The halls of North Hollywood High have been very excited with talk of the 20th anniversary theater reissue of “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.”
Originally released in 2005, “Revenge of the Sith” is the last of George Lucas’s prequel trilogy by depicting Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side. This is the first opportunity for most NOHO students to view the film on the big screen.
“Revenge of the Sith” follows the story of Anakin Skywalker’s journey and metamorphosis from a Jedi knight to a Sith lord. The movie begins by introducing Skywalker as a kind, gentle soul–one that the audience easily falls in love with. However, as the story progresses and Skywalker is faced with a vision of his wife’s death, he slowly falls into descent–finalizing his transition to the Dark side.
“Revenge of the Sith” was a movie many students at North Hollywood High school have watched. After all, it was one of the most popular movies for their generation. So popular in fact, that the students who hadn’t even watched the movie still knew of it. “I wasn’t even born when these movies came out,” said senior Jacob Suh. “But I grew up to the memes. It’s weird to finally know where ‘I have the high ground’ and ‘Execute Order 66’ actually happened on screen instead of just on TikTok.”
North Hollywood’s local Regal theatre reports many sold-out showtimes for the movie. Many of those tickets were bought by North Hollywood High School students, each with their own opinions of the movie. Senior Alina Laaly, a huge Star Wars and John Williams fan, remarked, “The soundtrack just hits different when you’re in a theater. When ‘Battle of the Heroes’ came on during the Mustafar duel, I literally got chills.”
The grimmer aspects of the movie truly resonate with today’s high school students. AP World History instructor and one who taught utilizing the movie in most of his classes, Mr. Shawkat, said, “I believe that our generation appreciates complexity. The prequels are mature concepts regarding how democracies fall and good people get taken advantage of. Not just that, but it is a good means of getting children to learn, particularly the numerous who already have an appreciation for Star Wars on their own.”
Not everyone is swept up in the frenzy, though. “I don’t get the hype,” junior Devon Kim said. “It’s just another huge corporate chain attempting to cash in on nostalgia. There are just so many cooler independent films that aren’t getting this type of buzz.”
President of Film Club Aidan Mora offers a more balanced perspective: “The prequels are not perfect. The dialogue is sometimes clunky, and certain CGI hasn’t aged well. But Lucas was trying to do a political story of the fall of democracy and a personal tragedy. Whether he entirely succeeded is debatable, but it’s more ambitious than most blockbusters nowadays.”
As the theatrical run continues, more students plan to see Anakin Skywalker’s journey on the big screen. “It’s really great to see students coming together over a common cultural experience,” Film Club President Aidan Mora said, “one that’s lasted twenty years.”
