Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this over-the-top action film -- which stars Angelina Jolie and is based on a series of comic books, both of which will up its appeal with teens -- is loaded with extraordinarily explicit, extensive, stylized violence, including lots of bloody shootings, beatings, and more (blood and brain matter splatter are shown). The movie's style owes a debt to The Matrix, but it's much more graphic than that sci-fi epic. The film also suggests that the central character's transformation from corporate cog to killing machine is a positive thing to be admired. Also expect lots of swearing, some cigar smoking, and some pretty passionate scenes (including male and female rear nudity).

Sexual Content

Intense semi-clothed sexual activity; male and female rear nudity; discussions of condoms and "the morning-after pill." Crude discussions of sex. Characters have an affair.

Violence

Extensive, graphic, and bloody violence, including (but not limited to) lots of shootings (shown in great detail, with blood splatter and visible brain matter, and often reversed on screen and shown again for cinematic effect), stabbings, slashings (including blood and extensive tissue damage), beatings (including broken bones, shattered flesh and extensive blood), people being burned alive, dead bodies used for target practice, a shooting victim used as a human shield (with a firearm poked through what's left of the head), assassinations, rats used as delivery platforms for plastic explosives, a violent train wreck, car crashes, and a graphic murder/suicide.

Language

Language includes very frequent uses of "f--k," "f--king," "motherf---er," "a--hole," "s--t," "p---y," "horses--t," "whore," and more.

Social Behavior

The film revolves around a secret society of assassins who kill on the orders of a mystical "Loom of Fate" the group's ideology is based on the idea of "Kill one, save a thousand" -- i.e. eliminating people based on the hypothetical ramifications of their unknown future acts. Lead character Wesley vents many of the frustrations of the modern cubicle-dwelling office laborer, questioning the choice between tedious, anonymous conformity or exciting, violent transgression. The fact that he ends up going with the latter is presented as a positive choice.

Consumerism

Brands seen on screen include Captain Crunch, Cheerios, Snickers, Power Horse Energy Drink, Capital One, Google, and more.

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

Some cigar smoking; a character has a prescription for anti-anxiety drugs; some discussion of the "morning-after pill."