this is a topic that could go on forever. i saw the first matrix and i was more offended by an endless list of PG-13 movies i've seen. the new adam sandler flick made me feel worse than the first matrix movie did. be that as it may, it's more than encouraged to shut out the R flicks as a principle. what if someone new, weak, or perhaps a potential householder sees us? what if it slowly kills our conscience and quietly desensitizes us and so forth. some say it's conscious matter, some don't. but if you're holding privileges i THINK it's borderline forbidden. that's the vibe i got from some conversations i've had with "people who'd know." i've seen the first matrix a couple times and here are the things that could be deemed as rough. [1]theres a drug reference at the beginning of the flick, but there was also like 5 drug references in the final episode of Dawson's Creek. i was like, "whaaattt?" anyway [2]when joe pantaliano's character is betraying everyone he uses some colorful language. [3]a young character gets shot up by some swat dudes [4]the "government office lobby" scene a number of swat guards get shot in video game style gunplay. [5]a subsequent escape scene has a guard getting a knife thrown at his head. you don't see a bloody close up, but the image is implied by the handle of the knife showing from underneath the helmet. i wasn't in the least bit bugged by the kung fu scenes. jackie chan has been getting away with brutally dropping 20 men in 20 seconds in PG-13 flicks since i was...shoot, since i was a twinkle in my mothers eye. i thought the fights in the matrix were amazing and very intricate. i wasn't jarred at all. i'll tell what was hardcore: deathstrike slashing up wolverine at the end of the new PG-13 XMEN flick. the kung fu in the matrix is like powerrangers on...nevermind, i almost used a drug reference...oh, i'll just say it--CRACK. powerrangers on crack. and with tons more martial arts training. personally, a strange factor that i found myself using to rationalize the kind of action sequences depicted in the matrix was that the people being capped are just incapacitated mental captives inside test tubes whose minds are loaded with a kind of "life" program, that makes them think they're really alive and being normal and going about business, when they're actually just being used to generate energy for the matrix. you don't really feel bad because they drill into you that it's fake and taking place in a computer program. nonetheless, striving for fairness, i'll label that a technical cop-out, because, really, that's what it is. you still see the person getting punched out or capped, you see them fall down and stop moving, their "life" leaves them. those are the things that could be seen as rough. but as i write them out they appear much more extreme in text format than how they actually appear cinematically. hopefully i've ruined the plot of the movie for you and that this silly massive has made you not want to see it. but i stand by the fact that i've seen much worse from normally "acceptable" PG-13 flicks, but you know...that doesn't makes it right. like i said up top, this could be infinitely "demolecularized" and debated and, really, no group would ever unanimously decide either way. additionally: the presentation of the matrix shown on network television has not one visual frame manipulated or cut. however, a handful of cusses were dropped out or dubbed over.