We all know movies like The Expendables aren't going to win any Oscars. They're not out to create gripping stories, complex characters or tear-jerking emotion. They are all about kicking ass, getting your blood pumping and not holding back. Gratuitous sex, violence and profanity is what gives these movies their value. The cheese factor of horrible action stars screaming and swearing and shooting and punching and kicking through fountains of CGI blood and guts and naked babes are the only reasons for watching such mindless drivel. As such, an R rating is required for these movies to be any good. They just have to be R. Take Die Hard. The trilogy kicks ass, and I'll have words with anyone that says different. But then they came back years later with Live Censored or Die Hard and what we got was "yippie ki-yay mother fahhhhhh!"
There are endless PG13 action movies that have been utterly forgettable, cookie-cutter action-factory pieces of crap that are only allowed one F-bomb and that cut away just before "Antagonist #1" blows away a hostage's face, designed only to rake in the dollars from ignorant teenagers. What makes the Expendables franchise the potential pinnacle of the genre is that it knows what it is: a collection of the biggest action cheeseballs making fun of itself with all the worst writing and buckets of blood to boot. Well, to my shock, I read this:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86119
Unbelievable. What should have been the king, the granddaddy of gratuitous action flicks just took a dive right to the mat. The story reports that it was changed at the behest of Chuck Norris, because he didn't appreciate the vulgarity in the script. Apparently shooting people in the face and cutting their trachea out with a Bowie knife is fine, but a few bad words is just too much to handle. But I don't buy it. Even being the internet sensation Chuck Norris is, I'd hardly think they'd change an entire franchise just to include him in what I'm sure is a very limited role. No, what we're dealing with here is corporate greed. The same thing that got to Die Hard has just infected The Expendables. There is a wider audience, and thus, more money with a PG13 rating. They've watered it down to fill their piggy banks, and now action lovers everywhere will suffer.
I guess I shouldn't expect too much integrity from a bunch of guys making a movie about mindless violence. You'd think the whole point of this type of movie would be to turn a profit, but if that were the case, why open with an R rating, then dilute the sequel? Now you're alienating your original audience, and selling out in the process. This could have been one of the few movies to actually drag me to the theatre, if just for the experience of sitting in the midst of a seat-rumbling bulletstorm. Not anymore! Boo, Sly. Boo Lionsgate. Boo.
Ah PG-13, the rating that is "too hip" to hang with the real deal (R), but is "too edgy" to be for everyone (G/PG). If you set out to make a PG-13 movie, you're entire point is to stifle your writers and actors. Stay classy, Hollywood.
ReplyDelete