Eye-gouging 007 tops film complaints list (along with Minions!)
James Bond’s most recent outing is said to have earned Daniel Craig £39million and was one of the year’s biggest box office hits.
But Spectre’s scenes of eye gouging and torture meant it was also in the list of most complainedabout films of 2015, along with surprise offender Minions, a U-rated animated film for children.
Film censors have been forced to defend their decision to classify Spectre as a 12A, meaning children under the age of 12 could watch it at the cinema with an adult, after receiving 40 complaints.
Anger focused on a scene involving an assassin who murders another hitman by squeezing his eyes from their sockets.
In its annual report, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) described the changes it required the film’s producers to make to the eye-gouging scene in order for it to receive a 12A rating.
‘One scene involving an eye-gouging was slightly too strong for the company’s preferred 12A classifica- tion,’ the BBFC wrote. ‘We therefore suggested reductions to this scene. What remains in the classified version of the scene is a brief implication of what is happening, with only limited visual detail.’
There was also alarm from viewers about a scene in which Bond is strapped to a chair by villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played by Christopher Waltz, whose torture machine then sends a tiny drill corkscrewing into Bond’s neck.
The BBFC wrote: ‘Given the lack of detail in the scene and the context of an action film featuring a larger-than-life hero character who always defeats his enemies, this moderate violence is acceptable at 12A. Another scene, showing the bloody aftermath of a suicide, was similarly reduced.’
David Austin, chief executive of the BBFC, said: ‘Once the edits had been made we didn’t really think Spectre pushed the boundary of 12A. It was solidly in the category and not borderline.’
But Pauline Webborn from Mediawatch said: ‘Many parents believe graphic violence is not suitable for children under 12 and felt the parental guidance applied to these films was not appropriate. We hope the BBFC will take these views into consideration.’
Daniel Craig’s first Bond film, Casino Royale, released in 2006, garnered 82 complaints, while Quantum of Solace, released in 2008, prompted just six.
Horror film The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe and released in 2012, was classified 12A and is the most complained-about film of the decade, with 134.
But even apparently-innocent films can rub viewers up the wrong way. The computer-animated family film Minions, whose protagonists are harmless – and apparently invincible – little yellow creatures dressed in dungarees and goggles, was one of the most complained about films of 2015.
The movie, which features voiceovers from Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Saunders, received 16 complaints due to a scene in which the Minions escape a torture dungeon. The BBFC wrote that ‘the unrealistic, comic and slapstick’ nature of the scene meant the ‘risk of harmful imitation is very low.’