Not suitable under 14; parental guidance to 15 (violence, scary scenes, themes of torture)
This topic contains:
Children under 14 | Not suitable due to scary scenes, violence, and themes of torture. |
Children aged 14–15 | Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes, violence, and themes of torture. |
Children aged 16 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: | Ascendant |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature fantasy themes, violence and blood detail |
Length: | 101 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best) awakens to find herself kidnapped and held hostage in a high-speed elevator in a 120-floor building in Shanghai. As she desperately tries to escape, Aria’s Russian captor, Yaroslav (Alex Menglet), forces her to watch live footage of her father (Jonny Pasvolsky) being brutally tortured for information about the mysterious ‘Engineer.’ As Aria is pushed to her physical and psychological limits, her younger self (Tahlia Sturzaker) slowly reveals her incredible powers over nature she has hidden from her older self. To save her father, herself, and the twin sister (Lily Stewart) she had been forced to forget, Aria must unlock her powers and defeat her captors.
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.
Torture; Kidnapping; Sexual violence; Murder; Family separation; Supernatural abilities.
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.
There is some violence in this movie, including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
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.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:
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.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
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.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Ascendant is an Australian film from first time Director, Antaine Furlong and is produced as both a claustrophobic thriller and a science fiction mystery. With frequent flashbacks, this film struggles to integrate its competing story lines into a cohesive narrative and may be more confusing than entertaining for viewers. The violence and themes of physical and psychological torture make this film unsuitable for children under 14 and parental guidance is recommended to 15. Parents and guardians should also note that this film was originally classified MA15+ prior to its release.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
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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ABN: 16 005 214 531