Last night was a very exciting night. Star Wars was getting wrapped up. It was going to be there for the finale of the biggest film series in cinema history. I love being a part of cinema history.
I went and saw Titanic before it was the biggest grossing film of all time, when it was just an expensive film about a boat. It wasn't anything all that special.
Anyway, I arrived at Town Hall station at 9:04pm. Walking out of the ticket gates I saw Chris and we walked to the cinema together. As we walked we discussed the fact the neither of us were anticipating watching a particularly good film. We were just there for the experience and because it was Star Wars.
When we arrived we found David and Ryan sitting in the line already. In my usual passively dictatorial style I got them to move to the back of the line so that we'd have more room for the rest of the 16 people joining us. It was a pointless exercise in the end and we should have joined them in their part of the line but I didn't know that at the time.
Ryan and Chris in the Line
For the next few hours we waited and many people from our group joined us. We moved up steadily in the line. Not because they were letting people into the cinema but because we were just getting more and more compacted. I would have liked to be surrounded by Jedi Knights and Sith Lords but there were very few dressed up people in my part of the line. I did manage to spend a lot of the night rubbing backs and bums with a fat, hairy man who's friends called him "Chewbacca", but that wasn't all that exciting.
The Line
At around 11:30pm someone started shouting at us to get our tickets ready. By this stage the whole of our crew was together. I'd given out all the tickets. Ryan asked me if I had given him his. I told him that I had. He looked through all his pockets and through his wallet. I looked threw all mine too. Neither of us could find a ticket. I was sure I'd given him his ticket.
More Line
In the end Ryan decided that he'd lost his ticked and he would have to see if anyone else could give him a ticket or he'd just go home. When he left I started counting and re-counting everyone to make sure I really had brought enough tickets. I couldn't specifically remember handing Ryan a ticket.
When we got let into the cinema we headed for our traditional front row. Once everyone was settled I kept counting our group. There were 16 people in our group in the cinema and Ryan outside. I had only bought 16 tickets. I had counted wrong. There was one ticket less than there should have been. I jipped Ryan of a ticket.
I felt so bad. As soon as I relised I went out of the cinema and rang Ryan to confess what a terrible person I was. I thought about offering him my ticket but I was sure he wouldn't have taken it. I wasn't sure how to fix it.
I went back into the cinema and couldn't join in the frivolities because I was feeling so guilty. I told Gemma what had happened. Seeing as she is a nicer person than I am she rang Ryan and offered him her ticket. He accepted, but before she could give it to him he rang me up to say a guy out the front had sold him one of his spare tickets for our cinema. How exciting! I still felt bad, but I was happy that Ryan was able to join us.
While we waited for Ryan I kept running over in my head if I had done the right thing and if I should have offered Ryan my ticket, or even forced him to take it. But I didn't. I had forgotten to buy enough tickets to a film before and my sister had given up her ticket so I could go. Why am I so bad at buying cinema tickets? And why is everyone else better at giving up their tickets than I am? I didn't really feel like I was a very good person at that stage of the night.
When Ryan arrived back in the cinema I gave him a hug. It was good to have him back. It's nice how mistakes can be fixed. There is grace in this world for people like me.
Before the film started there was a competition for the best dressed cinema patron, but I've already written about that.
The film started. As soon as the Star Wars logo came up on the screen there was a big cheer. It's a wonderful atmosphere. A cinema full of excited geeks. What better crowd could you ask to watch a film with?
Revenge of the Sith was good. It was dark and violent. I was hoping for decapitations before I went in and there were plenty of them. Not that that's what makes a good film, but it means the violence isn't childish.
Anakin and Padmé's dialog was the worst thing about the film. They sound like a cheap daytime soap. I still don't know what she ever saw in him. He was always such a whiny self-centred boy and then he grew up to be a moody self-centred man. Lines like "Anakin, you're breaking my heart!" and "Where you're going I can't follow" are pretty horrid. George should have given their scenes to other people.
But the action was cool. Obi-Wan and Anakin were tops light saber men. They kicked butt!
The whole film was rather tragic. Knowing what happened at the end was horrible waiting for it to happen. Any hopes you had for Anakin were vain. It gave a lot more emotional weight to A New Hope.
Poor Obi-Wan would have felt terrible. When we meet him in A New Hope he would have been living with the guilt of discovering the boy and pushing for him to be trained as a Jedi, who became the most evil Sith Lord in the Universe. He would have felt responsible for the rise of the Republic and the slaughter of the Jedis. The poor guy.
I really liked the film. Well done George.
The night was good too. Next time I'm going to count everybody who wants a ticket 3 times and buy too many tickets anyway.
The Star Wars Group (at least the people who wanted to sit down the front)
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