Who’s to say other than the filmmakers that it was unnecessary?
Shrug.
IF it always only matters what the filmmakers wants/thinks, there would be no point at all to film criticism and debates, LOL -- and probably no point in any discussion about films at all other than just to say whether one likes or hates something or how many are in one's collection or the like, not much more, LOL. Anyway, I only said it's debatable and clearly wasn't arguing that it was "gratuitous" (and also wasn't necessarily arguing it's unnecessary myself... but that it's probably reasonable enough critique, ie. debatable)...
_Man_