Second impressions of Revenge Of The Sith
I went to see Revenge Of The Sith again, this time with Andy in tow. As I suspected, I was able to concentrate on the film in its own right as opposed to the experience of viewing "the last new Star Wars film".
It’s interesting that all the negative reviews haven’t really been reviews of one film. Instead, they’ve been reviews of the prequels as a whole. I get the impression that Lucas could do no right in their eyes. The positive reviews have generally been along the lines of "well, the other ones were crap but this one saves the day".
I enjoyed the film the second time ‘round. I enjoyed it a lot. In my humble opinion, this is a film that has been well crafted and executed.
I picked up on a lot of things I missed in the excitement of the first viewing and I don’t just mean cameos and Easter eggs. There are some surprisingly subtle twists and turns to the dialogue and plot.
Revenge Of The Sith is already taking in its place in the pantheon of my mind alongside its forebears from the original trilogy. I’m looking forward to seeing it again (and again).
That said, I’m not sure if I’ll be making another trip to cinema. The shared experience is vastly overrated in my opinion. Instead of adding to the enjoyment of the movie, I usually find my fellow audience members simply irritating. The quality of the film itself is also not commensurate with the admission price. Every time there was a reel change, the flow of the story was interrupted with a blurry transition and pops in the soundtrack. The scratches on the film didn’t help either. It’s just one week old, for crying out loud!
If I do find myself watching the film in a cinema, it will probably be one with digital projection. Otherwise, I may just wait till it comes out on DVD when I can control the viewing (and listening) environment.