Terminator 4's PG-13 Rating Will Mean More Dumb Explosions

First they gave us a sub-standard Teminator (T-X) that kicked 75% less ass than Terminator 2's T-1000. Then they added Claire (Shopgirl) Danes to the equation, and the result, T3, was a poor person's Terminator 2. The only thing that kept hope alive was the promise that Christian Bale would blow us all away as an embattled John Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (aka T4). But now news has broken that T4 will be rated PG-13 instead of R, like the previous installments. How can this movie rock half as hard as T2 with Disneyland limits?

Are the robots going to negotiate the humans to death? How will they up the ante? The "softer" rating actually means there will be less creative one-on-one combat, because up-close-and-personal fighting requires more gore. Instead, there will be more pretty explosions, so 13-year-olds can up the box office sales. It was worrisome enough when we heard that McG would be directing T4, but this rating makes want to throw in the towel. You could make the argument that this will force Bale to bring his best work so far. But when I go to a Terminator movie, all I truly want to see is robots fighting humans to the bitter end, period. [Variety]