Star Wars crosses to dark side in grand finale

It was 28 years ago that the famous words first scrolled up movie screens. On Sunday, arguably the world's most successful film series draws to a close with the premiere of the sixth and final episode of "Star Wars."

In one of the most eagerly awaited and widely hyped film releases in years, George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" was due to have its gala premiere late on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival in southern France.

After an early press screening in the packed Grand Theatre Lumiere, hundreds of fans and journalists cheered and clapped, some expressing surprise at the darkness of the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader.

The odd grisly scene means the film received a PG-13 U.S. rating which may dissuade some parents from taking pre-teens, perhaps the main obstacle to the film becoming a smash hit.

For many die-hard Star Wars fans, it will be an emotional farewell to a series which has built a cult following and pushed the boundaries of cinematic special effects and sound.

One reporter said he felt "empty" after seeing the film. Because it was bad? "No, because it is over."

Lucas and cast members are in the glamorous Riviera resort on a whirlwind round of interviews, honors and promotions.

The director received a prize from the Cannes festival on board the Queen Mary 2 luxury ocean liner, which moored off the famous Croisette waterfront especially for the occasion.

Early reviews have been generally positive, arguing that with Sith, Lucas redeems himself after two previous episodes which were critical, although not commercial, flops.

Variety said Sith was "considerably more satisfying than the disappointing Episodes I and II and provides the series with the kind of finale that some fans had almost lost hope of seeing."

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Lucas told reporters he was not too concerned by the negative reaction to Episodes I and II of the prequel trilogy.

"We've discovered in the last few years ... that we have two fan bases," he said. "One is over 25 and one is under 25.

"The films that those people (over-25s) don't like, which is the first two, actually are very fanatically adored by the under-25 year olds."

Sith ends the cycle of three prequels, and explains how Jedi Knight Skywalker is tempted over to the dark side.

In one of the film's most powerful scenes, Skywalker is rebuilt from a limbless, burning man barely alive to the towering, black-caped Vader.

In Cannes, applause broke out when he took his first, sinister breaths through the respirator, taking people back to 1977 when Vader first towered over audiences.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Mace Windu in the most recent trilogy, said Sith would change the way we viewed Vader.

"We used to see him as just pure evil, because we didn't know that much about him," he told Reuters in Cannes.

"Now we know how he got to this particular place, so he seems more the tragic figure than an evil figure now."

A casual search of the Internet shows how Star Wars fans often speak of the films in religious terms, so strong are the passions evoked by the galactic clash of Good and Evil.

But for the faithful, Star Wars will not disappear altogether. Comic books, television versions and other spinoffs are being planned that will continue to fill Lucas's coffers.

Star Wars has earned more than $3.5 billion at the box office and an estimated $9 billion in merchandise sales.

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