" still managed to be a very satisfying movie.
"POLDARK" SERIES ONE (2015): EPISODES FIVE TO EIGHT
Within the past year, I had developed a major interest in author Winston Graham's 1945-2002 "POLDARK" literary saga and the two television adaptations of it. Series One of the second adaptation produced by Debbie Horsfield, premiered on the BBC (in Great Britain) and PBS (in the United States) last year. Consisting of eight episodes, Series One of "POLDARK" was an adaptation of 1945's "Ross Poldark - A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787" and "Demelza - A Novel of Cornwall, 1788-1790". Whereas Episodes One to Four adapted the 1945 novel, Episodes Five to Eight adapted the 1946 novel.
Episode Four left off with the death of Ross Poldark's uncle, Charles; leaving Trenwith, the family's premiere estate, in the hands of his cousin Francis. Ross' former kitchen maid and new bride, Demelza Carne Poldark, formed a friendship with Francis' sister Verity and accompanied Ross to a rather tense Christmas celebration at Trenwith, which was further marred by an unexpected appearance of the noveau-riche Warleggan family and friends. Ross also learned that copper had been discovered inside his mine and that Demelza had become pregnant with their first child.
Episode Five began several months later with the arrival of a traveling theater company that includes a young actress named Keren, who attracts the attention of miner Mark Daniels. The episode also marked the arrival of two other players - Dwight Enys, a former British Army officer and doctor, who happens to be a former comrade of Ross'; and young Julia Poldark, whose birth interrupted her parents' enjoyment of the traveling theater company's performance. The four episodes featured a good number of events and changes in Ross Poldark's life. Julia's birth led to a riotous christening in which he and Demelza had to deal with unexpected guests. Francis lost his fortune and his mine to George Warleggan's cousin Matthew Sanson at a gaming party. Ross learned that his former employee Jim Carter was seriously ill at the Bodomin Jail and tried to rescue the latter with Dwight Enys' help. The tragic consequences of their attempt led to Ross' ill nature at the Warleggan's ball. Dwight drifted into an affair with Keren Daniels, with tragic results.
Ross and several other mine owners created the Carnmore Copper Company in an effort to break the Warleggans' stranglehold on the mineral smelting business, while Demelza plotted to resurrect her cousin-in-law Verity Poldark's romance with Captain Andrew Blamey. The success of her efforts led to an estrangement between Ross and Frances. Demelza's matchmaking also led to financial disaster for her husband's new business venture. A Putrid's Throat epidemic struck the neighborhood, affecting Francis, Elizabeth and their son Geoffrey Charles. Not long after Demelza had nursed them back to health, both she and Julia were stricken by disease. The season ended with a series of tragic and tumultuous events. Although Demelza recovered, Julia succumbed to Putrid's Throat. The Warleggans' merchant ship wrecked off the coast of Poldark land and Ross alerted locals like Jud and Prudie Paynter to salvage any goods that wash up on the shore. This "salvaging" led to violence between those on Poldark lands and neighboring miners and later, both against local military troops. One of the victims of the shipwreck turned out to be the Warleggans' cousin, Matthew Sanson. After Ross insulted Sanson's death in George Warleggan's face, the season ended with the latter arranging for Ross' arrest for inciting the riot.
I must admit that I liked these next four episodes a bit more than I did the first quartet. Do not get me wrong. I enjoyed those first episodes very much. But Episodes Five to Eight not only deepened the saga - naturally, considering a they were continuation of the first four - but also expanded the world of Ross Poldark.
