A Brief Rant on The Lone Ranger/Jack the Giant Slayer

*sets down Soap Box and stands on it*

Ahem.

Hollywood- what kind of movie do you think you're making?  I mean, really, what kind of film are you making?

The Lone Ranger bombed at the Box Office for a number of reasons.  For one thing, it's a Western.  Secondly, it opened up against a sure-fire family hit: Despicable Me 2.  The third reason: a film that everyone said was NOT for the age demographic that it would appeal to.

This same thing happened earlier with Jack the Giant Slayer, a film that I just recently watched on Disc.  It also features some very graphic *off-screen* death.  In that film, a man is eaten by a Giant and many others are killed.  There is some actual on-screen violence as well, including a bit where one of the villains is stabbed to death

The absolute 'highlight' is the death of the final Giant, which involves him being violently-dismembered via vines.  On top of that, it's last words are 'Oh fu-!'  No, really.

However, the coup de gras for most people is this one...

Yes, the main villain cuts out and eats a man's heart.  We see it reflected in our hero's eyes and hear the sound effects of the heart being eaten.  Rated PG-13, folks!

Here's the thing: I don't propose that we censor anything.  If you want to make a violent film like Hatchet 3 or Saw XXVIII, be my guest.  There are some truly great films that are very violent (e.c. Cannibal Holocaust).

You do, however, have to realize that this exposes a flaw in our Ratings System.  The logic (if you're a major Studio anyway) is that you can put whatever violence you want in a film as long as you simply imply the most graphic parts.  For (over the top) example...

Irreversible: If Fox does a Remake & simply has the rape and murder scenes implied through audio/visual cues.

On the flip-side, there's the famous example from the Indy film The Cooler.  In one sex scene, you see a split second of the top of the woman involved's pubic hair.  That made them up the Rating from R (since it, you know has a sex scene) to X.

So yeah, good system.

The up-side is that both of these films bombed, meaning it will hopefully push this trend back to wherever it came from.  Seriously, make an all-ages film or don't.  That's all I ask.

Thank you.

*Steps off of Soap Box* and walks away.