Die Hard 4: A Sacrilege

[eatmyshorts]

It has come to my attention that this movie is going to be rated PG-13....

All I can say is....


WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?!?

[Al]

Yeah, that's... that's... ugh.

Although it could just be the changing standards of the time. Alien in 1979 was R-rated, but when it came out again a few years ago it was PG. I think I'm going to prefer to think of it that way.

[sirgallahad2]

D'oh for the love of!!!!!!!..........

First Aliens vs. Predator and now Die Hard 4. Hollywood is run by a bunch of friggin wussies. ( I would love nothing more than to unleash my tourette's syndrome, but this is a family friendly site and I respect those ground rules.) Which leads me to another rant....

Whatever happened to the "Looney Toons"? You know, REAL cartoonish anarchy? Now all the shows have plots and storylines and touchy-feely crap-tastic morals and lessons. What was ever wrong with one character blotting another character with a frying pan? Even the good old-fashioned drop-an-anvil-on-the-little-bugger days of yester-year? As far as the impressionable kids throwing themselves off of cliffs and hitting themselves with pans and blunt objects and dying.... fewer stupid children to grow up into even more stupid adults and spawning even MORE stupid children thus depleting and all ready shallow and murky collective global gene pool? It's evil I tells ya! EVIL!!!! Can't we just sit back and enjoy some mindless anarchistic cartoon violence every now and then? Our movies are all CGI-laden X-box 360 games with actors and multi-million dollar budgets anyway. Who cares anymore?

[Al]

sirgallahad2 said:

Whatever happened to the "Looney Toons"? . . . What was ever wrong with one character blotting another character with a frying pan? Even the good old-fashioned drop-an-anvil-on-the-little-bugger days of yester-year?

First: Calm down. Take a few breaths. Get a cup of tea.

Now then, children's television has more or less been entirely castrated by our friends at ACT and the all-powerful E/I dogma.

So, let's all let out a cheer for those folks who know how to raise your kid better than you do!

Hip! Hip!

Hip! Hip!

Whatever would we do without them?

[sirgallahad2]

dirty communists!! all of them!!!! My daughter is 3 years old and I never let her watch anything that I feel she shouldn't be watching. (Yes she's only 3... but I am doing what I can to be a responsible parent) it's great when some outback nazi organization gets to decide what the kids watch and don't watch.

[wdm0744]

Hi, I'm new to the forums, but I've been reading MRFH daily for the past six years.
I saw Live Free or Die Hard on Wednesday, and, while I hate to say it, it really was the worse for the loss of the R-rated language and bloody violence. It was like watching Die Hard on TBS. Not to say it was all bad- the plot was pretty smart and most of the action worked really well (although there wasn't enough of it), but the dialogue and the pacing just didn't feel Die Hard. Many times I felt like this could have been any generic action movie that just happened to have Bruce Willis doing a John McClane impression.
You don't have to have an R-rating to have a good action movie (just see Hunt for Red October, Mission Impossible I and III, The Bourne Identity) but I think you do have to have an R-rating to have a good Die Hard movie.
Oh, and while it is probably not a good thing to say my first day on the forums, Al, I think you are wrong about the re -release of Alien being rated anything but R. The Director's Cut was released Halloween weekend in 2003 and every review site I checked (many of which were newspaper sites) listed the rating as R. www.metacritic.com/film/titles/alien provides a long list of review sites for the 2003 release and all I checked listed the rating as R. That makes sense considering the general (but, as we know, breakable) rule that more than one or two F-bombs lands an R. Plus, I can't imagine the chestbuster scene (which was not changed) passing for PG-13, let alone PG.

[Al]

Contradicting a moderator? That's a paddling.

Just kidding. Was it really R? I could have sworn it was rerelease at PG or PG-13. Hm.

Anyway, welcome to the forums, wdm! May your stay be long and anecdote-filled.

[mckyoneal]

I too was shocked and horrified by the fact that Die Hard was going to be PG-13 instead of R. I was also schocked that Silver Surfer was rated PG instead of PG-13, but it's not like I was going to see it anyway. It's called selling out. And it's what Hollywood does best. Of course they're going to try and make the most money (they're a business), and by doing that they're going to try to reach the largest audience, and by doing that they numbed it down to PG-13. Aggrivating to fans, of course, but will it reach a wider audience... time will tell.

But before you pass judgement on Die Hard, go see it. I saw it and gotta say that it was the best movie so far this summer. Then again the competition has been weak sauce so far. But just because McLaine doesn't get blood splattered across his face (ala With a Vegeance) doesn't mean it's not a fun movie. Give it a shot, and I think you'll be pleasently surprised.

[sirgallahad2]

They'll probably do an "unrated" die hard 4 on DVD. Do you know what "unrated" means on a dvd? It means "rated R, but we're a bunch of sissies and the parent groups and the bible-thumpers have us by the short-and-curlies so we can only release something that 10 years ago was an R film, as unrated so we won't be held accountable for it". Yes, one of my rants again.

[Hucklebubba]

sirgallahad2 said:

. . .with actors. . .

I too long for a return to the halcyon days of actor-free cinema.

[Ringo]

Personally, I really enjoyed Die Hard 4. But then, I also have to agree that a little R-rated goodness might have allowed for less typing and more action.

I mean, seriously. Typing's what I do. I don't pay to watch it.

[Head Mutant]

Well, according to Wikipedia, they shot it as an R. We saw it today -- it was quite excellent, and I'm not complaining. You could notice the quick cuts/sped up shots when the gore or bullet wounds arrived, but I didn't really miss the swearing, nor did I think it was any less hardcore.

Since they edited it down to a PG-13, I have hope they'll reinstate it to an R for home DVD collectors. Just so we get that extra blood squib or two.

"Next time, don't hesitate."
*blamblamblamblam*
"Thanks for the advice."

[pfrsue]

Agreed with Justin on this. I thought it was mighty fine entertainment, exciting enough, and I didn't miss the bad language at all.

[coccatino]

Since I have a pathetic-little-girl-crush on Bruce Willis, Husband indulged me and took me to see this on Tuesday. I absolutely Loved it. I honestly didn't notice the lack of super graphic violence and foul language. A good time was had by all! Hurrah!

Oooo... PS. 'Didja Notice' ... during the traffic jam in Washington DC there is a truck in the intersection that says "Gruber's" on the side.

[eurotrashman]

Funny, I always thought Foul language was an important part of John McClane's psyche. Him spouting witty remarks in a PG-13 suitable way kinda reminds of Homer and his swearing-jar...