Han Solo Rescue In Return of the Jedi Makes No Sense

First, Lando infiltrates Jabba’s organization at some point before the movie begins. Why? I get that it’s probably to gather intel, but since none of the others seem to tailor their plans to the specifics of Jabba’s gang, it doesn’t seem like Lando’s part in Han Solo’s Return of the Jedi rescue really makes sense.

Then Luke sends the two droids to Jabba’s palace as “gifts.” I understand that Luke was trying to smuggle his lightsaber into the palace via R2-D2 but why go with the “Hey, Jabba I’ll give you my two favorite droids if you free my friend,” approach? What if Jabba was just like, “Nah,” and scrapped the droids because he didn’t want them?

Or worse, what if Jabba accepted the droids in exchange for Han’s freedom? Does Luke just write the droids off as expendable? Best case scenario, Han Solo gets to go home but now Return of the Jedi suddenly turns into a droid rescue movie.

Luke could have just as easily arrived at Jabba’s palace with R2-D2 by his side. It’s not like he planned to use the lightsaber specifically during an outdoor fight near the Sarlaac pit. Han Solo’s rescue in Return of the Jedi would have been much simpler if Luke had walked in with Artoo, grabbed his saber, and immediately started slicing up everyone around him.

Similarly, Princess Leia turning in the bounty on Chewbacca is also confusing. Let’s say Leia is successful. She thaws out her boyfriend, they both leave, and….what happens to Chewie? Just like with the droids, you have a successful Han Solo extraction, but Return of the Jedi now becomes a Wookie rescue movie.

I don’t mean to nitpick, but it seems silly that two of Luke’s plans end with the crew having to go back and perform another rescue. If you free a hostage by making someone else a hostage, what are you really accomplishing? This is why the Han Solo rescue is better admired as a visual feast for the eyes than a productive way to spend the first act of Return of the Jedi.

Meanwhile, where is the Rebel Alliance? I know they don’t have a ton of resources, but I feel like Han Solo—a war hero and, at this point, a General in the Alliance military—would warrant a larger rescue party than the one we see in Return of the Jedi. At the very least, I would think the Alliance would demand that Leia take a security detail or something.

And yes, I am well aware that there would be no movie if the Rebels just stormed Jabba’s palace and took Solo by force. Nor would I want the Han Solo rescue sequence cut from Return of the Jedi—like I said, it’s my favorite. But it would have been nice to see some of those random rebel soldiers from later in the film on Endor accompany Luke on his mission.

The fact that Han Solo’s rescue in Return of the Jedi is so incoherent and yet still beloved by Star Wars fans everywhere really hammers home that the whole franchise is built around the “Rule of Cool.” In other words, it’s more about how awesome something looks on screen than how much sense it makes. See: lightsabers, The Force, and almost everything else in the franchise.

Ultimately, I don’t care how much sense Luke’s plan to rescue Han Solo makes in Return of the Jedi. It’s a perfectly paced, visually stunning first act full of some of the coolest creatures and sets in all of Star Wars. Whether Lando is just glorified set dressing or not is irrelevant.