12:38PM, Mar 04, 2009
If you’re a fifteen-year-old Watchmen fan and counting the days off to the release of the big screen version then you can forget it.
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has slapped an 18-certificate on 300 director Zach Snyder’s 163-minute adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel.
No cuts were made but the movie watchdog ruled that the film “contains strong bloody violence” and awarded it its toughest certificate outside the hardcore R18.
The BBFC regulations state that a film gets an 18 “where material or treatment appears…to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society.”
Recent films that have landed the certificate include the horror remake Friday the 13th, the revenge thriller Punisher: War Zone and the gore-laden 3-D extravaganza My Bloody Valentine.We had a mole at the meeting and he (or she!) gives the lowdown on the decision that means thousands of teenage British Watchmen fans are going to lose out.
Although the movie looked certain to get a 15-certificate (the rating our critic Rob Daniel was surprised The Dark Knight didn't get) three key scenes pushed into the 18-and-overs slot.
“The first of these was what looked like a bloody arm break with the bone coming back out through the skin but I was later assured it was a knife blade coming back through. I felt that although strong, this could have been argued for a 15,” our insider said.
The second dubious shot came from a scene in which Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) is in an isolation cell in prison and a henchman puts his arms through the bars. Rorschach grabs his hands, but the henchman’s boss orders his arms to be cut off with a circular saw from the outside.
This is quite graphic with bloody penetration of the flesh seen, and flailing of stumps afterwards, but for me this was sufficiently brief and far enough removed from a real-world context to argue a 15.
The final scene in the film which proved problematic for the board was one in which the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) violently beats a women (with whom we later find out he at some point had an affair with) and there is an attempted rape. The Comedian is stopped before this goes too far, however the shots of the beaten woman are quite strong.In addition to these scenes, the film also features dogs fighting over what is implied to be an abused and murdered young girl’s leg (all subtly implied but adds up to feel pretty strong), some pretty strong sex, and a number of stylised fight scenes.
While the film is on the face of it a superhero movie, Watchmen is certainly a more adult affair than the likes of X-Men or The Incredible Hulk, with more of a Sin City feel to it.
In short, Watchmen ain’t for kids. If they want to sneak in to see it, they’ll probably enjoy the stronger elements rather than be corrupted and distressed, but they’ll still fall asleep towards the end.”
In America, the movie escaped the draconian NC-17 certificate where no-one under seventeen is admitted and landed the softer R rating which requires 17-year-olds to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
However, you only have to be 15 to see the film in Australia where censors awarded it an MA rating, which also allows under 15s to attend provided they are accompanied by an adult.
Watchmen, in UK cinemas and IMAX from March 6th 2009
