REVENGE OF THE SITH: The Line

Hey, I actually wrote this at around 9:00 this morning (basically 2nd period). I thought about editing it for improvement, but I think the whole thing’s more pure if I leave it.

There are about forty ways one could begin to talk about “Revenge of the Sith.” There are another fifty or so ways to start talking about waiting in line to see the midnight showing of “Revenge of the Sith” at the Broadway Metroplex downtown. But bear in mind that a combination of hardly any food (I had a sandwich last night and some waffles this morning…that’s all I ate from 3:30 ‘til now, which as a teenager is not nearly enough), a TON of soda (lesse…medium from McDonald’s, large from Quizno’s, and GIGANTIC at the theater), a lack of sleep, and that the disgust I had at the state I left my toothbrush in when I brushed the teeth at 3:30 this morning, have left me with a very strange feeling to where I’m not sure how the rest of the days meals will go down.

But that’s okay. I’m totally fine with that. Why? Because “Revenge of the Sith,” quite simply, kicked ass. But I’m not here to talk about the movie. I’ll do that later. Almost as important as the movie was the experience of being there.

I left school at around 5:35 after rehearsal and promptly sped downtown (well…there was traffic). Luckily, John had saved me a spot in a line that while not long, would not have been the most comfortable had I not had my spot. Oh, and we were second in line (which would eventually transform into first, as the good folks in front of us were in the other theater). Small dream of mine to be first in line for Star Wars.

I could describe in detail what happened over the next five hours (they let us into the theater at 11), but you don’t know unless you were there. But here’s to all who showed up. Everyone who left more trash on the ground than they have in their can at home. To the guys who got wasted and nearly got security called on them. To the Jedi runs every half an hour. To Dave, the guy with the jester hat. To Ian, for scoring Maggie an extra ticket long after they sold out. To Maggie and Misha, who got someone to switch tickets with Ian so he could be in the Music Box with the rest of us. To Mitch, who as of 6:00 PM had no ticket, and as of 10:50 PM was the first one in the theater. To Gus, for rallying that entire line together as one.

Oh, and when they let us in the theater, we were unstoppable. It was a wonder we went through the door one at a time, but after we did we bounded down the stairs (it’s the Broadway, so there’s a good three flights) and the lady taking the tickets yelled something along the lines of “DO NOT RUN! Come on you guys, ONE LINE!” as we rushed into a completely empty theater for the midnight showing of the last Star Wars movie. Now row selection is tough if you don’t know a theater’s strengths and weaknesses. After a brief struggle between fifth or fourth, we went fifth. Perfection. Our final hour before the big show was spent trying to get the wave started and getting a chant going in which one side would yell “REVENGE OF!” and the other side would follow with “THE SITH!” And yelling for the guy in the second row to switch on his kickass lightsaber (which was this like official replica made of glass that would light up from the bottom up like a real one would).

Matt Edelen and I discussed the nature of the night, as it was more a ticket for the experience than for the movie. You weren’t at a movie, man, you were on a ride. This wasn’t your Saturday afternoon, just-going-to-the-theater-to-chill-out crowd. We were there with purpose. Reason. This transcended beyond going to a movie with some friends. This was about the sheer geeked-out joy of it all. We cheered when “The Twenty” came on. We cheered when the theater manager yelled out “And God help you if I see a cell phone!” We went crazy when the previews started. We clapped and cheered for the “Narnia” trailer, and laughed like crazy at the sheer badness that was the “Stealth” trailer. And then when the time finally came, the 20th Century Fox/Lucasfilm music started up, those famous opening words came onscreen, and finally when that iconic yellow-outline logo shot into the depths of space, we went nuts. It wasn’t to be ironic. It wasn’t to try to be funny. This was total devotion and love and passion for a film series that has impacted our lives more than we’ll ever truly recognize. This was about STAR WARS.