Luther: The Fallen Sun | 2023 | R | – 4.7.8

Why is “Luther: The Fallen Sun” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “disturbing/violent content, language and some sexual material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of implied sex scenes, suggestive moaning, discussions of pornography and sex acts, a scene showing eight bodies hanging from the ceiling and catching fire, scenes of people committing suicide by jumping from heights, injecting themselves with a drug and succumbing to fire, many scenes of teens and others being kidnapped, discussions of people being murdered, a drowning, discussions of serial murder, several arguments, and over 30 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When the sharp-witted London police detective John Luther (Idris Elba) ends up in prison, it seems that the only obstacle preventing a sadistic serial killer (Andy Serkis) from fulfilling an elaborate, deadly plan has been removed. That is, until Luther escapes and the game is afoot. Also with Cynthia Erivo, Dermot Crowley, Thomas Coombes, Hattie Morahan and Lauryn Ajufo. Directed by Jamie Payne. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Estonian with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:09]

Luther: The Fallen Sun SEX/NUDITY 4

 – We hear suggestive moaning and see the bare legs of a woman and the back of a man (sex is implied) on a screen. A computer screen shows a man seated in front of his computer screen (we see his bare chest and shoulders) as he is interrupted by a woman entering the room and it is implied that he is masturbating.
► A man kisses his wife as she sits in a wheelchair in a hospital (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A man talks about meeting another man through an online sex site and that when they arranged to meet, they undertook violent activity and it is implied that the other man was hurt or died.
► A man is seen in a prison shower room (we see his bare back, shoulders and partial buttocks) where he is attacked (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A display shows a cadaver (with shriveled features and flesh) hanging on a cross on a wall (no genitals are evident). A silhouette and a neon sign in the shape of nude women are shown at the entrance to an exotic dance club. Scantily clad women are seen dancing on screens in an exotic dance club and we hear some suggestive moaning.

