We have now made the jump to
hyperspace and traveled by light speed a year into the future after the events
of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in theaters
on May 25, 2014. We left off with Han
Solo being frozen in carbonite and Luke Skywalker discovering that Darth Vader
is his father. Luke along with Leia,
Lando, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 come up with a plan to save Han. Meanwhile, unknown to the Rebel Alliance, the
Galactic Empire has been secretly constructing a second Death Star.
Leia manages to sneak into Jabba’s
palace on Tatooine disguised as a bounty hunter and releases Han from the
carbonite, but is captured and enslaved by Jabba. A little later Luke comes to the rescue and
allows himself to be captured. After Luke narrowly survives a battle with the
Rancor, Jabba orders Luke and Han to be eaten to death by the Sarlacc. While on Jabba's sail barge Luke manages to
break free and a battle breaks out resulting in Jabba being strangled to death
by Leia and Luke destroying Jabba's sail barge.
Han and Leia meet up with the other
Rebels, while Luke returns to Dagobah with R2-D2 to complete his training. Yoda is dying, but tells Luke that he doesn't
need any more training. Right before
Yoda dies he confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father, tells Luke that he
will be the last of the Jedi after he dies and not to underestimate the power
of the Emperor, and mentions "another Skywalker". After Yoda's metaphysical death, Obi-Wan's
force ghost visits Luke and reveals that Leia is his twin sister and that he
must confront Darth Vader to defeat the Empire, but Luke refuses to kill his
own father.
The Emperor tries to tempt Luke to
give in to his anger and join the dark side and Luke engages Darth Vader in a lightsaber
duel. Darth Vader discovers that Leia is
Luke's sister and threatens to turn her to the dark side if Luke won't. In Luke's rage, he cuts off Darth Vader's
right hand and the Emperor tells Luke to kill him and take his father's
place. Luke however refuses and says
that he's a Jedi like his father before him.
This angers the Emperor and he
electrocutes Luke with Force Lightning, but Darth Vader refuses to let his son
dies and throws the Emperor down the tube.
Thus he redeems himself and fulfills the prophecy as the chosen one who
will bring balance to the Force. In the
process though Darth Vader is injured by the lightning and is dying. Before he dies, he asks Luke to remove his
mask so that he can look at him with his own eyes and he tells Luke that he has
saved him and to tell Leia that Luke was right about him, that there was still
good in him. He dies in Luke's
arms.
On Endor, the Rebels and the Ewoks
manage to defeat the Imperial forces and destroy the Death Star's shield
generator allowing Lando in the Millennium Falcon to destroy the Death Star and
Leia tells Han that Luke is her brother.
Later that evening, Luke cremates his father on a funeral pyre and the
whole galaxy celebrates the end of the Empire.
We end with Luke seeing the force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin, played
by Sebastian Shaw in the original version and edited in as Hayden Christensen
in the special edition, watching over them.
In the article, "Return of the
Jedi: Once More With Feeling", from the academic journal, Film Criticism,
the author, Anna Lancashire, writes about how Star Wars Episode VI: Return of
the Jedi is effective in concluding the Star Wars saga following the previous
two movies, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode V: The
Empire Strikes Back. The author also
talks about how the themes are maintained throughout and gives details on the
plots and the emphasis on emotional control and understanding of love.
According to the article, "Jedi--Star
Wars VI--is an extraordinary film, the repetitive structure of which becomes in
part its theme, giving us an unchanging Star Wars world in which men grow and
acquire new, complex perspectives on human existence as they move from
innocence through experience to maturity.
Jedi builds in detail, narratively, structurally, and thematically, on
both the comedy and optimistic emotionalism of A New Hope and the terrifying
self-knowledge of Empire, synthesizing them to give us, through its very human characters,
the Star Wars world 'once more with feeling'--a new tragicomic feeling of
mature, sober, and knowing faith in the ultimate power (force) of love, despite
the evil within us all" (63).
I think that Star Wars Episode VI:
Return of the Jedi is excellent at achieving its goal of wrapping up the whole
Star Wars saga, not just for the original trilogy (episodes 4-6), but also if
you include the prequel trilogy (episodes 1-3).
I also agree that the themes are kept consistent throughout and that
character growth is evident. As someone
who has watched the whole Star Wars saga in order I think that you really get
the complete story of the tragedy of Anakin as a tragic hero who was destined
for downfall and finally redeems himself at the end.
Do you think Star Wars Episode VI:
Return of the Jedi is effective in concluding the Star Wars saga? Leave your comment below.
wow i am interested in watching star wars now i have never seen it before
ReplyDeleteI think Episode 6 is effective because Darth Vader died and the bad guys always dies.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is effective, and just dramatic enough to bring the saga to a satisfying end!
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched episode IV, but I would like to watch it with my brothers back when i get home to LA.
ReplyDelete