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Attack of the Clones Cut in UK

Posted by michael on from the jar-jar-still-in-it-unfortunately dept.

MartyJG writes "The British Board of Film Classification has demanded a cut in Ep2 AOTC for a head-butt. I don't know which is more extreme: UK viewers insisting on viewing the US version for 1 second of extra film, or that a 1 second cut means the difference between a '12' (~PG-13) and a 'PG' certificate. For some reason the distributors must think fewer people would see the film if it was a '12'. The film report is on the BBFC website."

5 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Does anyone else find it interesting... by InterruptDescriptorT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...that while a movie that shows graphic violence, including decapitations, disembowellings and other acts of torture and sickness that turn viewers' stomachs can still a 'PG-13' or 'R' rating in the US, while just about any sort of hint of sexual acts, both heterosexual and homosexual, will merit at the very least an 'R' or an 'X' rating?

    American censors and the film ratings boards seem to believe that it's OK for people to see violence because it won't affect them at all. Hey, the country was founded in a pit of blood during the Revolutionary War. But it's a hell of a lot better to have that on screen than it is to see two people who love each other show it intimately. Better that we have teenagers running into their school brandishing easily-purchased assault rifles than it is to have them falling in love with someone and spending time with them.

    I'm just curious when the culture of violence and hate that the United States pushes on its citizens will finally become tiresome or offensive to them. Look at crime rates in Europe, where guns are near impossible to get hold of and where there are no restrictive anti-sex laws on television. Is it any wonder that their crime rates per capita are significantly lower than the US?

    Let's keep producing more violent movies and glorifying war, like Platoon, Saving Private Ryan and all the Rambo movies do. That'll make everyone safer...

    --
    Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
    1. Re:Does anyone else find it interesting... by Loligo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >Let's keep producing more violent movies and
      >glorifying war, like Platoon, Saving Private
      >Ryan

      Uh... You honestly think Platoon or Saving Private Ryan "glorif[y] war"?

      Have you SEEN Saving Private Ryan? Have you actually WATCHED Platoon? There's nothing in either of those movies that glorifies war. They both attempt to portray war as the horrible nasty hellish nightmare that it is.

      After the release of SPR, military recruiters all over America reported a drop in inquiries. This from a nation that was ALREADY largely apathetic about military service. This was almost exclusively in response to the opening D-Day scenes.

      If you're looking for a movie that glorifies war, go find a copy of The Longest Day (B&W, please, none of that Turnerized colorized crap). Watch the Omaha Beach landing sequence. Compared to SPR's, it's about as violent as an episode of Seinfeld.

      For a more modern movie (yet set in an older war...), go get Mel Gibson's "The Patriot".

      Neither SPR nor Platoon try to be "feel good" movies. Neither is a chest-thumping rah rah "we kicked their sorry asses" movie.

      Oh, and I can't let this one go...

      >Look at crime rates in Europe, where guns are
      >near impossible to get hold of

      That kid in Germany sure seemed to have his share. I won't mention terrorist groups like the IRA, Red Brigade, ETA, 17 November, or any of a hundred splinter groups...

      -l

    2. Re:Does anyone else find it interesting... by Loligo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >Please, don't judge us poor Europeans by the
      >behaviour of those of us who make the headlines
      >across the pond.

      And we Americans would appreciate the same courtesy.

      -l

  2. Re:PG vs. 12 certificate by Ngwenya · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess they figure that young kids are not that likely to lop somebody in two with a light sabre, but they're pretty likely to stick the nut into some little kiddy's face.

    I don't really have a problem with the BBFC's decision. The film makers are perfectly entitled to say "Fuck you, the headbutt stays". It's just that they have to accept a 12 certificate. Which means lower revenue (gee, a whole $20m less that $5b) in the UK.

    Now we get to see whether artistic integrity will triumph over filthy lucre...

    --Ng

  3. Lucas - most violent director in history by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Lucas was the first, in 1978, to blow up an inhabited planet on-screen. That was the most violent, genocidal mass murder in the history of motion pictures.

    Few objected, because it wasn't "graphic violence".