(antiTainment) Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith comes with a warning to parents. This movie may not be suitable to children under 13. The film has received a PG-13 rating due to "sci-fi violence and some intense images".
George Lucas provided a screening at Skywalker Ranch on Tuesday to select members of the media and we know that the rating is well deserved. AP's David Germain says that the action in the film is "relentless" and adds, "It includes sequences more dark and disturbing than anything previously seen in the tragic Skywalker soap opera."
Germain reports some of the darkest moments come when, "Young Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) completes his transformation into black-hearted villain Darth Vader with a bloodbath against old allies.
"Anakin is left gruesomely mutilated in a death duel with former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor).
"His surgical reclamation as the part-flesh, part-machine Vader is chillingly juxtaposed against the bleak childbirth scene of his wife, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), whose twins grow up to be heroes of the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia."
Not quite Sponge Bob. Then again if it was really bad, we would talking about an R or NC-17 rating right now. The BBC reports that Lucas has already received "a lot of flak" from parents over the PG-13 rating but Lucas defends his decision to make the film less family friendly, "I have to tell a story. I'm not making these, oddly enough, to be giant, successful blockbusters. I'm making them because I'm telling a story, and I have to tell the story I intended."
You will be able to witness the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vadar on the big screen beginning May 19th when it received a wide release in North America.