Suicide Squad has been rated 15 by the BBFC – and that’s probably for the best

Well, there’s a turn-up for the comic books – Suicide Squad has been rated 15 by the British Board of Film Classification, meaning a lot of people who wanted to see it now won’t be able to.

The highly-anticipated DC Comics film, which will see the return of Ben Affleck’s Batman and the arrival of Jared Leto’s Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, has received a 15 – so nobody under that age can legally see it in the cinema.

The rating has been dished out for ‘sustained threat’ and ‘moderate violence’, with more details on specific scenes set to arrive in the next week.

It is, in many ways, a surprise – summer blockbusters are rarely given anything above a 12A these days, largely for film studios' fears of losing out on ticket sales from paying parents during the school holidays. Comic book films are prime 12A fodder too – enough for filmmakers to get away with explosion-filled action sequences, while still getting the kids in to bump up sales of toys and merchandise.

Suicide Squad is one of the biggest blockbusters since the arrival of the more family friendly, 12A-rated Captain America: Civil War – so there will certainly be disappointments at its 15 certificate. Younger teenagers waiting to see their generation’s take on Batman’s iconic nemesis the Joker will have to hold on for the DVD release, and there will doubtless be stories in the coming weeks of unwitting parents being turned away at the box office for trying to bring their kids.

However, in many ways it’s a sensible decision to make Suicide Squad a 15 – between that provocative title and the neon-drenched, anarchic tone of the trailers (which make no bones about the characters’ favoured weapons of guns, katana swords, and baseball bats), the film announces itself as something different to the usual comic book adaptation.

Another comic character who did that to huge success earlier this year was Deadpool – whose box office dominance is surely one of the reasons that Suicide Squad is entering cinemas with a higher certificate and no cuts. The potty-mouthed, ultra-violent, gutter-minded X-Men spin-off fared better worldwide than any instalment of its parent franchise, buoyed by an attention-grabbing marketing campaign and gleeful audience responses to its unconventional take on the superhero genre.

While Deadpool proved that the 15 rating isn’t a death-knell for comic book films, Suicide Squad is a different case. From the moment of production, the appeal of Deadpool came from the up-front announcement that it wouldn’t tone itself down for a lower rating, and would lean in to the non-PG attitude that has made the character such a big hit on the page.

In comparison, Suicide Squad could very easily have been engineered for an all-encompassing 12A – and indeed, in the US it’s been given an equivalent PG-13.

For all the controversy and the disappointment it will bring to some, Suicide Squad’s 15 rating is probably for the best. In a way, it feels like a statement from the BBFC that not every film can be a 12A just because it’s a superhero blockbuster. Yes, audiences are familiar with the Joker and Batman – but iconic characters aren’t always all-ages appropriate.

The prevalence of the 12A in recent years seems to have led to an assumption that it effectively just means PG. In reality, 12A means a film has been deemed suitable only for kids aged 12 and up – unless a parent specifically has reason to think that their child under the age of 12 will be ok to watch it. The BBFC offer in-depth reports on the elements that make 12A films unsuitable for younger children.

In 2008, 42% of the complaints the BBFC received that year were about The Dark Knight, famed for its scenes of violence perpetrated by the Joker and his cronies, while last year’s James Bond film Spectre came under fire for its torture sequence. While these films undoubtedly offer scenes that aren’t acceptable for primary school-aged children, they hardly warrant the 15 certificate.

In fact, the first ever film to receive a 12 rating in the UK in 1989 was Tim Burton’s Batman, bridging the huge gap between the PG and 15 ratings. While the 12 rating at the time was an indication that Burton’s take on the caped crusader wasn’t a PG family film, the way audiences view these categories changes over time. If Suicide Squad received a 12A, there would inevitably be reports of young kids being taken to see a film which is not appropriate for them.

What’s interesting, too, is the reason that the BBFC have given for Suicide Squad's 15 – the note of ‘sustained threat and moderate violence’ seems to be a judgement on tone and atmosphere more than any particularly shocking moments of gore or swearing: maybe a weapon-heavy film about a group of super-villains simply isn’t suitable for kids.

If Suicide Squad proves a big hit in the UK, it could mark a pivotal point in the way that Hollywood approaches its upcoming slate of summer tentpoles. The days of 12-rated Die Hard and Terminator films might be over – and people might have to accept once and for all that not all blockbusters are suitable for all ages.