*slurp slurp slurp*

Seriously, TDK has been my favorite film of the year so far, but was the hardest PG-13 I've ever seen.

Yeah TDK should have been R. I don't mind though :)

I think The Dark Knight should have been PG13 in my opinion. It was an adult film but it did not go into anything very R rated such as strong language and nudity. On the other hand I think max payne should be R because if the movie wants to replicate the game it should have the over the top action with gore sort of like wanted

I can understand his complaints about the MPAA. Since they do not reveal their guidelines on what causes a movie to earn a certain rating until they review a film. Causes all kinds of problems for a director and producers of a film and there for can destroy the original intent of the film. But i'm with you David, I don't get him complaining about The Dark Knight getting an R rating. Like you said there was no blood, no gore. And my feeling on Two-Face, was that the MPAA most have thought that it was too cartoony or in the shadows enough to let it pass with a PG-13. I remember "Spawn" when it came out and saw all of the things that were cut out to get a PG-13 rating. And the things that were cut out were so minor and not even gory in anyway that to this day I don't understand how that movie was given an R rating when it was emitted to them. Or even "Titanic," with the full nudity in that movie. Jamers Cameron explained that they let him pass with that since it was "artistic," and not sexual. I strong feel that who ever the MPAA are, they need to come out and tell people how they grade films so other films do not have this issue ever again.

Should have been R. Although alot of the violence was off scene, it was still brutal.

The Dark Knight was no where near R rated material (Joker's Pencil trick was the most extreme thing in the film) there was virtually no blood, and Two-Face was clearly faux in my opinion... no where near the gore of more deserving films.

That said I think the MPAA is a retarded organization and it should be left up to parents whether their kids see a movie. It's also bullshit that nudity gets more rap than violence.
I saw Schindler's List when I was 7, so don't give me this panzie-ass morality crap. God forbid your kid should see a gun, fake blood, or the side of some lady's breast! Grow up, really.
Listen, if 10 year olds are playing Grand Theft Auto then they can handle a grenade in William Finchner's mouth.

Any particular reason I can't post anything?

has anyone missed the real point here?


why the fuck are they shooting for a PG-13 with Max Payne anyway?

Something's gotta give. I can't stand the idea of perfectly good video game franchises just getting either hacked to fucking bits (resident evil) or completely bastardized (resident evil, every uwe boll film sub note: I know its not the best example but a lot of games to movie genre have been ruined by the bad doctor, Hitman). The best examples are the video games that make no sense to adapt in the first place a la Mortal Kombat or Double Dragon... well maybe double dragon.. BUT ANYHOW the point being....

Bummed out cop out for vengeance with a gun, kid friendly totally.

I don't know if they sucked WB's cock, but I'd like to invite the MPAA to suck my dick.

The RIAA too if we're gonna make an invitation list.

I can understand what he means about the MPAA fickle rules. Anyone see "This Movie is Not Yet Rated?" Great documentary about the rating process. They even take the documentary itself to the MPAA to get rated. Great stuff.

@ dlb

They're shooting for a wider audience.


btw why aren't there alternatives for mpaa rating system?

no. There was no blood or vulgar language. How could the Dark Knight be R. Please give me a break. I wish the Dark Knight was R, it would have been even better.

A lot of movies this year have been given PG-13s this year besides The Dark Knight. The jealousy of this movie is getting very tiring and as for Warner Bros. giving MPAA blowjobs, the Nolans write what they want to. Who cares about Max Payne anyway it has a bunch of half-ass actors, it seems he just wants to make comments so people will watch his movies. A little fight in them. I like that.

Why pick on The Dark Knight? I mean just because it's popular. It had not strong language, nudity, or graphic violence. The violence wasn't that bad just action-y. Pick on a different movie, like Saving Private Ryan.

The MPAA does suck. But Max Payne should be a R...because the game rocked and the good content in the game was almost at an R level.

When you watch the Dark Knight again, pay attention in the "magic trick" scene. They don't really show anything.

@dlp

Without a PG-13 rating to appeal to the audience of kids who think it's cool, it's unlikely a movie like Max Payne would get made in the first place.

