Film Year: 1983 (riff of the 2004 DVD version)
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Director: Richard Marquand
Starring: Jabba the Hut and his obnoxious friends, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Warwick Davis, Frank Oz, Alec Guinness, Sebastian Shaw, special guest star Hayden Christensen
Rifftrax Year: 2010
Riffers: Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett
The Movie
*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*
In this initial finale to the Star Wars franchise, Luke, Leia, and Lando rescue Han from space gangster Jabba the Hut's intergalactic orgy. They then discover the Empire has rebuilt the Death Star and seek to destroy it...again. What does this have to do with Ewoks? Well...you see...shut up, that's what.
Whew boy, this one annoys me. Even it's original version Return of the Jedi is easily the weakest of the original trilogy, though probably better than some of the prequels. But every time George Lucas alters this movie he seems to be actively trying to make it more obnoxious. The sequence at Jabba's palace was already not a favorite scene of mine, but the version in print now with the unnecessary musical number is so unbearable that whenever I try to watch this movie I can't finish it. I'll take Jar Jar any day over that.
But even if I were to judge this movie on the basis of what it originally was, I don't really consider it a strong sequel. I already mentioned how the Jabba scenes push my buttons, but when you get right down to it the whole sequence is a diversion that has nothing to do with anything. It's only there to pay off a lingering thread from the previous film, and the end result is neither fun nor exciting. Then when we get into the meat of the film we find that this "epic" finale isn't really epic at all. The battle on Endor doesn't feel as if it's conclusive of anything, and when the film ends I don't really see why the Empire was defeated. Sure the Emperor is dead, but at no point does this really feel like a conclusive battle to the war. Even worse it begins rehashing scenes from the previous films, as now we have a second Death Star to blow up (just in a more spectacular fashion) and Luke goes face to face with Vader again, only this time with the Emperor cackling at him in the background.
But that latter storyline is really the only thing this film has going for it. The scenes between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor are the only portions of the film that feel genuine and interesting. But I have no interest in visiting a two-hour plus film for about twenty minutes of good material.
The Trax
Initially thought to be Rifftrax's final Star Wars riff, those poor dopes, I still call foul that they never riffed the Clone Wars movie. But I'd enjoy revisiting that even less than I do Return of the Jedi, so maybe that's a good thing.
But if this were to be the final Star Wars riff, it's a bit of a slight whimper to go out on. I'd say I enjoyed it more than the Empire riff, but it does feel as if they riffed this movie because they felt they had to, due to riffing all of the others. There doesn't seem to be much of a desire in wanting to. The majority of the riff seems to be made up of generic safe material in an attempt to get the experience over with. There are very few lines that stand out, though when inspiration hits then the laugh is well earned.
"What Star Wars teaches us about death: It's only tragic when it happens to cute things, other than that IT'S HILARIOUS!"
That's not to say it's a bad riff, just a mediocre one. Amusement level is steady but low key. This riff is more or less the definition of serviceable, though I wouldn't consider it a must listen.
Note: Yet even more tampering by Lucas for this Star Wars film, and the best I can say about this DVD version is that it's not the even more annoying cut on the blu-ray. Once again the riff is synced to the DVD edition, and the blu-ray runs seven seconds longer than the DVD.
Average
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