Batman Sequel ‘The Dark Knight’ Rated 13 For Intense Violence and Menace

The Dark Knight is now less than three months away, and in preparation for it’s release the Motion Picture Association of America have rated the film, and given it’s opinion on the content of the sequel to Batman Begins.

The result is in, and The Dark Knight has been give a PG13 rating. That’s all well and good, and pretty much expected. But what’s more interesting is the comments the association made about the content of the film.

“[It contains] intense sequences of violence and menace,”

“There may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie, but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence.”

Where would a Batman movie, or any superhero movie for that matter, be without some level of violence and menace? Without some sort of criminal protagonist committing some evil act, there is no need for a hero to come to the rescue in the first place.

Obviously, in The Dark Knight, the villian of the piece is The Joker played posthumously by Heath Ledger. Warner Bros. were reported to have considered cutting a scene in which The Joker pretends to be dead, in light of the tragic early death of Ledger, but it’s thought that the scene made the final cut.