This is a NO SPOILER overview!
A journey that began for me at age 8, in a drive-in theatre 28 years ago, came to an end at approximately 2:34 a.m. CST. And such an end it was… But first:
Arrived at the theatre at 4:30 p.m. with my daughter Tori and her friend Alyssa. There were only about 20 or 30 people in line in front of us. Settled in with blankets and camping chairs and read comics. Tom joined us around 7:15 and Jeff arrived around 8:30. Mary came about an hour later…the privilege of being the only woman in our small party of geeks. Several people had laptops and were watching various incarnations of Star Wars. There were fewer dressed-up geeks than I would’ve thought.
The AMC theatre was a real class act tonight. They shut most of their 20 theatres down after the matinees to get things ready. While we waited in line they had staff periodically come around and take orders. All evening they offered 20 oz drinks, hot dogs, and popcorn for $1.00. At 9:00 p.m. they opened up the theatres. There was only 1 person in the theatre we were in and we got perfect seats. The AMC staff showed the movie in all 20 of their theatres and reported that each theatre was 100% sold out. It was the most amazing thing that I’d ever witnessed. The crowds were enormous! We were in the largest theatre and every seat was filled, even the front ones. Never in my life will I see anything like that. There were upwards of 3,000 people in that one building alone. And despite this everything was orderly and handled with the utmost professionalism. It was fantastic!
“So get on with the movie, Carl!”…oh, was there a movie???
The movie was breathtaking, from the opening scene to the rolling of the credits. It was a spectacular way to end this series and left me contemplating what could have been if Lucas had poured this much skill and passion into episodes I and II. The script was very good and for once I felt that the actors were given great material to work with. I don’t want to say much as you need to experience this for yourselves with no spoilers. Suffice it to say that some questions were answered, a few were not, and I doubt that you’ll leave the theatre disappointed.
A word of caution to those with small children…this movie was very dark and earned its PG-13 rating. There aren’t any scenes with Jar-Jar in the swimming hole or young lovers cavorting with space cows! The darkness spreads and grows in intensity as the film progresses…I felt like I was holding my breath during the entire last hour despite knowing exactly what was going to happen. This film truly needed to be dark in order to have any resonance, but I do feel sorry for parents of younger children who will have to make a decision about whether or not to take their kids. The political and emotional machinations that led to the destruction of Anakin Skywalker and to the rise of Darth Vader are actually more than any young child would understand anyway.
Revenge of the Sith was a great film. It stands on its own in such a way that I honestly feel that I may never need to watch episodes I and II again but will start any future Star Wars marathons with episode III. The writing and acting were equal to the stunning special effects.
Thanks for the journey, George Lucas. Thank you ever so much for planting the seed of wonder in this 8 year old child. And thank you for this movie…bravo, George Lucas…Bravo!
When the opening strains began and the logo appeared, the entire cinema broke into applause and shouts and whoops……..
The only non-fanatic in our group said after the movie, “Can’t we go home and watch Episode IV now?”
Can’t think of a better compliment.
I’m dying here!
I feel bad. I know James didn’t go last night so I wouldn’t get left behind. I am glad we get to see it tonight.
Julie, that’s a good man you have!
Cool, Carl, I’m pumped.
James, you think you’re dying, I have to wait till Saturday morning!!!!!! (how bout them exclam-points, Jules?)
7hrs and counting, till i get to see it!! 😀
Thanks so much for inviting me to go with you last night. It was a blast. The movie was great and the whole experience was fantastic. Keri and I got on line this morning and ordered her ticket for the *:30 showing tonight. She’s going to go with a friend of ours. It’s so hard not to talk about the movie with her I can’t wait until later tonight when we can talk about it together. This movie filled in so many questions and the special effects were incredible. We need to do a spoiler review in a couple of weeks after everyone has seen the flick were we can go over all the fine points of the movie.
I also second Carl’s bravo to George Lucas. I still hold out hope that someday we will see more Star Wars movies.
Alas my plan to sleep in today didn’t work. Hopefully I can function on 4 hours sleep today.
Next big flick for me looking forward to is War of the Worlds, June 29th then Serenity on Sept., 30th
hey.. so did you all see the FF trailer?!
Cool, I didn’t know the Fantastic Four trailer was playing in front of Star Wars, Angela.
I heard that the Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe trailer was. Did you guys see that one? I’m pumped for that movie!
Yes, much bigger and better FF trailer than the previous ones I’ve seen. Saw a different War of the Worlds trailer as well that looked cool.
Glad you Dibbens get to go tonight so we can talk about it afterwards.
I agree, Forgotten, I want to see episode IV pretty bad now myself!
Sorry Rob, it would’ve obliterated my patience trying to wait until Saturday. It was killing me just waiting at work yesterday to get to the theatre.