I can understand why they want Max Payne to have a pg-13 rating but at the same time I fully believe that trying to make Max Payne a PG-13 movie is not a good idea.

The game was rated M therefore it was meant for an older audience. Not to mention that the game is 7 years old so most of the core people who played it when it first came out(such as myself) and were big fans of it are much older now and would be able to get into R rated movies.

Honestly ratings should not matter. If you have a good movie people will go see it. Stop trying to make exciting trailers to spark interest in 15 year old kids and just make a good movie. I feel as though Mr. Moore doesn't have a lot of faith that the movie will do good hence his issues.

The Dark Knight is border-line R.

No language, no nudity, but would you take your 12 or 13 year old to see this?
This isn't Spider-man. The film isn't kid friendly ,but it had Warner Brothers, DC and Toy companies eager for that PG-13. And the MPAA gave in.

The Dark Knight should've been R for:
A) Violence
B) Adult Themes
C) Frightening Images - The Joker and Two-Face's Make-Up

Its a dark film, an adult film like Se7en. I wouldn't take my kids to see Se7en? The Dark Knight wasn't any less dark. I'd take them into Little Miss Sunshine (which is R) instead of the Dark Knight,but Batman still receives a PG-13?

I guess its my own parenting beliefs. Don't misinterpret. The Dark Knight was an excellent film. The MPAA are just incapable of rating movies appropriately.

I wish John Moore luck

There's a lot of talk here about sucking cocks. And nothing about tits or vaginas!

Either way, this sounds like the pre-emptive damage control Lucas did for Indy 4. haha, remember that? I sure do!

lol rated r , fuck no the dark knight should have been rated pg 13

i do think john moore has a very good point.

the dark knight should have been rated R. when i went to see it there were so many kids that sat in front of me and they were freaked out with the amount of violence. afterwards i heard the parents yelling at some poor guy that worked in the theater and they were complaining about the pg-13 rating.

yeah the mpaa probably gave WB a blowjob for its rating, but this is the same mpaa who thinks smoking is a reason to consider a rating

A lot of movies today seem to be getting away with more violence and lower ratings. This should be celebrated, not condemned. We need to get back to the early days when kids weren't condescended to and movies were more mature because kids like mature themes and stuff. I saw a woman get her finger chopped off in the piano when I was 10. good times.

The Dark Knight should've been R but so should've been many other films ie. Pirates of the Caribbean.

Although I liked the fact that a hard pg13 movie has been so successful, I also hoped it would push the limit as to what other films can achieve with a pg13 rating. The MPAA is on the long list of TDK smokers...


Dave - The /filmcast should totally do The Dark Knight commentary.. Would be awesome to hear your thoughts in greater detail as we see the film (editing problems, etc)

Those parents are stupid, why dont see the film first to see if your kids can see it and then they can decide if they want their kids watching it before talking crap to the guy selling the tickets, why R, the movie didnt have nudity, f-words, m-words, no blood that people can be shock, maybe these days kids get scared to easy, OMG a clown with a knife, a mental scar for life, LOL.

The MPAA is retarded.

Cases in point... Zack & Miri getting an NC-17 on first watch just because it's a Kevin Smith movie... the Z&M poster getting banned, despite Good Luck Chuck having the EXACT SAME VISUAL and getting passed last year... King Kong getting a PG-13... Prince Caspian getting a PG somehow... etc.

The MPAA blows period. The Dark Knight was an edgy PG-13, but it's not a "definitely should've been an R" like, say, Titanic.

Im always amazed that there are movie fans that actually want movies to be rated harsher. All that means is that movies will have to be even further toned down. Dark Knight would have less of the movie than it was. It would have had to be censored more; is that what movie fans want? So why would people come on message boards and say yeah Dark Knight should have been an R?. I dont get it.

Also, that documentary "this movie has not yet been rated" has a bias against violent action movies. Its a sort of pacifist left wing documentary that argues that the MPPA is too lenient with action movies and too hard on movies with sex. Thats always the argument used by leftists. And thats not going to accomplish anything; it'll just lead to more censorship. All the MPPA will do is agree and be hard on violent action movies too. We should be for the MPAA being more lenient with ALL MOVIES, not try to play one genre against another.