One of the aspects of Series One's second half that caught both my attention and my admiration was the production's continuing portrayal of Britain's declining economic situation during the late 18th century . . . especially for the working class. Both Episodes Five and Seven featured brief scenes that conveyed this situation. In Episode Five; Ross, Demelza and Verity encounter a starving family on the road to Turo, begging for food or money. A second brief scene in Episode Seven featured Demelza baking bread and later, dispersing it to the neighborhood's starving poor. However, the series also featured bigger scenes that really drove home the dire economic situation. Upon reaching Truro in Episode Five, both Demelza and Verity witnessed a riot that broke out between working-class locals and the militia when the former tried to access the grain stored inside Matthew Sanson's warehouse. I found the sequence well shot by director William McGregor. The latter also did an excellent job in the sequence that featured locals like the Paynters ransacking much needed food and other goods that washed ashore from the Warleggans' wrecked ship. I was especially impressed by how the entire sequence segued from Ross wallowing in a state of grief over his daughter's death before spotting the shipwreck to the militia's violent attempt to put down the riot that had developed between the tenants and miners on Ross' land and locals from other community.
Even the upper-classes have felt the pinch of economic decline, due to the closing and loses of mines across the region and being in debt to bankers like the Warleggans. Following the discovery of copper inside his family's mine in Episode Four, Ross seemed destined to avoid such destitution. Not only was he able to afford a new gown and jewels for Demelza to wear at the Warleggan ball in Episode Six, he used his profits from the mine to create a smelting company - the Carnmore Copper Company - with the assistance of other shareholders in an effort to break the Warleggans' monopoly on the local mining industry. One cannot say the same for his cousin Francis, who continued to skirt on the edge of debt, following his father's death. Unfortunately, Francis wasted a good deal of his money on gambling and presents for the local prostitute named Margaret. In a scene that was not in the novel, but I found both enjoyable and very effective, he lost both his remaining fortune and his mine, Wheal Grambler, to the Warleggans' cousin, Matthew Sanson, at a gaming party. But this was not the end of the sequence. Thanks to director William McGregor and Horsfield's script. The sequence became even more fascinating once the Poldarks at Trenwith learned of Francis' loss, especially Elizabeth. And it ended on a dramatic level with Francis being forced to officially close Wheal Grambler in front a crowd. I realize the sequence was not featured in Graham's novel, but if I must be honest; I thought Horsfield's changes really added a good deal of drama to this turn of events. Not only did McGregor shot this sequence rather well, I really have to give kudos to Kyle Soller, who did an excellent job in portraying Francis at his nadir in this situation; and Heida Reed, who did such a superb job conveying the end of Elizabeth's patience with her wayward husband with a slight change in voice tone, body language and expression.
I was also impressed by other scenes in Series One's second half. The christening for Ross and Demelza's new daughter, Julia, provided some rather hilarious moments as their upper-crust neighbors met Demelza's religious fanatic of a father and stepmother. Thanks to Harriet Ballard and Mark Frost's performances, I especially enjoyed the confrontation between the snobbish Ruth Treneglos and the blunt Mark Carne. It was a blast. Ross and Dwight's ill-fated rescue of a seriously ill Jim Carter from the Bodmin Jail was filled with both tension and tragedy. Tension also marked the tone in one scene which one of the Warleggans' minions become aware of the newly formed Carnmore Copper Company during a bidding session. Another scene that caught my interest featured George Warleggan's successful attempt at manipulating a very angry Francis into revealing the names of shareholders in Ross' new cooperative . . . especially after the latter learned about his sister Verity's elopement with Andrew Blamey. Both Soller and Jack Farthing gave excellent and subtle performances in this scene. Once again, McGregor displayed a talent for directing large scenes in his handling of the sequence that featured the wreck of the Warleggans' ship, the Queen Charlotte, and both the looting and riot on the beach that followed. Series One ended on a dismal note with Ross and Demelza dealing with the aftermath of young Julia's death and Ross' arrest by the militia for leading the beach riot. Although I found the latter scene a bit of a throwaway, I was impressed by the scene featuring a grieving Ross and Demelza, thanks to the excellent performances from series leads, Aidan Turner and Elinor Tomlinson.
