triviageek

Today I went to see Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the movie was better than I'd expected.

Specifically, I was impressed by how the script tied up the continuity issues and showed exactly how Leia was a princess but Luke was raised by a family that was definitely not wealthy. It also provided a good explanation of why Anakin wound up in that awful black outfit that he sported as Darth Vader.

Perhaps the reason that I came away with a favorable impression of the latest Star Wars movie was BECAUSE I had had no expectations that I'd enjoy it. I can remember being disappointed when I first saw ET and realized later that it was probably because I had heard so much praise for the movie beforehand (not that ET was a bad movie, it just hadn't lived up to my inflated expectations).

This time my preconceived expectations of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith were almost nil. I literally wanted to see that movie to complete the set; ie. I had seen all the other Star Wars movies, therefore I had to see this last one too. My lack of expectations for this one were caused by the simple fact that except for the original Star Wars movie, I hadn't really liked any of the others.

Yes, I'm a big sci-fi fan but I'm a traditional one and not a member of the current crop of viewers who judge sci-fi only by the special effects. Traditionally sci-fi was judged, in my opinion, by the ideas presented. The original film had been innovative. The others had all paled by comparison and I really only viewed them because I had had some hopes that they'd be as good as the original. Alas, none were.

So by this time, I really had no expectations of this latest film, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it better than I had expected. Though it still wasn't as good as the original, I found myself thinking that it was better than any of the other sequels.