Not suitable under 12, Parental guidance strongly recommended 12-15 (Violence; Disturbing scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 12 | Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 12 to 15 | Parental guidance strongly recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes. |
Children 15 and over | OK for this age group |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Action violence |
Length: | 142 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
The film begins with a flashback to Richard and Mary Parker (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) running for their lives after leaving their young son Peter (Max Charles) in the care of his Aunt May (Sally Field). Peter’s parents manage to escape aboard a private jet, but are killed when the plane explodes after an assassin makes an attempt on their lives.
The film then moves to the present day where we find Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) in hot pursuit of Russians attempting to hijack an Oscorp Industries truck transporting a shipment of plutonium. Spider-Man manages to stop the villains, recover the plutonium and save dozens of innocent bystanders including Max Dillon (Jamie Fox), a disgruntled Oscorp Industries employee. Peter then still has time to get to his high school graduation ceremony and steal a kiss from girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) - all in a day’s work for the amazing Spider-Man!
In a subplot, Peter’s childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane Dehaan) returns home to New York after spending many years away at boarding schools to find his father Norman, CEO of Oscorp Industries, dying from an hereditary disease which Harry is also destined to develop.
While Peter Parker battles with finding a balance between being a crime fighting super hero and a normal every day young man, the disgruntled Oscorp employee Max Dillon falls into a tank of genetically modified electric eels and mutates into the electrically-charged super being “Electro”. Electro is able to transform into pure electrical energy with limitless destructive powers which he unleashes on New York City and Spider-Man
Spider-Man now has to battle against Electro to save New York City while also battling against his friend Harry Osborn, who after injecting himself with radioactive spider serum transforms into the Green Goblin.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Superheroes; mutation; good versus evil
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
The film contains science fiction action violence throughout, mass destruction of property, the depiction of death and injury with some blood, and the depiction of torture. Examples include:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
Most of this film is likely to scare and disturb children in this age group. There are scary characters and creatures and scenes of transformation, including:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children in this age group will also be disturbed by the above-mentioned violent and scary scenes.
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes and particularly by the death of Gwen. Peter Parker cries inconsolably as he holds Gwen’s dead body and we see a trickle of blood running from Gwen’s nose. In a later scene we see Peter maintaining a daily vigil at Gwen’s gravesite.
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There is also plenty of associated merchandise being marketed to children.
None of concern
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
The film contains a few examples of low-level course use and name calling. Including:
Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro is the second in the current series of Spider-Man films. It is a science fiction action fantasy targeting adolescents and adults who are fans of Marvel comics and superhero films. The frequent violence, disturbing scenes and themes, and scary characters make is unsuitable for under 14s.
The main messages from this movie are:
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
Parents may wish to discuss the fact that Harry Osborn was willing to do anything and sacrifice anything in a bid to save his own life, regardless of the cost to himself or others. Are there instances when one person’s life should be saved at the cost of another? Can any one individual’s life be more valuable than that of others?
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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