Could the sequel to the ultra-violent The Expendables be rated PG-13? Apparently so, as Sylvester Stallone confirms the news...
One of the major selling points of The Expendables, other than its obvious draw of seeing a gallery of action heroes all in the same frame, was its gloriously over-the-top violence.
For a generation brought up on straight-to-video action movies, the movie was like a love letter to a bygone age of unreconstructed, daft macho cineema. But as its sequel prepares to assault cinemas, with its even broader selection of ageing action men, we've stumbled upon a rather troubling piece of news.
The new addition to the Expendables' ranks, Chuck Norris, has been speaking to a Polish website called Gazeta. Now, according to more than one source – namely, Slash Film and Expendables Premiere – Norris said that one of his stipulations for appearing in the sequel was that the swearing in its script be trimmed for a PG-13 rating.
"With The Expendables 2, you have a lot of hard language in there that means that means that young people won’t be able to see it," Norris said. "I said, you have to cut out all the language, hardcore language or I can’t do it. So they did, and Expendables is now a PG-13 film so kids can see it."
Of course, if a film's going to get a PG-13 rating, its bloodshed would have to be toned down as well as its bad language - even without the cursing, The Expendables would never have received a family-friendly rating.
Is it possible, then, that The Expendables 2 will be tempered somewhat for a broader audience?
Sadly, yes. Sylvester Stallone has confirmed the PG-13 rating to Ain't It Cool. He said that ""The PG-13 rumor is true, but before your readers pass judgement, trust me when I say this film is large in every way and delivers on every level. This movie touches on many emotions which we want to share with the broadest audience possible, but. fear not, this Barbeque of Grand scale Ass Bashing will not leave anyone hungry."
It's not just us that feels really quite disappointed by the news, is it?
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