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A handful of our movie going friends got to visit the set of The Expendables recently and, of course, they got some cool news for us.  Scratch that – they got some lame ass news for us.  The boys over at UGO talked to producer Avi Lerner who in a very “I’m a producer” move wants to tame down all the violence in these violent movies to get a larger audience.

Lerner is under the impression that the hardcore violence of Rambo was a detriment to its audience when in fact the opposite is true – the violence sold that movie.  We want to headbutt our friends, listen to Bodies, and watch a muscled-up John Rambo blow the living piss out of badguys.  We want ripped out throats and point black .50 caliber headshots.  Lerner wants a much more toned down feel to the violence in the next installment of Rambo, which he speaks of in certainties.  Hm.  Rambo was well received and awesome and super violent and made enough to warrant a sequel.  How should we follow it up?  Less violence!  Jerk.

Other potentially bad news surrounds the rating of what is supposed to be a balls-out, bad-ass, violent movie: The Expendables. Lerner indicates that they’re going to test two versions with audiences – a PG-13 version and an R-Rated version.  Whichever tests better will be the one to go to theaters one would assume.  So if you get into a test screening, demand blood!  Lerner wants to turn the $80million Expendables into a franchise opportunity, which I’m totally down with, as long as it kicks ass.  On paper, it sounds amazing.  Let’s hope the blood shows up in buckets.

What do you think of a sissified Rambo and a PG-13 Expendables?