Star Wars fans rapturously applauding and cheering during a scene where a child is murdered has left one cinemagoer ‘sickened’.
Revenge of the Sith has returned to big screens across the world in a series of 20th anniversary showings after its initial release on May 19, 2005.
Starring Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid and Natalie Portman, the movie, which marked the end of the prequel trilogy, quickly became a box-office darling and fan favourite.
The plot centres around Anakin Skywalker – played by Christensen – and his descent from hero Jedi to the evil Darth Vader whose character was voiced in the original three films by James Earl Jones.
In a key turning point in the movie and arguably the the darkest scene in the franchise, Anakin is told to execute ‘Order 66’ – a plot orchestrated by Emperor Palpatine, played by McDiarmid.
The goal of the order was to brutally eliminate the Jedi, including the slaughter of children known as ‘younglings’ who were in training to become future masters of ‘the force’.
But in one North London screening of the movie on Wednesday, the murder of the children was not solemnly observed, but loudly celebrated.
An anonymous moviegoer who went to watch the film for the first time caught the moment the Star Wars fans celebrated the series of killings – and told MailOnline he was left in shock by the scenes.
The plot centres around Anakin Skywalker – played by Christensen – and his descent from hero Jedi to the evil Darth Vader whose character was voiced in the original three films by James Earl Jones
In a key turning point in the movie and arguably the the darkest scene in the franchise, Anakin is told to execute ‘Order 66’ – a plot orchestrated by Emperor Palpatine, played by McDiarmid
The goal of the order was to brutally eliminate the Jedi, including the slaughter of children known as ‘younglings’ who were and in training to become future masters of ‘the force’
He said: ‘I’d never seen the film before as I was too young when it came out the first time. It was during a very sad part of the film when all the Jedi are being killed and the main character Anakin turns evil.
‘In one scene he walks into a room and starts murdering children and everyone in the cinema started laughing. Some of them were screaming ‘yes’ and stomping their feet. Others were laughing, it was horrible.
‘I later found out that it’s part of a meme? That’s sick. What sort of fans think child murder is funny?’
In the scene, one ‘youngling’ looks to Anakin for help against the slaughter which is taking place in the Jedi Temple, saying: ‘Master Skywalker, there are too many of them! What are we going to do?’
But things quickly turn dark when Anakin draws his lightsaber to attack the children.
And in the footage obtained by MailOnline, many in the audience can be heard cheering and even shouting ‘do it’ as Anakin faces down the child with the weapon.
Starring Hayden Christensen (left), Ewan McGregor (right) and Natalie Portman (middle), the movie quickly became a box-office darling and fan favourite
Ian McDiarmid played the role of Palpatine, the Emperor who manipulates Anakin Skywalker to the ‘Dark Side’
It comes as ‘May the Fourth’ – a play on the popular catchphrase ‘May the Force be with you’ – arrives tomorrow, and many Star Wars lovers will celebrate by sharing gags of ‘Order 66’ online.
A major factor in the love for the scene is that it marks Anakin’s transition from hero to villain, laying the foundations for the first three films: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
As Anakin becomes Darth Vader, he transitions into the Star Wars anti-hero – a villain who, no matter what, is still beloved by fans.
Many fans sympathise with his character, who was manipulated by Palpatine to join the ‘Dark Side’ after being promised ‘infinite power’ to save his loved ones, specifically his wife Padmé, played by Portman, from death.
And franchise lovers root for Anakin – despite the horrors of ‘Order 66’ – as they believe his heart was in the right place, though the character had unwittingly compromised by a greater evil in Palpatine.
Reflecting on the scene in an interview with Empire magazine last year, Christensen described George Lucas’s decision to include the scene as ‘bold’.
As Anakin becomes Darth Vader, he transitions into Star Wars’s anti-hero – a villain who, no matter what, is still beloved by fans
Reflecting on the scene in an interview with Empire magazine last year, Christensen (above) described George Lucas’s decision to include the scene as ‘bold’
He said: ‘There was a lot of talk about us doing that scene, and I love that George did it. It was a bold move. And it’s shocking.’
The actor also told how he had to scare Ross Beadman, who played the role of the child in the scene, in order to capture the horror the child would have felt in that situation.
Christensen added: ‘When we were filming that, we were having a hard time getting the reaction that we wanted from the kid. And so I shouted, or growled at him, because we needed a genuine moment of him being startled.
‘It got the response that we needed, and it makes that scene work really well… I saw him years later and said, “Sorry about how that went.”‘
