Dredd (2012)

[dweezil2]

The days of Terminator getting a 12A are long gone and that rating seems to be something of a glaring anomaly-considering T3 was an R in the states.

I was quite shocked at watching X-Men:First Class the other day seeing that [spoiler]Wolverine cameo. Hearing him tell Magneto and Xavier to "Go Drokk themselves."[/spoiler]*  It was a very funny but in a 12A film?

Mind you, pretty much everything else in the film is well within that certification.

*Another word might have been used.

A 12A film is generally allowed one "Fuck" in the UK (especially if used in a humerous context) and at a push two. Of course if you're The King's Speach you're allowed a fuck about every two minutes! In the verbal sense obviously.

[radiator]

Dredd seems to a straightforward action movie that's embarrassed about its sci fi roots.

I'm calling bullshit on that - from what I've seen and heard, DREDD isn't shying away from it's sci-fi roots at all. The film features [spoiler]futuristic city blocks, mutants with psychic powers and fictional, time-distorting drugs[/spoiler].

It may have scaled back the city and dropped several other sci-fi tropes but this is more than likely down to budgetary concerns than anything else. The makers of DREDD have also evidently stripped away the more esoteric/eccentric aspects of the source material, but name a comic movie adaptation that hasn't done this.

And you know full well that you'll be going to see this at the cinema just like the rest of us.

[Mardroid]

12A??

I didn't say I expected it to be 12A (it's pretty clear with the R rating it won't be). Just that it wouldn't be a bad thing if it was.

As I said 15 would be preferable for me. But as long as it's a well told well presented story which gets the original comic... I don't much care about the certification.

[Goaty]

12A??

I didn't say I expected it to be 12A (it's pretty clear with the R rating it won't be). Just that it wouldn't be a bad thing if it was.

As I said 15 would be preferable for me. But as long as it's a well told well presented story which gets the original comic... I don't much care about the certification.

No worries, it just like edited version of Predator or Terminator for kids.

[JOE SOAP]

A real Dredd film can never be a 12A, he's lawman with a gun that fires 6 types of bullets that eventually end up in perps bodies or blowing things up. 15/R-rating is as it should be according to the censor terms. It's not even an 18/NC17 and a few scenes with only a few people getting plugged and some blood can stop a 12A.

If 70's/80's Dredd stories were directly translated to film from the comics -without changes to violence levels- they'd be 15s. We got away with reading them because it was a comic set in the distant future -more attention was focused on video nasties anyway- and that excuse doesn't wash with film censors.

[radiator]

A real Dredd film can never be a 12A.

Strongly agree. I think it's mental that some people think such a thing as a kid-friendly Dredd film would be possible. Superhero films like X Men First Class and The Dark Knight get away with a lot of violence because there are clear moral lines drawn - the heroes of the film almost never kill anyone. A Dredd who isn't judge, jury and executioner isn't Dredd in my book. You'd end up with something like Lawman of the Future - a watered down pastiche.

[JOE SOAP]

One way around these issues -depending on film content- would be to have a version cut for kids shown only during the day and an uncut version shown in the evening. This would also allow more people to see films they otherwise couldn't.

Obviously this would only be done for certain crossover films, even a film like Prometheus could get a lower rating but not films like Irreversible or Ichi the Killer.

[Steve Green]

A real Dredd film can never be a 12A.

Strongly agree. I think it's mental that some people think such a thing as a kid-friendly Dredd film would be possible. Superhero films like X Men First Class and The Dark Knight get away with a lot of violence because there are clear moral lines drawn - the heroes of the film almost never kill anyone. A Dredd who isn't judge, jury and executioner isn't Dredd in my book. You'd end up with something like Lawman of the Future - a watered down pastiche.

Hmmm - Xmen 2 seemed to have wolverine getting pretty stabby on those special forces that raid the school.

How many people does Indiana Jones off?

Not saying I disagree about a 15 rating, but I don't think it's quite as clear-cut and for a long while, Dredd was pulled back from being an executioner because it was unpalatable in a kids comic.

[Goaty]

A real Dredd film can never be a 12A.

Strongly agree. I think it's mental that some people think such a thing as a kid-friendly Dredd film would be possible. Superhero films like X Men First Class and The Dark Knight get away with a lot of violence because there are clear moral lines drawn - the heroes of the film almost never kill anyone. A Dredd who isn't judge, jury and executioner isn't Dredd in my book. You'd end up with something like Lawman of the Future - a watered down pastiche.

Good example, RoboCop: The Series, lack of violence that in first two RoboCop films.

[MR. ELIMINATOR]

I think people can get killed a lot in 12a but it's if the kills are gory then it is a higher rating. The above mentioned wolverine in x-men 2 all his kills had no blood.

Another example is the recent Prometheus trailers. The US version when Noomi Rapace is staggering around in her under garments she is covered in blue stuff, but in the UK trailer she is covered in blood. Which leaves me to believe that Prometheus UK will be a gorier cut then the US.

[JOE SOAP]

Not saying I disagree about a 15 rating, but I don't think it's quite as clear-cut and for a long while, Dredd was pulled back from being an executioner because it was unpalatable in a kids comic.

He still shot people though, the exectutioner role was played down but he still pursued perps and shot them.

I think it's also who Dredd is and what he represents combined with shooting people is part of the dilemma. I also couldn't imagine a 12A Judge Death squeezing people's hearts. Wasn't Temple of Doom later cut?

[JOE SOAP]

I think people can get killed a lot in 12a but it's if the kills are gory then it is a higher rating. The above mentioned wolverine in x-men 2 all his kills had no blood.

They couldn't even show blood spurting from the Ringwraith's steed getting it's neck chopped in LOTR and that was a fictional creature.

[radiator]

Xmen 2 seemed to have wolverine getting pretty stabby

That's why I said almost never, and a lot depends on tone and context.

In that context, Wolverine was defending children from evil, faceless troopers. That's a very different proposition than Dredd blowing a jaywalker's kneecaps off. Dredd's a violent, fascist thug who kills dozens of people every day and his actions aren't always easy to defend - I don't think the filmmakers could square that circle without making huge compromises to what the character is.

I have a problem in general with explicit though bloodless violence (as in The Dark Knight and Inception) - find it a bit weird and creepier than showing blood, but that's another discussion I guess.

[JOE SOAP]

Consider how tame Dredd '95 actually is -some would say it's at the level a Dredd film should be, I don't- and that got an R-rating despite its best efforts not to. Straddling the 12a/15 appeal was completely detrimental to an all ready shizoid film that couldn't decide what Dredd the character was supposed to be.

[Steve Green]

It's not just about gore though, it's also about imitability - I would say that stabbings are more problematic than shootings. I've been constantly surprised how much the big studios get away with at 12A- the pencil in the eye in TDK for example.

The Temple of Doom stuff got cut a lot more over here - not sure if it was ever cut for the US. The sacrificed guy burning goes on a lot longer.

Obviously Spielberg gets away with a lot. Raiders has impalements, headshots, minced by propellors, head explosions/melting.

Anyway, I don't see much point in pandering to the 12A bunch, but I don't really see the point of purposely aiming for an R or 18 either.