STAR WARS--SITH HITS THE FAN (PT.1)

It has already become cliche' for reviewers to play on the similarity between SITH and SHIT but, hey, who cares?

I finally saw REVENGE OF THE SITH this weekend after learning that my wife, Mandy, is pregnant. We had been going through in vitro fertilization so this was one piece of good news that we had been desperate for. Now, free from worry or crushing sadness, I could enjoy, unfettered, the final chapter in the film saga that helped shape the creative--albeit slightly warped individual I am today.

First let me say that this movie rises to most of my personal expectations. But I am at a loss as to how I can really objectively adjudicate something so imtimately a part of who I am--both personally and creatively. You see, as a kid, I was a bona fide fantasy/space/science fiction nut. Before STAR WARS, I was watching STAR TREK reruns on TV with my mom. I used to make whole space suits out of aluminum foil--space suits like the ones I saw on old LIFE magazine covers. When STAR WARS came out I was a six year old kid who thought that the heavens had opened and shown me the face of god... My life's meaning and purpose condensed into a two hour space opera. I left the theater wearing the "thousand yard stare" most people associate with profound life experiences--like combat or really awesome sex. I was still processing the whole experience.

Since then, it's safe to say that I have tempered my adoration of STAR WARS a bit. It is now laced with a healthy dose of cynicism and a dash of appropriate perspective. I am still a sucker for the merchandise and the DVD releases, etc... But I no longer consider the films to be holy canon. RETURN OF THE JEDI and the first two prequels were pretty disappointing for me. I had expectations that they were going to be like William Shakepeare's HENRY plays. Stories where characters evolve and grow in the midst of political intrigue and war. There had to me so much at stake that when everything comes to a crushing conclusion the audience is so caught up in the story that they too are crushed. I don't know... I must be off to a meeting at the moment... More on this later.