Luther: The Fallen Sun VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – Several men and women enter a large house and follow the sounds of telephones ringing to a room where they discover eight bodies (they are of their missing loved ones) hanging from the ceiling, as the room is ignited in flames and the people rush out; a person is shown outside the house pounding on a window and their face is illuminated with the image of one woman’s son. Many people are seen standing on ledges on the tops of tall buildings around a crowded square and they each fall to the ground as people watch and cars crash together on the road below and some people are struck and thrown; one man is struck by a car as he stumbles across the road. A man grabs another man and holds a knife to his throat (he might have stabbed him in the abdomen also), he runs away and is chased by another man: they run through a train station and along dark tracks, mice skitter along the tracks, a train barrels through and one man presses against the tunnel wall; the man with the knife jumps out from the shadows and slashes the other man on the abdomen, they fight, one gouges the other’s eyes, police officers arrive and one is slashed on the leg ( a lot of blood pours from the wound).
► A man knees a woman in the abdomen and wraps a zip tie around her throat (she gasps for air). A man strikes another man repeatedly with a nightstick and he is then sprayed with a water hose when he is chained into a chair. A room ignites in flames and a man catches fire as two other people in the room watch him burn. A man tells a woman to stab a man as people on screens watch and she does (we see blood on his abdomen). A woman enters a room, sees someone hanging from the ceiling with a hood over her head, and thinks it is her daughter; several mannequins hang nearby. A man puts a plastic bag over a teen girl’s head and face a couple of times as a threat.
► A young man drives on a dark road and sees a body on the road with another body in the driver’s seat of a car stopped on the road (the person in the car seems to have a bloody head wound); the young man calls emergency services and the person on the ground stands up behind him and tasers him a couple of times as the scene ends. A teen girl follows a voice calling her name through her house, and she screams and rushes for the door as a man grabs her by the hair and slams her in the wall as the scene ends. A man dangles from the door of a speeding car, climbs inside and fights with the driver; the car crashes through ice-covered water and sinks and we see one man drown.
► A man and a woman fight, and she hits him with a metal pole and knocks him out. A man in a prison cell puts his head in a noose that hangs from the ceiling, guards rush to intervene, and they are struck when they open the cell. Many men in a prison exit their cells and move through the halls yelling and fighting each other; they arrive at a cell where a man blocks himself inside with his bed, they set a fire that spreads under the cell door and ignites the mattress, the door is opened, one man catches fire, and many men pile on the man, punching and kicking him; the man fights back kicking one man down a flight of stairs, kicking another in the crotch, he is held in a chokehold, guards throw a flash grenade (we hear a high-pitched whine) and spray men with a high-powered hose knocking the men down and one prisoner is taken away and placed in a vehicle by guards. A man threatens another man with a tattoo gun pressed toward his eye. A teen girl is shown bound and unconscious with an oxygen mask on in the back of a vehicle. A man goes to a care home and carries a hypodermic needle to use on a patient; police confront him and he injects himself in the neck (presumably killing himself). We see many people locked in cells and plead for a man to release them. A man tells another man to use a sledgehammer to shatter a woman’s kneecap (he does not).
► A woman shoots at the ground and forces a man into the trunk of a car. A vehicle transporting a prisoner is cut off on a dark road where armed men in another vehicle break into the prison vehicle and take a man out. Many prison guards with riot gear move through a prison, enter a cell and slam the man inside against the wall, taking a cell phone away from him. Men in a prison yard fight as guards and other men watch. Many young women are seen being transported in a truck and they are described as “livestock.” A man is escorted through a prison by guards as other men call him names and throw things at him; he is later shown in the shower room where he is attacked, slammed against the wall and kicked on the floor (we see blood on his face). We see many people watching computer screens and we understand that they will be voting on how people that they see on the screen will be tortured and murdered and that they will be watching the acts. We see many dead bodies floating under an ice-covered body of water.
► We hear a recording (several times) of a young man pleading for help and screaming while being tortured to death. A young man answers a phone call while working and we hear a man threatening him that he will divulge something compromising to his friends and family if he does not go to a designated place at a certain time. A body in a car is identified and we are told that her death was a suspected suicide. A person tells another person, “Do him grievous. Do him damage.” A woman says that police will “Shoot him dead.” A woman talks about a man having lost his wife in horrible circumstances. A man talks about skinning someone like a snake.
► A man puts glue on an open and bloody abdominal wound. A man kisses his wife as she sits in a wheelchair in a hospital (she is severely burned on her head and face and unhappy to see him). A display shows a cadaver (with shriveled features and flesh) hanging on a cross on a wall. A man wakes up in a hospital bed with an IV. A painting shows prisoners bound by the hands and one being held off the ground. A man rushes to the bathroom and vomits (we hear retching with no goo visible). A woman sees hair and blood on a doorframe in her home (it’s from her teen daughter).

Luther: The Fallen Sun LANGUAGE 8

 – About 34 F-words, 2 sexual references, 10 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, name-calling (bad apples, liar, idiots, cat fisher, stupid, weak, pathetic, sweating, anxious, chimera, parasite, salty, wicked ones, monsters, teeny-weeny), exclamations (tickety-boo, okey-dokey, enough, you’re having a laugh, shut-up, ouch), 13 religious exclamations (e.g. God knows, Christ on a scooter, Jesus, for Christ’s sake, Holy [F-word deleted] Christ, oh my God). | profanity glossary |

Luther: The Fallen Sun SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man injects himself in the neck with a hypodermic needle (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A man is shown in a bar in a couple of scenes where people are shown drinking.

Luther: The Fallen Sun DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Fascination with death, serial murder, shame, blackmail, bribery, promises, witness tampering, extreme submission, pornography, voyeurism, social media.

Luther: The Fallen Sun MESSAGE

 – A decent man can sometimes bend the rules, but he always means well and it’s for a just cause.