May 12th DC Premiere of ROTS

I was at the ROTS premiere last night. I posted some quick points about it on MF, but thought you guys might want to hear a little about it, too.

My and my friend were second in line to get in. The first guy came all the way down from Vancouver to Washington DC. The three of us and a few people right behind us got interviewed by lots of local TV and radio outlets, as well as one German TV crew. I'd really like to see that footage, so if anyone in Germany watches this German TV channel and can upload any footage from the DC premiere, it'd really be awesome.

There were plenty of members of the 501st there. Darth Vader was "on his way", but he may have come after we got inside. Here's a picture I took with a Sandtrooper, recreating the "Look, sir. Droids." scene. 🙂

We got our tickets (printed with the poster on one side) and proceeded inside to pick up our gift bags and head to our seats. The bags had either a Burger King toy, a comic book or a pack of trading cards as the main thing (though some people got 2 of the three items. The rest was just some M&M's, cologne, a Discovery Channel DVD and a toothbrush!

Here's the ticket and a thank you note from the bag, both of which are in my Ep 3 poster frame...

The movie was to start at 7:30, but it did not. We may have been waiting for Carrie Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, to arrive. When they did, Carrie received a very nice round of applause. They got to their seats, a couple of brief thank you speeches were given by our hosts, and then the lights went down.

As did the volume. The sound on the movie was WAY low from the 20th Century Fox logo until they finally fixed it about 2/3 of the way through the crawl! No previews to make sure things were set right! After that, the movie went on without a hitch.

As for my personal feelings on the film: I LOVED it! Far, far better than either Episode I or II. Hayden's acting is so great! Even better than I had expected from what i'd read about it. The small bits of romance between Anakin & Padmé are so very much better & more believable than in AOTC. Ewan gave his best Obi-Wan Kenobi performance to date, and it flowed into Alec Guinness's so well when I came home & popped in ANH right after. Ian was really awesome, but I thought just one brief scene was just slightly overdone, he really seemed to ham it up a bit too much there. But after that, he was back to being great. There were certainly some very emotional scenes, as I have to admit that I found myself crying a few times. There were also laughs & cheers, all at appropriate moments. The rest of the DC audience seemed to really enjoy the film as well judging from their responses.

For those music fans wondering about the long end credits track on the CD, the entire Throne Room part is cut out, and even the rest is edited slightly. So, don't stick around if you just wanted to hear the Throne Room revival on your theaters big speakers. 🙂

After leaving, we were interviewed again by the German TV crew for our thoughts after the film & then we said goodbye to some friends we made that day & headed home.

I didn't want to say TOO much about certain scenes here, and there are other reviews that have probably answered any questions you've had, but feel free to ask any others if you like.

That's Awesome sounds like you had a great time!! Just curious about one major spoiler in the movie. Does Sidious imply that he created Anakin? Thanks in advance.

Very kewl! I read your review on MF also. Yeah, I heard from several people that after watching this one, you'll want to go right home and start watching ANH!
C'mon 19th! hurry up and Get HERE NOW!!!!

After seeing it now, if you had kids would you think that the darkness of the movie is too much for them?

kremzike> That's awesome. You've reinstilled my anticipation....😱

Does Sidious imply that he created Anakin? - Kinda. I think it's left open to interpretation. You could take what he said to mean that either Plageuis created Anakin, that Sidious created Anakin, or that Palpatine is saying it to make Anakin THINK that a Sith created him. My friend and I both took it a different way. I think the latter. He thinks that it means that Sidious created Anakin. So, you'll have to decide how you feel about it once you hear his voice & see the look in his eyes as he says it. I think he was saying it merely to make Anakin think that the Sith really do have the power he's looking for.

