'Episode III': Best Of The Lot?

(CBS)  For millions of "Star Wars" fans, "the force" will be with them one last time. Starting at midnight tonight, movie theaters nationwide will begin showing "Star Wars: Episode III -- The Revenge of the Sith," the eagerly anticipated finale of the popular space saga.

Audiences will finally get to see how Anakin Skywalker gets seduced by the dark side.

The Early Show entertainment contributor and People magazine senior editor Jess Cagle

observes

, "You can arguably say this the best of the six. I think you could safely say that. I think the purists who loved the first one, or even the first three, might argue there was something a little more pure about those. But I really liked this one a lot."

A controversy swirling around "Episode III" concerns its PG-13 rating, but Cagle says, "It deserves it. I don't want to give a lot away, but people with kids should know that, for example, there is a character who's burned very badly. That's pretty graphic violence. We're told children are killed. Obviously, that happens off screen.

"But, George Lucas has said he would maybe take a 9-year-old to this. I have a friend who has a 9-year-old, but is not going to take him. I feel very bad for parents who have a 9- or 10-year-old who's sensitive. These kids are gonna feel left out if their parents don't wanna take them."

Another controversy involves a line by Darth Vader in which he basically says, "It's my way or the highway." That's offended many people who feel Lucas is showing his political bent in this film.

Cagle isn't so sure: "Lucas says he is not showing politics. He says he wrote these things ages ago, and he was thinking about the Vietnam era, and that kind of thing.

"However, you listen to Darth Vader saying a line that sounds an awful lot like Geore Bush, and you know George Lucas himself is a little to the left on the political spectrum, you can't help but maybe assume he might be saying something there.

Noting that the previous five "Star Wars" movies have taken in $3.36 billion, and all sales related to the movies total some $17 billion, Cagle remarked, "This one is very good, but I wonder if he lost some fans with the last two. I think, despite the huge grosses of the last two, some people were disappointed with them. I feel he has to win those people back if he's gonna bring it back up. And he could."

Asked if this is really the end, Cagle said, "It definitely is the end of the movies. I really believe that. I think there's going to be some TV stuff, and he's going to re-release (the movies) in various forms."