So, I would put a song here
But what I really want to put
Is brilliant songs by John Williams
That were in Revenge of the Sith
And obviously don't have any words
So this is a worded tribute to those
On May 18th, 2005, Megan showed up at our house at 9:30 and I hefted my orange backpack onto my shoulder, and Megan, Angie, and I went to the movie of our lifetime.
We arrived at the Arapahoe United Artists theater, which, by the way, has the biggest screen in Boulder. Although many Fairview kids were going to Flatirons or the huge AMC in Westminster, we opted to stay in Boulder- less lines, less commuting, and the theater is just as good. We jumped in line, about 50 people back (not bad for getting there just before 10- the second people in line got there at 6:00. The people you meet...) We played Cranium with Angie's friends, and admired the costumes that flowed by us. I, however, did not costume myself- black capris, black t-shirt, and a black blanket in case I got cold.
They let us in the theater at 11, which, in my opinion, was somewhat cruel. We got very good seats, but sat for an hour with nothing to do but play Gin and shout "Bernie Mac" whenever the question appeared on the screen concerning him. Finally, at 12:02 by Megan's watch, the lights dimmed- and the parade of previews began.
Every trailer received a rating from the audience, much like in the Roman coliseum fights. A wild cheer broke out at the end of Willy Wonka, The Chronicles of Narnia and Batman Begins (they cheered at the beginning of that, too). Others, however, like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Stealth ended in an echoing boo. Finally, after 20 minutes of commercials, of the audiences fickle emotions, and of periodic impulses to grab Megan's arm, the Lucas Film logo appeared on the screen. And man, it was beautiful.
Warning: Spoilers Follow
I loved the opening space battle. The CGI was seamless, and brought us into the movie with a bang. Those droids that attacked Obiwan were freaking awesome. I want one, please. It was everything any fan dreamed of. Thank goodness. Then, of course, came the Count Dooku fight, which was fairly amazing. Christopher Lee was never given enough credit for his Count Dooku. His confused and betrayed look spoke all the words Lucas could have written as Palpatine, who Dooku knew to be Sidious, told Anakin to kill him. And he did- kill him, I mean. It was a moment where anyone could have done the same. He knew it was wrong, that was the beauty, and he was disgraced, yet he did it anyway. The transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader was done fabulously, I thought. It was obvious that he did it to protect Padme from her nightmarish death, but it was also obvious he had it in him to turn. Things like his dependence on Palpatine and his beheading of Dooku led to a perfect transition.
I agree with the rest of the world by saying Ian McDiarmid shone in this film. But, in my heart, Ewan McGregor gets the gold star of the picture. My love of Obiwan Kenobi was not once disappointed. He begged Yoda not to send him to kill Darth Vader, his stunned emotions at the fact that Anakin did destroy the temple, it was all fabulous. My two favorite Obiwan scenes were 1)When he went to visit Padme, and asked "He's the father, isn't he?" Her silence gave the answer away, "I'm so sorry." His delivery portrayed fabulously the regret he felt in having to kill Ani, but also the conviction that he had to. His speech at the end as Anakin was writing in flames made up for all the bad dialogue in the movie. "You were my brother, I loved you!". That was probably the most heart-wrenching scene in the movie. (Also the shots of the clones turning on the Jedi because of Order 66. That was fairly terrible, too)
The final duel was the fighting spectacular of our age. It is impossible to describe the spectacularness of it. Between John Williams' score and the setting and the amazingly choreographed moves, I loved every millisecond. Ewan and Hayden pulled off all the emotion flawlessly
Granted, there were mistakes, screw ups, disappointments. But I'm so psyched that I'm paying no attention. The script was probably worse than it has been ever before, especially the Anakin/Padme scenes, but it's forgivable. I'm still on a high from seeing this masterpiece