Im not familiar with the rating process or anything but I think PG-13 was justifiable because it was a movie that didn't really have any gratuitous violence, blood, profanity, or sex that is characteristic of a rated R movie. It the movie was so suspensful, dramatic, and dark that made it feel like one thats what made it so effect.

If There Will Be Blood can be an R, then I still don't see how Dark Knight got away with it's pg-13. I agree with this Moore guy.

Life's a bitch...

To say that the movie shouldn't have been R b/c there "wasn't any swearing or real blood" is fucking stupid and why the MPAA is a joke. Movies get rated R now because they show a tit for two seconds or use one too many "swearwords," but yet the Joker can kill 35 people and get a PG-13 rating. Are people fucking retarded?

I wish The Dark Knight went for the R rating - - - it would have been that much more awesome.

I personally would like to see Max Payne have an R rating since the game was M but I do agree that The Dark Knight was a very hard PG-13. If there was pretty much a drop of blood in that movie it would have been R. I do think that they probably give PG-13 ratings to movies that they know will rake in some cash where as movies that probably won't do very well an R since not many ppl will be seeing it, except me since I'm a big fan of the game.

Ratings are because of dumb kids. I've been watching PG-13 since I was 7 and R since around 10. I turned out just fine, never had any psychotic episodes or violent fantasies. Bottom line-parents should decide whether their kid sees a movie, and also, parents shouldn't be pussies about it. Enough of this "carding" bullshit. Card me when I buy alcohol or tobacco or porno mags or pseudophedrine. But let people watch whatever the fuck movie they want regardless of age. Obviously, a three year old should not see an R rated movie. But are you really saving the world one kid at a time carding and turning away that 15 year old kid?

The Dark Knight? R? Really? What part of that movie deserved a R rating? There was no blood at all. Two face's make up was the most "hardcore" part of the movie, and even it wasn't that bad. Though i do agree the MPAA has a terrible system. Moore shouldn't be targeting a PG13 rating anyway. Max Payne is not meant for PG13. And if he feels so strongly about it, appeal the rating. The Dark Knight got the rating it deserved, and the MPAA certainly not "giving WB a blowjob"

it got a pg-13 rating because it is clearly the greatest film ever made.

Titanic got a PG-13 and it showed tits....

Giving TDK a R would have been harsh IMO, but it's a real grey area. A very hard PG-13 but would have been a soft, really soft R. If Max Payne is anything like the video game (which I hope it is, one of my ATF's) then believe me it deserves it's R rating. TDK was a PG-13 the more and more I think about it, what in that movie deserved an R?

BTW, however compared TDK to Se7en in content is a straight up moron...btw maybe you should actually watch Se7en, it's a really good film

When the film grosses 50 mil domestic the R rating will be the excuse of the day ,,,,,, blah blah blah,,,,,

Crap film = low revenue.

@Brian
It is true the Joker killed alot of people but if you go by that standard then the Narnia series should have been a freaking rated R movie or atleast PG-13 with all the violence it had. And considering it is a kids story that I read back in my elementary days that would have been disappointing.

People keep saying that the way Two Face looked was enough to give the movie an R rating but he didn't even looked that gory.

The Dark Knight Might have gotten a rating of r back in the 70s look at the good the the bad and the ugly it was rated r and its tame compared to some of the PG-13 rated movies today. rated r today is almost like NC-17 back in the day.Yes the mpaa sucks but just to make the movie pg-13 to make it pg-13 is lame just make a good movie.Just because its rated r doesn't mean people are not going to see it superbad,knocked-up,300,sin city all were well liked and did well When i think Max Payne I think rated R when I think punisher I think rated R Dont cheap out and alienate your self from your core audience.Plus summers over the kids are back in school time for the adults to play

The MPAA actually keep lowering their stantards. Grindhouse for example, people that saw that movie, more specifically Planet Terror, know that Quentin Terrentino's balls melting off was more then enough to give that movie like an NC-17.

