CT Luke's opening scene in ROTJ

My favorite scene in the entire trilogy. The quiet score, the mysterious hooded figure, the force chokes(?), boldness before Jabba, surprise on Salacious' face....everything about it was awesome.

 

That alone is one of the main reasons I've disagreed with people who want the original opening re-added.

While the film is a little slower without it, it all pays off once Luke shows up for the first time. There is a lot more mystery here, and there's not even a mention of his lightsaber. In fact, we don't even know that it's Luke at first. While the question of whether Luke will turn over time has been greatly diminished over time, these scenes still have an impact (like Luke choking the guards).

 

Agreed... and the dance with the devil he does during this sequence is one that many of us can identify with... albeit without the force implications...

 

Agreed. The supreme confidence Luke shows during these scenes is a far cry from the uncertainty he sometimes displayed in ANH & ESB. Very powerful. Also, the black clothes & cloak is my favorite Luke outfit from the Trilogy.

 

Mine too... A very telling choice in attire for this scene - coupled with the way he carries himself throughout his dealings with Jabba - you can tell he's graduated from Padawan to Jedi....

 

Uh, Luke's opening scene was Artoo's hologram message.

But yeah, Luke's second scene was pretty sweet.

 

To add to my last post, the acting on Mark Hamill's part in ROTJ truly illustrates that he's not just a good actor, but a great actor. As was said, it was so different from his demeanor in the previous two films it's almost as if he was an entirely different person - very well done.

It's too bad that Hamill didn't do more acting over the years, since I would have liked to have seen him in many other roles. Unfortunately, I think he either got type-cast because of his role as Luke, or he just chose to wind down his acting after the OT for whatever reason (he obviously didn't need any more $ at that point ).

That being said, he was also great in Corvette Summer & The Big Red One (WW II drama). Both are interesting, underrated films that he made during the OT years. The Big Red One in particular is an excellent War film. He also had a small role in the underrated John Carpenter horror flick Village of the Damned (with Christopher Reeve).

And, obviously, he was great as the voice of the Joker in the dark & moody Batman Animated series cartoon from the '90's....

 

Mark Hamill also turned in a great performance in Slipstream (1989), playing a very convincing and nasty bad guy - unfortunately, the film itself was an utter turkey, despite the amount of talent involved, including a spectacular soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein.
Typecasting really ruined Mark Hamill like no one else, unfortunately. As far as the world was concerned, post-1983 he was Luke Skywalker, period. I've got a heap of respect for him for managing to get a career back in comics and voiceover (he's become the definitive Joker, to a certain extent), and keeping a sense of humour about it all.

And he's still coming back to do Ep VII. What a guy.

 

When I saw ROTJ for the first time and especially during that scene, both Han Solo and I had the same reaction:


Luke....a Jedi Knight?

 

I asked myself the same thing - and also it seemed like Luke aged physically and emotionally 10 years in the span between ESB and ROTJ.... oozing with maturity....

 

Yes, this is a great scene. The force chokes add a nice darker touch to the scene. And I love the mysteriousness of hooded Luke as he calmly walks in.

 

This is my favourite scene in ROTJ and close to being my favourite in the OT.....I really like how Luke is so confident, he knows he's powerful and just strolls on in.

 

Mark Hamill's work in the OT is criminally underrated. Not only does his character grow and change the most over the three movies, but he does the most acting opposite creatures, droids and blue screens, and he makes them all utterly convincing.

And that Jedi uniform is one snazzy costume, especially with the cloak.

 

Whenever people tell me Return of the Jedi is a major step down from the previous two installments (or even a minor one), all I can do is just look at them...and blink. Return of the Jedi is cooler than the world! For starters, Luke is my all-time favorite character of the saga, and he owns this film. Seriously. He no doubt does some cools stuff in the prior two, but let's just stop right here and count every badass Luke Skywalker moment in this movie:

1. His dope entrance into Jabba's palace.
2. Single handedly takes down a Rancor, with sticks and skulls, no less.
3. Reverse flips from the plank; catches lightsaber.
4. Blows up sail barge.
5. Altogether, rescues Han Solo.
6. "I'm with you, too!" (love that line)
7. Sports rad camo poncho over black attire.
8. Squares-off against an oncoming speeder bike, blocking blaster fire; sends Scout Trooper spiraling to his death.
9. Cleverly exploits Ewok superstitions, thus finding a peaceful remedy to a dicey situation, in turn earning trusty allies for the Alliance.
10. Surrenders himself to Vader, with whom he converses in confidence, proving the more emotionally mature of the two.
11. Kicks Vader down a flight of stairs.
12. Unleashes hardcore saber rage, takes Vader's hand, thus evening the score.
13. Turns away from the Dark Side, throws down weapon and basically says to the Emperor, the most evil dude in the galaxy, "Suck it!"
14. Redeems father.
15. Strolls in fashionably late to an Ewok celebration, cuz he knows he's the man of the hour:



16. Gives meaningful, respectful look to ghostly predecessors, but also walks away knowing that he did what no other Jedi could, and knowing that they know that:

 

What an AWESOME scene.... I'm 100% with ya on that....

 

You know what? That was awesome. You almost have me looking forward to Episode VII now.

 

Luke is such a chronically underrated character, and Mark Hamill's performance as him (especially in ROTJ, but really in all three films) doesn't get enough credit either.

Countdown until someone picks a fight over a use of the Hayden-ghost is 3, 2, 1...

 

Darn, Ingram, now I really want to go home and watch Jedi tonight. Sometimes I think we spend so much time critiquing everything about Star Wars fandom that we don't think enough about how awesome the movies really are. Mark Hamill really does own Jedi.

I still like to bargain with people by telling them that something is "mutually beneficial"

 

I really like the scene too. I imagine it had a lot more impact when it was first released as Luke sort of looks like he's become a darker character.

 

You forgot...

15.5: Man-hugs Han and Wedge and isn't embarrassed.

 

Yeah, that was an epic bro-hug moment. Also, notice in that 2nd pic down how Han, in the background, is spying Luke. He's either thinking to himself, "What the hell is he staring at?" or "Wait, so we have ghosts now? Whatever."

 

What about the original opening scene with him building his lightsaber? That was pretty cool, also. Or was that only in the book? Sometimes Star Wars memories conglomerate into a mess.

 

The RoTJ novelization doesn't have Luke building his lightsaber- Shadows of the Empire does.

"Go back inside," he told Artoo.
Artoo was not happy with that, and said so, ending in an air-forced-through-rubbery-lips noise.
"Go on. If something happens, I need you to tell Leia."
Yeah. Tell her Luke Skywalker, the galaxy's biggest idiot, flash-flamed himself into a black crisp because he couldn't follow an elementary circuit diagram.
Artoo left, whistling his protest as he went.
Luke let his breath out. He waited until Artoo was out of sight, then took another deep breath, held it, and pushed the control button—
The lightsaber glowed; the blade extruded to full length, just under a meter, and began to hum with power. It gave off a green gleam that was quite bright in the early night.
Luke grinned and let his indrawn breath escape. Whew.
Well, it wasn't like he really thought it was going to explode.​

The deleted opening scene in RoTJ, could be taken as being of Luke tinkering with it, rather than finishing it.

 

^^^^^The above excerpt is great.

Two things about it crack me up:

1. "Yeah. Tell her Luke Skywalker, the galaxy's biggest idiot, flash-flamed himself into a black crisp because he couldn't follow an elementary circuit diagram."

2. Well, it wasn't like he REALLY thought it was going to explode.

 

Steve Perry has an entertaining writing style IMO.