Mr Kissyfur wrote:
I tend to agree with you (I'm still annoyed that Jurassic Park was cut down from a 15) BUT, how much are we missing out on given that what's cut from the films you're talking about is basically just gratuitous violence? They can't all be (and don't need to be) A Serbian Film.
Why is it necessarily 'gratuitous' violence?
If the violence is contextualised then it's not gratuitous, in the first Taken the harder cut featured a much harsher torture sequence as well as more 'robust' combat/fighting sequences, but Neeson was trying to save his daughter's life after all, so it didn't feel over the top to me. The violence was contextualised and we understood what was driving Neeson's character, his daughter's life depended on him taking out the baddies.
The problem with cutting to a certificate is that in general it doesn't really change what's going on, in Taken 2 he's still going to kill a load of people and there's still a torture sequence in there, they've just been cut and cut until the censors say 'Yeah that'll do for a 12A', so you end up with a film where the story and theme just don't match up with what you're seeing and hearing.
It's also a very cynical cash-grabbing exercise, in that they can take the money at the cinema, and then sell it again as an 'EXTREME UNSEEN EDITION' on DVD/Blu-Ray. Now in the past these editions of films were reserved for when they were cut even at the highest rating in the cinema, so where the MPAA would make cuts for an R, the DVD could be unrated. Over time the BBFC have chilled out too, so stuff that was cut for 18 at the cinema can now be released uncut on 18 DVD, I'm fine with that.
What I'm not fine with is taking a film like Taken 2, which is clear R/15 (maybe 18), and cutting and cutting it until it hits PG-13/12A, taking TEN MINUTES out of a film to hit that cert is clearly absurd, I mean, the director damn near says as much that the cinema version is fucked and you'll have to watch the unrated DVD to see it properly.
Point is, Taken 2 didn't need to be cut, they could have released it at the 'proper' rating and that would be it, job done. Instead we get a shit version in the cinema and then to see it properly we have to buy it again on DVD/Blu-Ray.
Certain films suit a certain level of violence, Star Wars suits cartoony violence, Robocop suits harsh adult violence, Remains of the Day needs no violence at all, Rocky or Indiana Jones suit 'teenage' violence, and so on.
Where I get pissed off is films being artificially reduced to hit an artificial certificate point.