It’s been made evident throughout Zack Snyder’s career that he’s a filmmaker with R-rated sensibilities, even when he was tackling DC’s roster of iconic superheroes. Excluding the original cut of Justice League, though, which he wants absolutely nothing to do with and rightly so, of his seven directorial efforts that have been released so far, surprisingly only three of them have been dropped into theaters with an R-rating.
However, of the other four, animated family film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Man of Steel didn’t get a home video special edition that restored Snyder’s original R-rated vision, the Extended Cut of Sucker Punch is much more reflective of his intentions than the watered down big screen version, and the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition is regarded as the vastly superior movie.
The Snyder Cut of Justice League has also been slapped with an R-rating, as has May’s Netflix zombie actioner Army of the Dead. Obviously, nobody really wants to see a PG-13 blockbuster following hordes of the undead descending on a small band of intrepid heroes with brains on their minds, but then again, World War Z did make over half a billion dollars at the box office.
The MPAA has awarded Army of the Dead with the R-rating based on ‘strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout, some sexual content and brief nudity/graphic nudity’, which is exactly what fans will want to hear. Snyder has already promised pure zombie mayhem, and Netflix are renowned for offering complete creative freedom to their contracted talent, so when the movie arrives on May 21st, we’ll be seeing the undiluted, unfiltered and unadulterated execution of the Watchmen and 300 director’s ideas.