Moore isn't "dissing" The Dark Knight. He's simply presenting an argument against the silliness, inconsistency, and hypocrisy of the MPAA.

Unlike all of us, he's actually seen both TDK and Max Payne and feels like they are comparable in terms of violence, tone, "objectionable content," etc.

It's the fact that the MPAA is inconsistent and doesn't actually communicate clearly with filmmakers or have an easily navigable appeals process that is really at issue here.

Max Payne could be good, even with a PG13....

I would initially think an R rating would be appropriate for the tone of Max Payne, judging from playing the game, but while the game had a ton of violence, it didn't have any gratuitous sex and, as far as I can recall, a ton of F-Bombs like Grand Theft Auto, so, the more I think about it, the more I think that, going by TDK violence and tone standards set via the intro bank robbery scene, etc. that as long as it is comparably intense a PG13 could be successfully done in a Max Payne movie.

That said, is anyone else surprised about Righteous Kill going for a PG13 rating, especially after 88 Minutes, Jon Avnet and Pacino's earlier violent pairing this year?

TDK should have been R. Just because of the tone. There seems to be a majority of you guys loving this film, but did you actually think beyond its entertainment value?

This film is brutal, violent, harsh. I know these are some of the reasons, most of you like it, but come on! As far as I understand, PG13 means a kid younger than 13 is only allowed to see this film when accompanied by their parents. So let's say little Timmy wants to see this. He is ten years old. What's he gonna see? Well, this:

-A bank robbery where the joker kills his entire crew (4 dead in the first 5 minutes)
-He kills a guy with a pencil (off screen, but not matter, still kills him)
-He kidnapps a guy, films him being tortured and in fear of his life ("LOOK AT ME!!") and then kills this guy, this time, the dead body is displayed in the fake Batman costume for audiences to see, because HE IS HANGING FROM A BUILDING!!!
- Joker intimidates the black gangster boss and cuts him dead (kinda off-screen, but it is very intense anyway), then let's his goons fight for a free spot in his team (with a broken billiard stick!)
- There is a guy with a fucking cell phone inside his body, who explodes and kills many policemen!
- Hundreds of hostages on two boats in a psychological stand off

The list goes on and on. I don't know if little 10 year old Timmy could handly all of this without shitting his pants! I don't eaven know, if 13 year old Timmy is better off.

I didn't even get to TwoFace (yeah, Make Up isn't that scary, but he kills people, too) or even Batman himself (very ambiguos morals on his side). And let's not forget Rachel.

This movie can be very scary, mind you. I don't know about how tough you guys are over here. But come on, you got to at least acknowlegde the fact, that TDK is borderline rated R!

Oh, didn't SUPERBAD get an R-Rating. Why? Cause they say "Fuck" and show some tits? Actually... did they even show tits?

Do you really think, a boy like little Timmy would be more traumatized by SUPERBAD than by TDK? Really?

This is just another example of how full of shit the MPAA really is and that their system i rather... well, full of shit.

TDK got an FSK16 Rating in Germany. I am not the biggest fans of German Ratings (they sometimes force a distributor to cut down a film for better Ratings, which gave us a cut RAMBO version, as well as two different cut HULK versions). But I think, 16 years is a much better age to handle TDK without any problems.

BTW, I'm a 29 year old German dude, so don't hesitate calling me and old foreign fart, if you want to.

The Dark knight is from 15 in Sweden, where I live. I bet a lot of kids tried to see it but were stopped because they were under aged.

15 is the highest rating here and we don't have the "Rated R" or "Rated X". It's 7,11 and 15 over here.

TDK was obviouslly an M15+ (im an aussie, M is australias PG13)
it was dark, but not an MA15+ (America's R)
Max Payne looks like an MA (R)
the games were MA15+(R) in australia
i hope they dont cut it for a PG13

I am Legend was M15 (PG13) in australia in the cinemas and was the closest to MA (R) i have ever seen.
When released on DVD all versions were MA (R), even the ones with no special features. I dont get it.