Thursday, May 26, 2005

in a city far far away


Another beautiful day in Seoul. But alas, an empty beauty. I finally saw the Revenge of the Sith and find myself at an utter loss now that the saga has come to an end. Had I been able to see it with people who actually knew Star Wars, instead of my 14 year old nephew, I may not have had to suffer through these comments as we were leaving the theatre:

"What's the force?"
"Darth Vader's wife is ugly."
"Is Princess Leia still alive? She must be really old."
"When's the next one coming out?"
"They should remake the original movies with newer actors."

By this time my eyes had rolled to the back of my head. Had I a light sabre in hand I would not have been so kind as Ben Kenobi was to Anakin when he cut off all his limbs but let him live. I love my nephew but really, this is cause for expulsion from the family. I generously invited him to the movie on the condition that he had first seen all the Star Wars films. Clearly he deceived me, toying with the dark side he was. Which reminds me. Another unacceptable thing about seeing this in Korea was that Yoda's lines were all fucked up. Besides the fact that I thought Yoda's dialogue was total shite througout the movie, the whole reverse syntax thing doesn't work in Korean. Grammatically, Korean sentences are already in backwards order so that in translation Yoda speaks completely normal. When Yoda says, "Failed I have," in Korean subtitles it sounds like he just says "I've failed". This is an abomination of the highest order. And yet, despite this, and despite the fact that Hayden Christensen's acting was more wooden than a dinghy, I admit I sort of welled up at Natalie Portman's big scene where she tells Anakin he's breaking her heart. Padme, I feel you.

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