After seeing it now, if you had kids would you think that the darkness of the movie is too much for them? - I will qualify this by saying what I think the TFN guy said. You know your kids best & know what they can take. But would I take my ficticious children to this movie? Probably only if they were at least 9 or 10 and they knew to expect some heavy scenes in the movie. Depending on their sensitivity levels, I think there's potential for kids to get creeped out by seeing the end of the duel, Sidious post face change, Vader's assembly and possibly even some of the Order 66 stuff and the end of Grievous/Obi-Wan, plus maybe the funeral procession. They might be upset by Padmé's crying during the birth scene. My child would have to be a little more mature than average for me to take them to ROTS if they are 8 or younger for sure.

thanks

Thanks!! kremzike

Tell me:
Is Duel of the Fates in the movie? The Anakin vs Obi-Wan track is like three minutes long, and for some reason I think the duel is much longer than that.
Approx. how long is each duel? Any cool tidbits you can remember about a specific one?

Just a few things that had been bothering me. Thanks in advance 🙂

Hey man, great review. I was wondering how was the duel. I already know it is going to be awesome, but how long is, and I know Vader does not have much screen time which is okay, but again how long is he on screen.

So.. what's your favorite Star Wars movie now?

Darth Daddy, you misspelled 'angels' under your name.

Just one question about the duel between Obi and Anie. When Obi injures Anie, did anybody expect the end of the duel at that point? Or did Anakin show a sign of fatigue before that? HOW GOOD WAS THE DUEL?

Thats cool in glad you had an awesome time i cant wait until this movie the bootleg i downloaded wasnt the whole thing it was just a bunch of clips put together. I deleted it off my comp so does anyone know if there is an actual bootleg out there?

JKozzy: Yes, DOTF is in the movie. It's used quite well as the music for Yoda/Sidious.

The whole film seemed to go by so fast, as did the duels. It was hard to see how long each went. The track "Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan" actually pauses & then resumes during the pre-fight talking between Yoda & Sidious. Looking back, it was a pretty good length. I just couldn't tell you how long. Yoda/Sidious was not as long, of course, but was a decent length. Mace/Palps was just a few minutes I believe. Same for the Dooku duel, which I wish was just a bit longer actually. Obi-Wan/Grievous is a lot of fun. Obi-Wan kicking Grievous & then grabbing his own shin & yelling "Oooow!" was not done badly at all, but it did elicit a laugh from the crowd. A good laugh. Some of the peril that Ani & Obi find themselves in during their fight was really cool. I don't want to tell you specifics on these because I was pleasantly surprised by them in the film.

Mace/Palpatine was better than I expected, but I guess it's still the "worst" of the duels in the film.

vader519: Suited Vader is on screen & awake for maybe a total of 3 minutes. It really is brief, but i'm happy to say that I don't feel that it was too short.

macgeek2005: ROTS & ROTJ are tied for my favorites currently. A lot of people hate ROTJ, but it'as the one I saw in theaters as a child, and I have always felt that the Luke/Vader/Palpatine stuff was the highlight of the OT for me. These two are the mirror images of each other. ROTJ has the great triumph that makes me love it. ROTS has the great tragedy that makes me love it and makes my favorite parts of ROTJ mean that much more.

Stefan Kojic: Some people near me had played the game, so they knew it was coming by claims of "Here it comes" as Obi-Wan mirror's the actions seen in the game's FMV. I was deeply concentrating on the film at this point because I knew it was coming as well, but I think I heard a few faint "ooooo!"'s when Obi-Wan struck the winning blow. Anakin showed no fatigue at all before he lost. It was a great duel, indeed. Thankfully, they do stop & exchange some banter at one point during it. If they didn't, the emotional content might have faded into the background for some.

damn thats awesome, i was gonna go to the DC premier (im about 20min SE of DC) but i didnt have the 250 for the tix's

kremzike, how does mace windu die?

Mace Windu

Spoiler:
flies out of the Chancellor's office window being propelled by Palpatine's Force Lightning & fades away, presumably falling to his death. Just after Anakin cuts a good portion of his saber-handling arm off.

kerm how was the final duel?

Hmm, I take it from what u have said that there aren't any "get on with it" moments in the movie? When things just drags out too long.

and how is the Birth of the twins seen made? Do we see/hear th birth or do we see something else during the birth. and what about Leia's memory of Padme she tells Luke about in RotJ?