R

The MPAA rating system has broadened PG-13 to the point where it means almost nothing. Case in point: a movie that features mass murder, chaos, death by pencil-in-the-eye, grotesque scarring and psychological torture still being given the teen-friendly PG-13 rating.

We understand why. Hollywood lets nothing stand between it and the almighty dollar, and those teens are always up for the Bat. Regardless, we're calling shenanigans on the result. You need to cowboy up for this one. The shocks come fast and hard, the brutality is barely disguised, and in the end we feel as smashed up and battered as our hero.

That's the part of the point, and we'll actually defend all that gruesomeness as absolutely necessary to the film's artistic merits. But it ain't PG-13. Not now. Not ever. This is an R-rated movie, and only grown-ups should be watching. Luckily a lot of teens are more grown-up than people give them credit for, and most of them can handle its curve balls. But we're going to borrow a page from the Joker's book here, and tell The Dark Knight to stop pretending it's something that it's not.