Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

I had to go to the theater to catch this one. A movie with so much special effects mythology behind it must be viewed under optimum conditions. It was also my first trip to a Chinese movie theater, which was far from disappointing and rivaled many theaters I've been to in the states. The seats were comfortable, relatively spacious and reclined, and the sound was fantastic. Despite it being only the second day after the movie's release, I got a great reserved seat near the center and not too close to the screen.

Directed by George Lucas, the movie was everything I'd expected: lots of dazzling special effects, climactic light-saber action, fantastic/exotic sets and creatures and, of course, Darth Vader. In a movie of this kind, I don't expect perfection on all fronts, and there are some things to complain about like rugged acting and much less than award-winning dialogue, but the positives outweighed the negatives. The leader of the droids, General Grievous, was particularly memorable with his hunched gait and smoker's cough. As this movie primarily follows Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader, I left the theater joking with my friends about the message of the movie being: love will turn you into a monster. So try not to take it too seriously, strap in with a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the ride.