Friday, February 15, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Disappearing Guns

A very interesting observation has been made about that Indiana Jones trailer we all went bonkers over yesterday.

Remember all of those heavily-armed soldiers seen surrounding a car and throwing Indy to the ground about a minute into the trailer? It didn’t dawn on me any of the 63 times I watched the trailer before now, but when we see Indy in that first shot where he and Ray Winstone have their hands up…um…where did all the guns go?


It appears they’ve all been scrubbed out of the shot through the magic of CGI. As you can see in the image above, they’re still in the trailer’s international version – which you can watch for yourself right here.

Moriarty at AICN theorizes the guns pointed at our hero were removed at the insistence of the MPAA. Keep in mind, the trailer debuted on the big screen in front of the PG-rated “Spiderwick Chronicles.”

First of all, I’m not convinced removing the guns was necessary. If it was, would it have been too hard to provide one version on the Internet – for fans like me who seek the trailer out – and another to show with a PG movie so the kiddies won’t be scarred for life at the sight of a firearm?

A little history: remember, the PG-13 rating was created primarily because of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” in 1984. Some thought the whipping of children and ripping a heart out of someone’s chest was a little too intense.

Also worth noting: there is one other difference between the American trailer and the one the rest of the world is apparently seeing. After a montage of clips from the old films, the first new piece of footage we see in the trailer is an American flag. You’ll note that Old Glory is conspicuously absent in the international version.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Let the MPAA play their sensitivity training... I just want to see the guns, the whipping, the ripping of hearts, the kissing, the exploding belloq and whatever else Indy has for us IN THE MOVIE. Still excited!

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