Limbs and heads are hacked off with light sabres, women and children are mercilessly slain, while one character catches fire, screaming in agony as the flesh peels off his body.
Rather than the child-friendly movie many parents might be expecting, the first tentative reviews of the final instalment of the blockbusting Star Wars saga have revealed it to be, by far, the most bloodthirsty of the series.
Several dozen journalists were taken to director George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch in San Rafael, California, earlier this week for an advanced preview of the much anticipated Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
According to David Germain, movie writer for Associated Press, the PG 13 rating the film has been given in the United States — ”parents strongly cautioned” — is well deserved.
”The action is relentless and includes sequences more dark and disturbing than anything previously seen in the tragic Skywalker soap opera,” he wrote.
According to the review Anakin Skywalker is left gruesomely mutilated in a death duel with former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor.
The previous five Star Wars films were rated PG, which carries the milder warning ”parental guidance suggested”.
Overall the five Star Wars movies have generated nearly $3,5-billion in global ticket sales. – Guardian Unlimited Â