ROTJ picks up about a year after the events of Empire, and we have returned to the planet on which the trilogy started: Tatooine. This is where the bounty hunter has taken Han Solo: to the lair of the corpulent gangster Jabba the Hutt. R2D2 and C3P0 arrive at his compound carrying a message for Jabba from Luke Skywalker. He asks for a meeting to discuss freeing Solo, and also gives the droids to the crime lord.
So... ages ago, I started reviewing all of the Star Wars movies and got as far as The Empire Strikes Back before getting distracted and going on to other things. I suspect that this has something to do with the fact that they're not my favourite films- or alternatively, I may just be using this as an excuse for lack of focus. Either way, I thought I should get back at it, so here we are: Return Of The Jedi. ROTJ picks up about a year after the events of Empire, and we have returned to the planet on which the trilogy started: Tatooine. This is where the bounty hunter has taken Han Solo: to the lair of the corpulent gangster Jabba the Hutt. R2D2 and C3P0 arrive at his compound carrying a message for Jabba from Luke Skywalker. He asks for a meeting to discuss freeing Solo, and also gives the droids to the crime lord. Jabba has no intention of giving up his favourite wall decor: Han Solo, frozen like a fish stick. A bounty hunter arrives with a captive Chewbacca, to Jabba's delight. The Wookie is locked up by a guard who turns out to be Lando Calrissian. Meanwhile, the bounty hunter sticks around for the party for reasons which become obvious when, while Jabba's court is sleeping it off, he releases Solo from his carbonite prison. Solo is sick and temporarily blind but otherwise unharmed, and the bounty hunter removes his helmet to reveal that he's actually Princess Leia. Unfortunately, they are caught by Jabba and his henchmen; Solo is dragged off to lockup, while Leia is forced to don the infamous slave girl bikini and be chained to Jabba. Luke Skywalker arrives, looking all Jedi-y in a dark cloak, and uses his powers to get in to see Jabba who tells him- through C3P0's translation- that there will be no deal. He then drops Luke into a pit with his pet monster, which Luke fights and kills. An enraged Jabba has Luke, Han, and Chewie dragged in front of him and announces that they're being taken out to the Sarlacc pit and thrown in, where they'll be slowly digested for a few millennia. Jabba and his court make a picnic of it, travelling out to watch on the gangster's flying barge, on which R2D2 is serving drinks. The gang's all here, and when they reach the pit, R2D2 shoots Luke's lightsaber to him and the fight is on. The friends, including the recovering Han, tussle with the guards, knocking many of them into the Sarlacc Pit. Meanwhile on Jabba's barge, Leia takes advantage of the confusion and panic and garrotes Hutt with her chain. She is then freed by R2D2 and they join the rest of the group, speeding away as Jabba's barge explodes, Luke having turned the barge's laser canon on itself. As they leave the planet to rejoin the rebellion, Luke (and R2D2) separate from their friends and head for Dagobah to see Yoda. Luke finds an enfeebled Yoda who, at 900 years old, is not as spry as he once was. He is, in fact, dying and Luke, dismayed, says that Yoda can't die because he needs to complete his training. Yoda tells him that he needs no more training and, surprised, Luke asks if he's a Jedi now. Yoda says no, because he must face Darth Vader again. Luke, recalling what Vader told him at the end of Empire, asks Yoda if it's true; is Darth Vader his father? Yoda prevaricates, but at Luke's insistence finally admits the truth- he is. He also says that it's unfortunate that Luke rushed to face Vader when he was unprepared to do so and Luke, at first angry about being lied to, apologizes for not staying to complete his training. Yoda seems to be struggling to tell Luke about someone else with the Force, but he dies before he can impart this knowledge. As Luke leaves Yoda's abode, ghost Ben Kenobi shows up, and Luke angrily asks him why he lied about Darth Vader killing his father. Ben says that when Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, the good man he had been was destroyed, so what he told him was true, from a certain point of view. Uh huh. Ben tells Luke that he's going to have to take Vader down, but Luke says that he can't kill his own father. Ben says that, if that's the case, the Empire has already won. Luke points out that Yoda mentioned someone else who could be trained, but Ben says that person is Luke's sister, Leia. Egad. (To Be Continued...)
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