Return of the Jedi Syndrome

Let's face it guys, Hollywood is running out of original ideas.  It's going to be a very long time before we see another original story.  Gone are the days of Galactic Empires, of toys that come to life when the kids leave the room, or of cross-dressing dads trying to keep a relationship with his kids.  So as long as this era of sequels and prequels is upon us, I'd like to see a movie saga that got progressively stronger, giving the protagonist a challenge beyond the audience's comprehension, and giving us three dimensional villains that can grip our emotions.  Of course, since Hollywood only runs on the whims of Mr. Greenback, my dreams will remain on the shelf while hacks like Michael Bay continue to make bad movies that gross billions of dollars.  Series like Transformers, Ice Age, Madagascar, Shrek, and many others go on as they horribly destroy what made their predecessors good (or in Transformers case, just build onto more crap)

But then there are those film sagas that do meet my expectations, for a bit.  The first film, like the act in a play, sets up the character for an adventure and gives the character a reason to fight for a goal.  The second film, like a second act, gives the protagonist a serious challenge and clouds his/her judgement with doubt and despair.  Sure enough, that would mean that the third film would resolve the problem in an epic and spectacular fashion and end the series, but still keeps the tone rather dark and brooding.  But this doesn't happen.  In fact, it has never happened.  The films wrap things up in an eloquent bow that shatters all that made the first films good and sugarcoats an otherwise grim and mysterious legacy.

Before I begin, I need to make a few points.  First, here is a list of film sagas that won't be talked about in this list and a reason why:

1. Aladdin: While the first was brilliant, the second was lackluster.  The thrid was pretty good

2. Twilight: No, just no.

3. Star Wars prequels: Instead of following this pattern, they went Bad--> Horrible--> Okay

4. Harry Potter: All of these films are okay.  One is not better than the other, except for Order of the Phoenix, which is awful.

5. The Godfather: While part 3 is weak, the first is much better than the second.

And second, I want to make this perfectly clear.  I do not hate any of these movies.  Not at all.  In fact, I like all of the films that will be listed.  I just believe that they failed to capture any of the magic that the previous films in the saga got.  With all that said, let us journey into what it truly means to suffer from Return of the Jedi syndrome. 

1. Return of the Jedi (1983)

What was released in 1983 was not even close to what was supposed to be released as the successor to The Empire Strikes Back.  According to producer Gary Kurtz, Return of the Jedi was much darker and ended on much more of a bittersweet note.  While the Empire is indeed beaten, many of the members of the Rebellion, chiefly Han Solo, die while fighting the Empire.  Luke, like in the essence of a western, was to "ride off into the sunset" as the last of the Jedi, despite both Darth Vader and the Emperor being gone.  Leia struggles to unite the galaxy as a new Republic, and there was much more despair and tragedy, something that would not only give the Star Wars saga the ending it deserved, but the ending it needed.  But, alas, the greatest Jedi of them all fell to the Dark Side.  But not of the Force, but of Hollywood  Somewhere along the line, George Lucas got the feeling that people around the world had stopped caring about the adventure and only wanted to see special effects and in Kurtz's words 

"The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It's a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It's natural to make decisions that protect the toy business but that's not the best thing for making quality films."

Kurtz left after The Empire Strikes Back premiered, and thus brought about an end to the wonder and shocking aura of Star Wars.  Driven by the sales of toys and eager to expand into the children market, Lucas re-wrote Return of the Jedi into what it is now, a lighthearted finale to the Star Wars saga, combining teddy bears and predictable subplots with a flashy lightsaber duel and strong morals.  But it was a harbinger for things to come, as the prequel trilogy has alienated much of Lucas's true fans and ultimately drove his dream product into Disney's hands. 

 
2. The Dark Knight Rises

 Following the darkest and most challenging film in comic book history, Christopher Nolan released the final chapter in his Batman legacy.  It suffered from superhero cliche, a distinct lack of Bruce Wayne in the suit, and an M. Night Shyamalan plot twist that still makes people scratch their heads.  Basically, with the return of the League of Shadows and making Bane a servant of Ra's Al Ghul, it circumvents everything that happened in the previous film, from Harvey Dent's fall to the Joker's terror run on the city.  In fact, the Joker is not even mentioned in the film, despite being the sole reason that Dent was corrupted in the first place.  The only things from the last film that are mentioned are Batman taking down the SWAT team, and how Commissioner Jim Gordon fabricated the lie to preserve Dent's legacy. 

Rises also transforms Bane into a puppet and making the main villain Talia Al Ghul, which shatters Bane's presence and makes an otherwise chilling Tom Hardy performance lackluster.  There was no reason at all for the main villain of the film to be a girl we've never met.  If there really was supposed to be a stunning plot twist, it should have been that Ra's was revived from his Lazarus pit but was too weak to fulfill his duty to destroy Gotham.  But from what we got as a final film villain, WEAK!!!!!

 3. Toy Story 3

Toy Story 2 had arguably the most significant message to give that any Pixar film had ever had.  While Woody and Buzz both know and are willing to accept that Andy will grow up one day, they are willing to enjoy all the time they have left with him and will stick together no matter what.  The second the main part of this film began, with all of the toys panicking and quickly assuming that Andy was going to trash them despite him not throwing them out at any point in the last few years (which most people do with their toys when they grow up if not donated), I felt very uneasy and uncomfortable.  And in essence, this alone hurt my opinion of the film.

It was easy to say that Pixar went into an era from 2008-2010 that they were searching to put a film on the same pedestal as Beauty and the Beast.  This made films like Wall-e and Up much darker than previous films and unintentionally made Beast less special.  As for this film, the dark tone was upped to an unnecessarily high level that included evil pyramid schemes, Buzz acting like a douche again, and of course, Mr. Incinerator.  Was this really needed?  Did we need to have the toys go to a dump and nearly get torched?  The 3-dimensional Lotso was interesting, as was Woody meeting a new kid, but was the other dark stuff really needed?  Um...........NO!

4. Return of the King 

Maybe it's just me, but I always viewed Saruman as the main villain of the series.  Why?  Because we never knew Sauron.  We never knew him because we never saw him.  I never viewed Sauron as threatening because we only see the orcs following his orders, or a ton of buildup that never pays off.  Saruman is the main villain in my eyes, because we actually see him tempted by power and succumbing to the darkness in his heart.  So by seeing that the White Wizard was hardly acknowledged in the theatrical cut, this really annoyed me. 

The film is very over the top and bizarre.  Denethor is a psychopath, Frodo and Sam are overly emotional, Elrond remains under emotional and the rest of the film is at best tolerable.  Elijah Wood's performance continues to deteriorate, and as for those stupid eagles?  No, just no.


Return of the Jedi syndrome is expanding and will continue to infect film sagas.  While we can hope that other films will find an antidote to this disease, it's going to take a while.  And while the previously mentioned films are not entirely bad, they do suffer from having an unbearable amount of pressure on them to be perfect.  They did the best they can, and are still not awful movies.