Jeff, I was woken up by my cousin at 8 a.m. to see how it was but when back to sleep and got up at 11. Hang in there. Very glad you were able to come as well. That was one of the most amazing movie experiences I’ve ever had! You, or Keri, will have to let me know what Keri thinks of it. I’m sorry you two can’t see it together! Feel free to utilize our ultra affordable babysitting service…we’ve handled the Dibben’s Fantastic Four many a time and haven’t killed a one yet…some slight maiming, but nothing too bad!
Have fun everyone when you get to see it and make sure to let us all know your thoughts!
No Lion preview here. Fantastic Four, War of the Worlds, Cinderella Man (can’t wait to see that as well, looks great!), Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D…can’t remember if there was anything else.
I forgot to mention that the theatre had several “helpers” last night that accompanied staff into the theatre for periodic announcements as we waited. They were all dressed in authentic Star Wars costumes. Very cool! Storm Troopers, Clone Troopers….it was so much fun!!!! I’m geeked beyone measure. It feels soooo good to come away from a Star Wars movie and not be disappointed. Its been a loooooong time since that happened.
my thoughts will be revealed later…
by the by, i posted my interview answers, but if you want to interview me i’ll throw yours in as bonus material.
Hey, I’m going Saturday morning 10am with a big group. Do you think getting in line 2 hours prior to the show is enough time?
i’m going today at 4:30 and only getting there 15-20min early.
Your kidding, Angela! Aren’t you afraid you’ll get bad seats? Or do you have a line person holding your place? 😉
We are only getting there 45 min or so ahead of time.
Rob, by saturday you’ll have nothing to worry about.. i thought you were joking, till i saw that you posted that on my site & here..
last night at midnight & friday night will be the only times with any kind of line to worry about.
That movie was totally WICKED!!!!!! Carl is right on in his review and comments. This was in my opinion the BEST in the early trilogy and only rivals “Return of the Jedi” in terms of heart pounding emotion and sympathy. Very little cheese. No Jar-Jar. It was nearly perfect. And this is why it was nearly perfect. I was the first one in the theater. It was one of the smallest ones but okay I got the best seat in the middle. But when opening credits opened, we had NO SOUND!!! NO SOUND!!! NO SOUND!!! The theater turned into a mob of profanity and fists of fury and chants of B.S., B.S.,… It was horrifying! The sound was off for the first 10 minutes and then came on front speakers only. It came on after so much dialogue was missing that the theater instantly hushed so we could catch up. Soooo I am calling the theater after I write this and get some free tickets to another showing. But I will say I have never been in a movie where I held my breath. I literally held my breath in one series of scenes it was so powerful. It was just like when I saw “Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.” To me the whole movie was like the first dip on a huge rollercoaster and you want the next scene to come so you can breathe. I would definitely see this again and again in the theater at full price. Lucas is a genius.
Oh yeah, the F/X is beyond any sci-fi out there. It is measurably better than II, and I thought that was pretty cool.
one more hour!
Tom, you are bad luck.
Admit it, you were swearing too.
No I was with my new friend the youth pastor. Anyway just got off the phone with AMC. Three new fresh shiny tickets are there with my name on it. We are seeing it again ASAP in the big theater. Okay I was cussing on the inside. You cannot imagine the anguish of being ripped off this bad. Any real fan knows you go for the opening theme. I feel violated. I need counseling. I need to stop typing.
Tom, my buddy Nicholas would say that you “sinned against God” by swearing on the inside. I don’t think you want to make baby Jesus cry anymore, do you?
Man Tom, I would’ve been busting some heads by that point. The big theatre was excellent. I’m not as convinced as Angela that you shouldn’t be there early on the weekends. I usually try to get to a movie an hour ahead of time on opening weekend. But I’m picky. I want dead center seats about 3 or 4 rows up in the stadium seats. This movie is one you want to see from dead center, not off to the side or too close/too far!
I think this movie was closer to Empire than Return, Tom, but that’s just me!
Jenn See… “my thoughts will be revealed later”…that is almost Yoda-like! ;)…of course then it would be “revealed later, my thoughts will be” 🙂
I’ve seen IV, V and VI, but not I or II…can I just go to this one or to I really have to watch the other two first?
You’ll probably be somewhat lost if you don’t see I and II, but I’m not sure how much. You’ll know the main characters but some of the political stuff will not make as much sense without seeing how the eventual Emperor manipulated things to get events to where they were in this latest episode.
I forgot to mention that my daugher and her friend put their hair up in all kinds of funky braids, had a ton of glitter on, painted their nails black, and wore Darth Vader shirts and funky/fun pajama bottoms to the movie. They looked really cute. Unfortunately I don’t have pics…I’m a bad father….
nah.. we had great seats & only got there 10-15 before it started! lol
Carl- I meant Empire Strikes Back, I was trying to hold my emotion for the story of my experience. The whole audience yelling profanity is a little scary. I had dead center, 4 rows back. We actually had a guy with like a party of 6 and he was asking people to move so they could be center. He got there like an hour ahead of showtime. He obviously doesn’t see many movies to realize the breech of protocol that is. He actually was offended when the people said no. Can’t wait to hear what James thought.