The bbfc rating for Batman: The Dark Knight (in my opinion) is incorrect

The British Board of Film Classification ("bbfc")
Batman: The Dark Knight (July 21st 2008: Warner Bros)

I believe that the age rating in the UK for the Dark Knight is too low. The official age rating by the bbfc is a "12A", which indicates that Children under 12 years can watch, if accompanied by an adult, according to the age classifications set by bbfc.

I do not agree with this age classification, because there is, in my opinion, too much violence for children under twelve - however, children who are 12 or above would probably be able to cope with the violent scenes throughout the movie.

I think that the bbfc should have rated this movie a 12, at least, because there is not too much violence for it to be a 15 but there is too much violence for children under 12, who may not be able to watch this without feeling uncomfortable even with an adult.

Certain motion scenes and images are very violent and adult humor can be used in certain scenes, subliminally. Also, there are scenes of death, fire and blood. Additionally, characters such as "two face" may not be suitable for children to see due to the hyperrealistic bloody and gory appearance and the glistening, graphic features on his mangled face, such as the exposed muscle/tendon tissue and the eye protruding from his head, sticking out.

Personally, I think that two-faces appearance is a large factor in the film which elevates its age rating higher, or at least should do. Another way that Dark Knight is inappropriate for young children is the use of jump scares and violence in the dark/pitch black which may make a child feel unsafe in the dark, as a child has a wilder imagination, generally, than a parent or adult.

The Joker's appearance is also quite menacing and graphic - he has a depressed look on his face - and his face is also damaged by injury; he has two streaks across his face indicating self harm - this should not be allowed in a child-friendly film as it, in some ways, promotes self-harm. Furthermore, his eyes are black and his face is a pale gray color - this shows that he is trying to feel in a certain way by dressing up as a clown.

On the contrary, there are also some cheesy/unrealistic scenes such as the scenes where the Joker is laughing - some are even possibly amusing which shows that the studio has tried not to make it too difficult to watch, in order to keep a younger audience entertained.