We went to see Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith yesterday afternoon and I have to agree with many of the reviews out there – this is the best Star Wars movie to date. George Lucas has definitely ended with a masterpiece.

The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, but you are so involved you don’t notice it. This is the part of the story you have always wanted to see. What happened to the Jedi’s? How did the emperor come into power? How did he turn Anakin to the dark side? The answers to all of these questions are finally here.

Earlier in the week I had read Jason Kottke’s review of the movie. One of the things he mentioned was that as he walked out of the movie he felt sadness for Darth Vader — that Lucas had made him into a sympathetic character rather than the evil character you find in the first three movies. I wondered how that could be, but after seeing the movie I understood. It really is a tragic story.

I spent a lot of time once we left the theater thinking about this movie. What made it so good? Was it really that good of a story, or is it really that we’ve waited 28 years for the answers to many of the questions that the movie finally answers? Is it the story, or is it the closure we all get when we finally have the full background behind the first trilogy?

I think the answer is both. The story is great, but as I talked to the boys about it yesterday, one of the phrases that kept creeping into my mind was that the “circle was finally closed”. We finally have all of the answers about Darth Vader, Luke and Leia, and the Jedi Council. We finally know everything about the mythological world that Lucas introduced to us in 1977.

The story is complete and we finally, after 28 years, have closure.

Now, while the movie absolutely impressed me, the people around me did not. At a movie of this magnitude, I am still surprised at how rude people can be.

Here’s some advice for those going to the movies in the future:

• When the previews start, SHUT UP. There are people who like watching them, no matter how irrelevant they are to you.
• Stop talking when the MOVIE starts. We paid to watch the movie, not listen to you.
• Figure out which order everyone is going to sit in before the lights go down. Better yet, figure it out before you sit down. Even better, figure it out in the car before you attend the show. It shouldn’t take three attempts to get everyone in the “right spot”. A seat is a seat and all you are doing is bothering the people around you.
• If your chair squeaks, do not feel you have to demonstrate it to the people around you over and over again. This should be clue to you to sit still.
• If you are really, really tired and feel you might fall asleep and you have a history of Darth Vader like snoring (your spouse should be able to clue you in on this), wait until you are more refreshed before you attend the film. We don’t want to hear you.

Aside from all of this, this really was the best movie I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend it and cannot wait until it comes out on DVD so that I can watch it again.

Related Articles:

• Keith Levys write up on the movie
• A review of the film on Slashdot
• Star Wars pictures on Flickr

Some links on Movie Etiquette:

• Movie Etiquette for Dummies – article on eOpinions
• Movie Etiquette from Into Liquid Sky