Zack Snyder's Justice League Review: 7 Ups & 6 Downs

4. The R Rating Adds Absolutely Nothing

One of the theoretical benefits of the Snyder Cut's HBO Max release is that Snyder isn't beholden to Warner Bros.' desire to release a PG-13 movie in cinemas. And so, this new version of the film touts a more adult R rating for "violence and some language."

Ultimately, though, the less family-friendly affectations add very little that's actually worthwhile, and end up feeling more like an attempt at lazy edginess rather than a sincere effort to reconfigure the tone and characters.

In terms of violence, splashes of blood are added to much of the action, particularly a rather disturbing reworked version of the opening sequence in which Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) battles a team of terrorists, who now leave streaks of blood on the walls after Diana slams them into them.

Language meanwhile devolves to a few of the superheroes dropping F-bombs, which ends up feeling forced, even comical, given how utterly unnecessary they are.

Basically, the film could be PG-13 and lose nothing meaningful.