Mad Max: Fury Road rated 'R' in the US

[Taipan]

I find it hard to work out why it was rated R in the USA , MA 15+ in Australia , Miller has made a movie with no swearing , no sex and minimal gore a rarity these days.
The American censors are a lot more prudish than other parts of the world be it film , TV etc

Because 'Murica!

But I have to disagree with you on that. There was a lot of implied gore and I think that's what tipped the censors off. I personally thought the movie was way more violent than RW with The People Eater being shot in the eye, taking the child out, bikers thrown under the wheels, one of the war boys getting his face stuck on the spikes of the War Rig before it tipped over, a couple of neck shots.

Somehow - the original trilogy doesn't feel as violent, maybe because a lot of stunts involved dummies, but here - one of the pole cats was shot point blank it the chest and his ribs were out.
And keep in mind what was cut out of the RW - Wez getting off on pulling the arrow out of his arm and a closeup of Golden Youth's head with a boomerang in it. In FR we get Morsov with an arrow in his face. I think FR is pretty violent, both implied and on screen.

[Artemis Flow]

yeh true but unlike other movies the gory bits are split second and not overly bloody , when Morsov got pinned there was nary a drop of blood

unrelated but I also liked how Nux's car did not explode in a fireball even when he lit the flare , this is more tru to life , in American movies you only have to fart and a car will explode into a massive fireball lol

[PhilC]

I agree this movie has a lot of action that is somewhat violent in some scenes which i love actually, but it's nothing over the top really for the viewers to witness in todays times? It just seems that the censorship boards globally are either less strict on the ratings to what the US are with how the film has been rated around the world or perhaps the global ratings are more in line with what is shown on screen in todays times and that censorship is simply more strict still in the US. It seems to me it would be the later given what i viewed.

There were PG rated test screenings shown and i wonder how much things differed to the R version that was the final release. Do you guys have the MA rating there in the US or does it just go from PG to R? If there is no MA rating then i guess i can understand more why it received an R rating. Down here we have all those ratings, that's all.

[kickherintheguts]

FR is definitely worthy of an R rating. It's almost impossible to give a PG-13 to a movie with people getting shot in the face, Chroming drug use, and Max's daughter getting murdered.

[DGSimo]

I agree this movie has a lot of action that is somewhat violent in some scenes which i love actually, but it's nothing over the top really for the viewers to witness in todays times? It just seems that the censorship boards globally are either less strict on the ratings to what the US are with how the film has been rated around the world or perhaps the global ratings are more in line with what is shown on screen in todays times and that censorship is simply more strict still in the US. It seems to me it would be the later given what i viewed.

There were PG rated test screenings shown and i wonder how much things differed to the R version that was the final release. Do you guys have the MA rating there in the US or does it just go from PG to R? If there is no MA rating then i guess i can understand more why it received an R rating. Down here we have all those ratings, that's all.

In the US it goes from PG to PG-13 to R. PG-13 was created because of the drastic contrast between a PG film and R with no middle ground and so PG-13 was developed to be the bridge. It served it's purpose until "nipple gate" involving Janet Jackson a few years ago and censors tightened everything up.

Fury Road was definitely justified an R. It's not just the content shown but the duration of it and there were a few shocking scenes depicted including a Pole Cat getting his stomach blown out with visible intestines.

[TheWarriorMax]

FR is definitely worthy of an R rating. It's almost impossible to give a PG-13 to a movie with people getting shot in the face, Chroming drug use, and Max's daughter getting murdered.

In earlier discussions some people thought the drug use might have been the tipping point for the R rating.

I too am a bit baffled by the R rating in the US. Considering in Canada we have this rating system:
14A – Under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
18A – Under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
R – Restricted to people 18 or older.
...and Fury Road is 14A in Canada, so even under 14 can see it with an adult, yet in the USA you must be 18+, it's such a big difference.

unrelated but I also liked how Nux's car did not explode in a fireball even when he lit the flare , this is more tru to life , in American movies you only have to fart and a car will explode into a massive fireball lol

But I also felt like all that fuel in an enclosed space might have been set off by the flare. Like in Youtube "fail" videos where even outdoors in open air people pour a bunch of gasoline and it goes off too soon as they approach with a flame well before they even get to the puddle.

[PhilC]

Ok that makes a lot more sense then but it does seem silly having such a big gap in the rating from PG-13 to R. It does make that bit clear though now on why it received that R rating over there. I really like the content the way it has been filmed, a lot of it you are left to picture things in your own mind rather than being shown the aftermath.

Seeing it again in 1/2 an hour and am really looking forward to another viewing. Real D for the first time this time.

[Interdictor]

just to clarify, our rating system here in the US goes G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17. anyone can go to an R rated movie if accompanied by an adult. NC-17 films are restricted to 17 and older only. They are also very very uncommon. the MPAA wanted something stronger than an R, but the X rating had become synonymous with pornography.

[TheWarriorMax]

just to clarify, our rating system here in the US goes G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17. anyone can go to an R rated movie if accompanied by an adult.

Ah, I thought R in Canada and the US was the same, that makes more sense then as the ratings are not as far apart.