The brilliance of ROTJ

The throne room scene is for me the best dialogues written in the OT. ANH is my favorite of the OT; however, everything you outlined is why ROTJ is on the top of my list.

 

Anyone else love Leia in this film? Yeah, me too.

 

Part of what makes ROTJ so great is not just the incredible ending, but the fact that it is earned. We saw all the sacrifices, decisions, and failures that led up to this point, and now it all comes together for an amazing redemption.

Sometimes stories just end with "everybody just gets everything they wanted," and while fans aren't going to complain about that, it isn't particularly memorable either - you're left with a sense of, "If it was that easy, then why did it take this long?" (Cough... last episode of Friends... cough) Triumph without any real cost is just "okay." But in Star Wars, you have seen all the challenges and sacrifices throughout the saga, and in ROTJ you reap the reward that all six movies were building toward.

 

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Maybe a better title would be ‘The brilliance of ROTJ’s third act’?

 

Imagine a world where Lucas cuts to the credits as soon as Luke shouts "NEVER!"....


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The movie doesn't really start until Luke is "captured" on Endor and he and Vader meet again. Yet it's still in the top tier of SW films.

 

They could have condensed the whole rescue into a teaser or a sort of pre titles sequence. No more than 12-15 minutes. It would have left more time to set up the possibility that Luke might, conceivably turn to the dark side (we're sometimes told that ROTJ indicates this with the black costume and all but I've never fully bought that) and provide more credibility to the Ewok alliance. The movie is lacking in any identifiable Imperial characters on Endor itself. The Empire on Endor is virtually anonymous in the movie and there is no focus to their threat to the rebels. Another officer, maybe a rival to Jerjerrod or Piett, should have been sent down, against his personal ambitions, to oversee the ambush of the rebels. Shown to resent being removed from the real battle, and from sharing the glory, he would arrogantly dismiss the danger posed by the natives but he would then witness his command of the battle undermined by them, allowing the rebels to fulfill their mission. The Emperor's overconfidence and preoccupation with turning Luke making him unable to prevent the backstabbing among in his officers from compromising the defence of the shield generator and the death star. In an ironic twist this officer would be the highest ranking Imperial to survive the battle, but suffer humiliation o having to surrender to the Ewoks in the end.

 

By Lucas’ own account, the climax of ROTJ was very heavily based on the original ending he had in mind for the first film. The first half of the movie really is essentially padding. It isn’t pointless in that it very much reinforces the themes we see throughout the picture and the larger series, but a lot of it lays kind of flat and relatively inert compared to the finale, because (functionally, anyway) it’s filler.

All the upfront elements are pretty solid though. The ‘rescue Han’ storyline works great to reestablish Luke’s attachment to his friends and the lengths he’ll go to protect them as well as demonstrating his personal growth and maturity - both aspects that are crucial to the final resolution of the narrative. It answers the cliffhanger regarding Han in ESB while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the buttons the Emperor will push on in the throne room. There’s a good bunch of atmospheric puttering going on in Jabba’s palace that sets a wonderful sense of space, but is also . . . well, filler - padding out the runtime.

A lot of the incident with the Ewoks has the same sort of wheel spinning stagnancy where we’re sort of lingering there a bit more than needed in order to get the point across. Again, the elements are terrific. It highlights how the villains devalue connection and understanding while the heroes prize it as virtuous and that’s what secures their victory. And the method to making that connection is communication - from 3PO: a character constantly devalued and backgrounded. Fantastic. Just not very excitingly presented.

As an aside, one of my personal favorite little aspects of ROTJ is the subtle juxtaposition between the introductions of the Emperor and Mon Mothma.

I love how the leader of the Imperial side is greeted by enormous pomp and circumstance as a show of total subservience. He’s clad in a black shroud looking aged and rotten - like a specter of death. He’s the decrepit masculine representation of the evil Empire.

In total opposition, the leader of the Rebel side instead enters a meeting of peers arranged around what’s effectively a round table. She’s dressed all in white looking youthful and serene - positively angelic. She’s the merciful feminine representation of the honorable Rebellion.

Anyway, that’s one of the minor details I don’t see mentioned much that I think count as ‘brilliant’ that happens fairly early on.

 

The scene where she strangles Jabba reminds me of Eowyn killing the Witch King in LOTR

 

Reminds me of her father killing his own master who thought he was safely on a leash

 

If there exists one OT-theme that G. Walton Lucas was absolutely fascinated with, it's this.

He was worried about Leia getting strangled by her bra in space, so bouncies it was then.
Vader can hardly breathe on his own.... totally awesome because crippled henchmen.
Tantive IV Officer was the first to get throttled at the neck... no force powers needed.
Trash compactor monster choke squid arm... thank the droids.
Vader is the father of force chokes.... Needa was my hommie.
Jabba joining the eternal choir... buh bye hippo worm sleemo.
Vader doing the same... was better with eyebrows, BTW.

 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . huh?