If there is one sequence that I really enjoyed in Series One of "POLDARK", it was the Warleggan ball featured in Episode Six. Ironically, not many people enjoyed it. They seemed put out by Ross' boorish behavior. I enjoyed it. Ross seemed in danger of becoming a Gary Stu by this point. I thought it was time that audiences saw how unpleasant he can be. And Turner did such an excellent job in conveying that aspect of Ross' personality. He also got the chance to verbally cross swords with Robin Ellis' Reverend Dr. Halse for the second time. Frankly, it was one of the most enjoyable moments in the series, so far. Both Turner and Ellis really should consider doing another project together. The segment ended with not only an argument between Ross and Demelza that I found enjoyable, but also a rather tense card game between "our hero" and the Warleggans' cousin Matthew Sanson that seemed enriched by performances from both Turner and Jason Thorpe.
I wish I had nothing further to say about Episodes to Eight of Series One. I really do. But . . . well, the episodes featured a good number of things to complain about. One, there were two sequences in which Horsfield and McGregor tried to utilize two scenes by showing them simultaneously. Episode Seven featured a segment in which both Demelza and Elizabeth tried to prevent a quarrel between two men in separate scenes - at the same time. And Episode Eight featured a segment in which both Ross and Demelza tried to explain the circumstances of their financial downfall (the destruction of the Carnmore Copper Company and Verity Poldark's elopement) to each other via flashbacks . . . and at the same time. Either Horsfield was trying to be artistic or economic with the running time she had available. I do not know. However, I do feel that both sequences were clumsily handled and I hope that no such narrative device will be utilized in Series Two.
I have another minor quibble and it has to do with makeup for both Eleanor Tomlinson and Heida Reed. In Episode Eight, the characters for both actresses - Demelza Poldark and Elizabeth Poldark - had been stricken by Putrid's Throat. Both characters came within an inch of death. Yet . . . for the likes of me, I found the production's different handling of the makeup for both women upon their recovery from Putrid's Throat rather odd. Whereas Elizabeth looked as if she had recently recovered from a serious illness or death (extreme paleness and dark circles under the eyes), the slight reddish tints on Demelza's face made her looked as if she had recently recovered from a cold. Winston Graham's portrayal of Demelza has always struck me as a bit too idealized. In fact, she tends to come off as a borderline Mary Sue. And both the 1970s series and this recent production are just as guilty in their handling of Demelza's character. But this determination to make Demelza look beautiful - even while recovering from a near fatal illness - strikes me as completely ridiculous.
If there is one aspect of this second group of Series One's episodes that really troubled me, it was the portrayal of traveling actress Keren Smith Daniels and her affair with Dr. Dwight Enys. After viewing Debbie Horsfield's portrayal of the Keren Daniels character, I found myself wondering it Debbie Horsfield harbored some kind of whore/Madonna mentality. Why on earth did she portray Keren in such an unflattering and one-dimensional manner? Instead of delving into Keren's unsatisfaction as Mark Daniels' wife and treating her as a complex woman, Horsfield ended up portraying her as some one-dimensional hussy/adultress who saw Dwight as a stepping stone up the social ladder. Only in the final seconds of Keren's death was actress Sabrina Barlett able to convey the character's frustration with her life as a miner's wife. Worse, Horsfield changed the nature of Keren's death, by having Mark accidentally squeeze her to death during an altercation, instead of deliberately murdering her. Many had accused Horsfield of portraing Keren in this manner in order to justify Mark's killing of her, along with Ross and Demelza's decision to help him evade the law. Frankly, I agree. I find it distasteful that the portrayal of a character - especially a female character - was compromised to enrich the heroic image of the two leads - especially the leading man. Will this be the only instance of a supporting character being compromised for the sake of the leading character? Or was Horsfield's portrayal of Keren Daniels the first of such other unnecessary changes to come?
Despite my disppointment with the portrayal of the Keren Daniels character and her affair with Dwigh Enys and a few other aspects of the production, I had no problems with Episode Five to Eight of Series One for "POLDARK". If I must be honest, I enjoyed it slightly more than I did the first four episodes. With the adaptation of "Demelza - A Novel of Cornwall, 1788-1790" complete, I am curious to see how Debbie Horsfield and her production staff handle the adaptation of Winston Graham's next two novels in his literary series.
