Why This Jason Statham Movie’s Trailer Was Banned in the UK

Why This Jason Statham Movie's Trailer Was Banned in the UK

“Fast and Furious” star Jason Statham, best known for playing villain Deckard Shaw, has played many leading roles as the intimidating tough guy. From the recent film The Beekeeper to the classic Expendables franchise, Statham is the image of the anti-hero for many. Fans familiar with Statham’s catalog will know that leading roles in R-rated action films are exactly the actor’s thing, and one film’s trailer was banned in the UK after its release due to a “surge of violent imagery.” Statham played the morally dubious anti-hero Arthur Bishop, a highly skilled assassin, in Mechanic.

The Mechanic’s Trailer Was Banned Due to “a Stream of Violent Imagery”

When Lionsgate released the restricted trailer for the film in the United Kingdom in 2011, it was banned during its initial airing. Despite the trailer being screened after the 9 p.m. “watershed” in England, a time when mature content is allowed to be shown on television, the Advertising Standards Agency received 13 distressful complaints reporting the commercial to be offensive and upsetting and eventually ruled to have the trailer banned from the country.

Trailers that feature explicit content are not uncommon for R-rated movies, especially for a film about killers. However, in recent years, action thrillers from Lionsgate have been using more clean footage without spilling explicit scenes to the viewers. In the case of The Mechanic, where it takes a deep, hard dive into the brutal underworld of assassins, violence is expected. However, the film does have two trailers — the official trailer is the clean version

Will There Be A Mechanic 3?

that doesn’t include any explicit scenes; the restricted trailer, on the other hand, is graphic and gritty in nature. The official trailer was never banned in the UK, only the restricted one. Even with explicit imagery, the rating seems appropriate, given that the 15 rating is the UK equivalence for the R rating in the U.S.

“We considered that the ad was inappropriate for children and were therefore also concerned that a significant portion of children had been exposed to the violent imagery.”

In response to the news, Lionsgate commented that due to the explicit nature of the film, it was unavoidable that sensitive members of the public would find the trailer distressing.

The official trailer for Mechanic focuses more on the story aspect of the film and does not include many gory scenes. On the other hand, the limited trailer takes up most of the R-rated film. The limited trailer shows most of the gruesome deaths from the film, as well as much more explicit footage. The trailer follows the killers’ journey as they leave a trail of bodies in their wake, and features brutal scenes in which a man’s head explodes when shot at close range, a man’s arm is broken, a metal rod is embedded, not to mention two explicit … scenes with nudity.

The Mechanic’s Significance to Jason Statham’s Career

Inspired by his past working as a black market salesman, Jason Statham came to the public eye in Guy Ritchie’s 1998 crime film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the 2000 film Snatch. He went on to star in a handful of action thrillers, which became what he is known for as an actor, before landing the antagonist role of Deckard Shaw in the Fast & Furious franchise. The Mechanic is one of the first action films Jason Statham took on in his early acting career.

Due to the lack of funds and having trained in martial arts, Statham did most of his own stunts in the film. Even though The Mechanic is not a blockbuster, the film achieved significant commercial success in 2011. Statham played a tough, skilled and charismatic assassin with a dangerous edge, which solidifies Statham’s image as a lead action star — an image that has been central to his career.