Target Scrubs Manhunt 2 From Shelves, Leaves Saw
It begins with a grotesque autopsy, in which a medical examiner slices graphically through scalp, skull, and sternum. Shortly thereafter, a man who cannot speak murders a man with his eyes sewn shut as the two are slowly, inexorably pulled toward a killing machine by a chain wrapped around their necks. Eventually we encounter a woman who's been instructed to escape an abusive relationship by removing spikes piercing her body as well as her husband's, inescapably killing him in the process.
"It is some of the most horrific, senselessly violent stuff you've ever seen," says James Steyer, CEO of ratings organization Common Sense Media, reacting to Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2, except that the above description has nothing to do with that game. In fact, it's an overview of just a few of the grisly sequences in Lionsgate's Saw IV, the latest in a series of horror films in which the explicit mechanics of pain, torture, and death are the movie's uncredited lead.
Manhunt 2 stylizes brutal killing.
In Manhunt 2, you play a couple of criminally insane asylum escapees who can perform "execution" style killings, e.g. thrust enemies into live fuse boxes, strangle them with telephone cords, club them to death with a toilet, and so on. In the Saw series, a psychopathic "vigilante" kidnaps people and places them in deadly traps, where they're supposed to somehow repent the sin of "taking their lives for granted" while screaming and crying and bleeding profusely.
Saw IV -- Any less potentially offensive than Manhunt 2?
Saw IV is rated R and recently released to theaters. The prior three films, including "unrated" versions, are available for purchase in Target stores everywhere. Manhunt 2 was banned in the UK, originally rated 'Adults Only' by the ESRB in the United States, then bargained down to a 'Mature' (17+) rating before it was green-lit for release. Recently, a group of hackers managed to unlock intentionally disabled content by tweaking Manhunt 2's initialization files on the PSP edition, ostensibly freeing up the content that elicited an Adults Only rating. In response, Target just announced it was pulling the game from store shelves.
I'm not a fan of voyeuristically violent games or movies and I frankly can't be bothered with arguments about the aesthetic merits of either the Saw series or the Manhunt games.
Nonetheless, is it just me, or is there a glaring double standard here?
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The writer of this article adequately represents the difference between intelligence and wisdom. Well, he's a smart ass at least. First of all "writer," I want to let you know how I've spent the last 3 minutes: laughing my ass off while you try to even begin to compare Mass Effect to Baldur's Gate. Wait... no, there was another chuckle; not done yet. Why don't you go join The View and complain about every other wonderful thing in the world like all those other ridiculous bitches. The best game in years comes along and all you can do is nay say? This game is the second coming of Mario. That's how good this game is to me. It finally brings the nerds and the shooters together. When will anything be good enough for you? You probably think The Godfather is flawed because... wow... I'm sure you'd know why. I know it's your job as a critic to shoot things down, but this article was the biggest load of crap I've ever read. Go to hell. Get some therapy. Write for the Cooking Channel. Quiet!
This writer is fine. This was supposed to be a post to the Mass Effect article... I'm sorry this is behind your article, dude. Erase it if you want.