I recently watched two movies (Jumper and The Dark Knight) that are rated PG-13. I didn't enjoy either very much. Truly, I'm blown away that the violence in these movies didn't earn them an R. I'd like to remind everyone that Blazing Saddles is rated R. Would it even earn a PG-13 if it came out today?
I spend a good portion of the Dark Knight covering my eyes like a little girl. I still got to watch the Joker impale a person's head with a pencil. The movie also implied other gruesome violence. Jumper was no better. Samuel Jackson's character slits a man from stomach to throat. Any boobies, however, and the film gets an R. For my money, I'd rather my 13 year old watch nekked people all day than watch people kill each other in an up close and gruesome manner.
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Amen! I, too, spend much of time with my eyes covered during "action" movies. (Even during The Dark Knight, which I liked.) I will never go see another Mel Gibson movie for that very reason.
This is something that has long frustrated me. People seem not to notice that the level of violence in American cinema has reached truly ridiculous levels. I get into arguments with Bradley's film friends all the time about whether or not violence in movies is "necessary." I'm really tired of directors who claim the violence in THEIR movie is somehow different than the "gratuitous" violence in all those OTHER movies.
Last summer I watched a rated-R movie called "I Capture the Castle." It was rated R for one 15 second scene in which a free-spirited woman dances naked in the rain at night. Other than that, it maybe deserved a PG rating.
Let's see, what would I rather a little kid see? A naked woman in a non-erotic context for 15 seconds, or 2 hours of gut-wrenching violence? No contest.
(I'm sorry if you decided to go see The Dark Knight because I recommended it.)
I was going to see Dark Knight regardless of who did (or didn't) recommend it. There were some cool toys and it was really beautiful, but it was just so ... bleak.
I go to movies (and read books) for one of two reasons: 1. To be entertained 2. To learn something. These two movies did neither.
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