Why did Deadpool have to be rated R?

[King Billi]

I really struggle to see what the R rating really brought to this film as a whole and why so many people seem to insist it as being vital to its success somehow?

What would it really lose without it? A few F bombs, some of the more crass jokes? Most of the violence didn't seem all that worthy of the R rating even with all the digital blood spatter they added afterward?

Also whilst on the subject may I ask whether Deadpool really is as lewd and depraved in the comics as he appears in this film? Interacting with the rest of the mainstream Marvel universe such as The Avengers and Spiderman I struggle to believe so.
I've seen him make appearances in cartoons and videogames before and he came across suitably funny and deranged there whilst still being PG friendly.

Anyone agree or can explain why I'm wrong... I just don't get it.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Because Deadpool is at its best when its crass and vulgar whether it be for comedy or for drama also I don't see most of the violence going through a PG 13 rating unless you remove the blood

 

[Scarim Coral]

If you had read some of his older comic books, he did alot of 18+ stuff which was his best!

Kinda the same reason why I think Wolverine is so downplay in modern media compared to what he did in the old comics! He's like the 80's TMNT cartoon, they got ninja weapons but never used them for actual slicing or stabbing!

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

It was all-proof insurance. An R-rated "mature" super hero movie hadn't really been done well, but its a risk. If Deadpool failed, the Suits could blame the R-rating and be all 'told you so!'. But if it did well, the Suits can hold up the R-Rating and be all 'Aren't we so great? We risked it, and made it! Underdogs! Woo!'

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

If it wasn't violent and didn't have sort of a dirty humor it'd be basically a Marvel Studios movie, in other words completely awful. But it does have those and therefore it's only sorta awful. I mean, it still looks like it was filmed in a parking lot, has a boring bad guy, uninspired fight scenes and a predictable plot (So, as I said, basically a Marvel movie) but at least it has some actually funny jokes and some gore, albeit pretty cheap looking one.

The whole thing peaked early during that calendar girl sequence which appealed to my, admittedly fairly juvenile, sense of humor but if the R rating was the reason for at least a single good scene in an otherwise fairly shitty movie it has a reason to exist.

Plus, it wasn't for Deadpool we wouldn't have gotten Logan which I actually liked quite a bit.

 

[Saint of M]

While Deadpool can work in any setting, he is best where he can cut loose.

There is also the fact that the charecter is a bit o a Captain Jack (he will hit on everyone and anyone) and the MPAA still has probles with anything that involves the gays.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Nothing has to be R-rated, but some movies just benefit from it.

Not that I'm an expert on the character, but Deadpool is supposed to be against the norm, right? Upending the status quo? PG13 is the status quo for superhero movies, so it'd make sense for a character like Deadpool to take a mallet to that in his own movie.

Also, it was just nice to have some good old violence and nudity in a summer blockbuster again. Not that I like the movie too much.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Wasn't there a sex scene where Deadpool was trying to take it up the butt?

Anyway, Deadpool was a perfect experiment. Marvel seeing what more properties they can put out and seeing if they could tell non family friendly stories. Deadpool has a big enough fan base that there's a decent level of hype, but not really tied to anything. So if it failed, major properties wouldn't tank along with it.

Blade did ok numbers. Enough to get sequels. But they never reached Spiderman, Iron Man, or Thor. And you better believe Blade 1 and 2 were rated R. I personally think it was trying to see what they can do now with the hero movies dominating the Media

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Because there's a market for it.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I feel that if you have to ask that question, you don't really get what makes Deadpool...Deadpool.

Did you ever watch AvP? Two hardcore R rated franchises finally went up against one another, and you know what it was rated? PG-13. And the movie suffered for it. Deadpool would have been the same thing if they went with PG-13.

 

[Zontar]

Because there's a market for it.

This. Say what you will about the movie (and while I love it there's a lot to complain about), the fact is it may have single handedly revived the R rated big budget movie.

Though up here in Quebec it was PG13 uncensored because we aren't prudes.

 

[Hawki]

Because they wanted movie goers like me to be spared teenage brats entering the cinema and talking loudly, even though they were far too young for an MA15+ film?

If so, you failed!

 

[Burnswell]

So teenagers will want to go see it even more. Oooh, forbidden fruit.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Also whilst on the subject may I ask whether Deadpool really is as lewd and depraved in the comics as he appears in this film? Interacting with the rest of the mainstream Marvel universe such as The Avengers and Spiderman I struggle to believe so.
I've seen him make appearances in cartoons and videogames before and he came across suitably funny and deranged there whilst still being PG friendly.

Anyone agree or can explain why I'm wrong... I just don't get it.

More or less, yeah, his comics tend to involve a lot of depravity. Of course it gets toned down for cartoons because they're trying to pass them off to children, you can't have a dudes guts spilling out in front of a ten year old

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Dude, if it wasn't R-rated, Deadpool fans would have raised a high holy stink about it.

The R was part of the marketing. I mean, at one point in the film, Deadpool gets shot directly in the anus. I wouldn't want the producers to give that up just so they could get some more kids in seats.

(Now that I think about it, I recall a woman bringing her kids into the theatre when I first saw Deadpool. She left swiftly.)

 

[twistedmic]

Most of the violence didn't seem all that worthy of the R rating even with all the digital blood spatter they added afterward?

I have to disagree with you there. The violence was definitely worthy of the R-rating. The movie had two onscreen decapitations, at least four onscreen impalements, and at least two onscreen dismemberments. Just one onscreen depiction of either of those three would push a rating from PG-13 to R. Even the torture scene could have been enough to make the movie R-rated.

 

[King Billi]

Most of the violence didn't seem all that worthy of the R rating even with all the digital blood spatter they added afterward?

I have to disagree with you there. The violence was definitely worthy of the R-rating. The movie had two onscreen decapitations, at least four onscreen impalements, and at least two onscreen dismemberments. Just one onscreen depiction of either of those three would push a rating from PG-13 to R. Even the torture scene could have been enough to make the movie R-rated.

I don't know much about how film ratings are determined I just compared it with the violence in other films I've seen that didn't warrant an R rating. I may be remembering implied violence but not actually shown onscreen...

Maybe film ratings are different in Australia? I don't see a lot of R rated films over here and the MA rating here seems to suffice for most violence and "mature themes".

It also just seemed to me that most of the R rated material in Deadpool was just on the surface or superficial. Material that could be easily cut or changed if the studio had forced them to make it PG if you get what I mean.

 

[FalloutJack]

forced

Heh heh... He said forced.

Seriously, though, the whole point was that I don't tone down, so you may as well not bother.

Just saying.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Are you kidding me? There was so much sex and nudity in it. If I had it my way, it would be NC-17.

 

[BrawlMan]

It was all-proof insurance. An R-rated "mature" super hero movie hadn't really been done well, but its a risk. If Deadpool failed, the Suits could blame the R-rating and be all 'told you so!'. But if it did well, the Suits can hold up the R-Rating and be all 'Aren't we so great? We risked it, and made it! Underdogs! Woo!'

Which is weird because R-rated superhero movies have been done well before. See Blade 1 and 2, Sin City, the first Kick-Ass film; not so much the second, and The Crow. Sure they didn't make over 600 million, but their numbers were nothing to laugh at either. I'm not putting this on you, but it's a surprise me that the execs and certain people don't know that there were already R-rated comic book/superhero movies before Deadpool