A Rotten Movie Experience

Beware of the Dark Lord for he shall bore you to death!

So much has been said about the final instalment of the Star Wars saga, Revenge of the Sith, that it hardly needs any more appraisals. I don’t know about you, but I’ve watched the movie and am sad to say that it isn’t up to my expectations. Let’s just put it this way: in one word, the movie– as its acronym suggests– rots.

Maybe it isn’t Lucas’s fault; he has written creative storylines. Maybe it was all because of those maniacs back there in the cinema that ruined the movie.

Even if you haven’t watched the movie, I’m sure you know how the movie starts– the prologue scrolls up the silver screen into deep space. (No prize for that!) That was when the racket broke out. A group of teenagers reacted as if they had just watched a seal doing a ball trick in an animal show. They whistled and they yelled. (*Grunt!)

Then, throughout the middle of the movie, I could hear someone behind me snoring. Okay, okay! I know the movie was quite boring but he can tell that to George instead of snoring to me in protest! (I, in return, replied with nasal disdain.)

As for the movie itself, the sound effects were great. I bet they covered the noise made by the bunch of monkeys back there. But I’m sure anyone can tell George that you can’t so much as hear a fart in deep space, which is near-vacuum. But then, all those battle scenes in the galaxy far, far away would be in deep silence – and George didn’t need to conduct a survey to find out that definitely no one would go for a silent movie these days!

Then, there were all those political issues, which I have always been apathetic of. Don’t we all get too high a dosage of such matters in the newspapers that they have become some sort of a cliché? The waning of the democratic system in the hands of an autocrat whose lust for power goes unchecked… Yada yada yada…

I think the excessive media coverage on the movie was to be blamed as well. With all those spoilers in movie reviews, almost anyone who hasn’t watched the movie knows the story line. How could there be suspense when I already knew Chancellor Palpatine was Darth Sidious who tempted Annakin into the Dark Side and later saved him– or rather, what was left of him, a piece of charcoal– from the brink of the volcano?

Of course, despite the shortcomings, there were the fighting scenes to look forward to. Master Windu’s tragedic murder at the Chancellor’s office was indeed dramatic. Perhaps, I found it unexpected mainly because I did not read about that in the reviews.

Bravo, George, for the interesting irony which was food for thought: Annakin had a vision that Padme would die in childbirth. As such, he turned to the Dark Side in the hope of finding a way to save her, without knowing that his decision was the actual cause for Padme’s death.

Anyway, as a friend of mine said, “You’ve ruined everything! I haven’t watched the movie!” For this reason, I shall refrain from commenting further on the film lest you’re one of the few persons who haven’t watched the movie.

May the Force spare you from a rotten movie experience!