zz1sm@sdccsu3.UUCP (06/17/83)
Saw RotJ last night and have to admit I was *extremely* disappointed. Lots of good stuff, but too much silliness. This may sound strange, but I felt it to be much less 'real' than the first too. my credibility is willing to be stretched pretty far, but not that far. I'll flame away for a while and then get to the stuff I liked and a conclusion. Some examples... The creatures! Way too many FAKE-looking creatures. Especially in Jabba's den. That blue smurfy thing really bothered me. Also the 'orc-like' creatues that greeted visitors to Jabba-- big soft things with dull teeth and flab. The guy with the tail growing out of his head was good, though. I was also disappointed in Jabba, himself. Looked like an overgrown hefty bag with fake eyes. Nice job on the tongue, though. There were simply too many muppets and soft-looking creatures, especially for a den of villainy. Princess Leia sure took being chained to Jabba, the epitomy of slime, pretty well, casually sleeping against him when Luke walked in. Luke's New, Improved, Green Light Saber, and violence in general. When I saw the ad in the paper for this movie, it had a small subtitle that said something like 'May be too intense for young children'. When? Was I the only one that noticed when our gang was escaping from Jabba while suspended over the pit creature that Luke's light saber didn't cut ANYONE? Just knocked 'em overboard to let the pit swallow them. Is there a 'stun' setting on the handle? And when Leia strangled the air bag, well, I just expected something a little more like someone getting strangled, instead of just a couple of gasps and two Tablespoons of green slime. I'm not into gore, or anything like that, but this movie didn't even attempt the 'violent realism' of the first two. The only blood (of any color) in the entire movie was the small amount under Leia's bandage after she was shot with a blaster. Ewoks. Oh boy, now the rebel alliance has been saved by Teddy Bears. Give me a break. Oh, sure, their cute as can be, but what the hell are they doing fighting Imperial Stormtroopers? Ewoks are the kind of creatures that make us want the rebels to win because they get slaughtered or something; they are not the kind of creatures that beat Stormtroopers. And with what weapons did they beat a squadron of the Imperium's best? Sticks with little rocks on the end. The Rebel Alliance. We really rooted for these guys in SW and TESB. Boy was the Imperium evil then-- blowing up whole planets and stuff. Now it is the Rebels who are on the offensive. That's okay, but I found that I didn't really hate the Imperial forces as much this time. Sure, they did nasty things, but what was the Rebel's reaction when the Death Star II blasted the rebellion's two largest cruise ships out of existence? 'Oh no, the Death Star is oper- ational!' No mourning for the thousands who must have lost their lives instantaneously? Why didn't Luke feel the souls crying out, as Obi-Wan had when the planet was destroyed in SW. Sure, there were definately more people on the planet, but Obi-Wan was in another part of the galaxy, while Luke was within sight of this destruction. I guess I just didn't feel for the rebellion as strongly as I used to, but I don't think it is my fault as much as the director's. Now for the good stuff. My favorite scenes were all aboard the DS II. I really thought this stuff was good, and I wish the rest of the movie had been more like this. Luke's conflict with himself, Darth, and the Emperor was very well done. Also the scenes of the rebels flying through the innards of the DS II were fantastic. I liked most of Luke's scenes; I really felt for him more than anyone else. I thought that his conflict could have been a more major part of the movie, and I wouldn't have minded if he had not survived it, as long as he won his inner conflict first. I also really enjoyed the sky cycle scenes. I wish I had one of them to truck around on. I think I'd stay away from forests, though. I think that the acting in this movie was the best of the three, at least on the parts of Luke, Leia, and Han. Conclusion. It may sound from my flames above that I didn't like RotJ. This is not true. I truly enjoyed it, but I was disappointed because it left the spirit of episodes IV and V. It was simply TOO CUTE to 'be believed'. I am afraid that I will not pay to see this movie again, as I did SW (17 times) and TESB(12 times), at least not in the near future. Oh, well. I hope that Episodes I-III and VII-IX (if they are made) return to the spirit of adven- ture that was in SW and TESB, but seems to be lacking in RotJ. Flame away! Shane sdcsvax!shane sdcsvax!sdccsu3!zz1sm