Picture: Netflix
For those of us who trudged through the 6+ hours of Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon Director’s Cuts, I believe we witnessed the end of the Zack Snyder “empowerment era.”
Editors Note: This review was late because Netflix didn’t issue screeners except for a few outlets and YouTubers. What were the qualifications of the people who were issued screeners? I’ll leave that to your own conclusions…
Much like the NBA version with the players using their leverage for a better situation, the director used his leverage as a filmmaker with a reputation for “his vision” to be released soon after the initial version – and a passionate & devoted fan base that will demand that cut come to fruition – to make a deal with Netflix to produce two versions of the same movie with one budget, essentially baking in the Director’s Cut before the wave of fan support could even start.
The bold stroke for Zack and his producing partner & wife, Deborah Snyder, may have been a dream compromise for having to produce a shorter PG-13 version of his script (as well as writers Shay Hatten & Kurt Johnstad). Still, when the critical backlash of the initial versions came. The viewership for the second film dropped down from the first film’s numbers, the Director’s Cuts took on an added pressure to ride in on their Urakis to save Snyder’s faltering reputation and embolden him to not only push for his cut to be produced like this again, but maybe giving him the greenlight to only make his visions going forward.
Even though I was not impressed by the original PG-13 films (a combined 5 out of 10 stars), it was hard for me to doubt Snyder after he roundly changed his mind on his version of the Justice League. As a simple metric, the original film – finished by Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers) after Snyder left following a family tragedy – received shotty scores from Rotten Tomatoes on both the critical & audience sides with 40% and 67%, respectively. When Snyder was allowed to create his 4-hour cut for MAX, both the critics and audiences responded far more positively to the tune of 71% and 93% this time around.
However, it is far more reasonable that fans & critics could stomach more time with their favorite superheroes during the pandemic period of 2021 rather than more from a universe that heavily cribbed from Star Wars & Seven Samurai while lacking in charm, fun, & world-building. Would Snyder make his doubters turn around once again?
Eh, not really.
From the opening sequence of the newly minted Rebel Moon – Chapter 1: Chalice of Blood, one could clearly see the R-Rated mission statement from Snyder on display: Backstory, Boobs, Blood, & Blowing Things Up. The whole new 20-minute scene features a deeper look at the origins of the other soldier turned rebel warrior NOT named Kora, Sky Yang’s Aris, as his planet is decimated by Admiral Noble in the name of Balisarius as they attempt to track down the rebel siblings Devra & Blood Axe. The sequence is far more violent & gory than those in the PG-13 cut and features native women being stripped & branded by the Imperium, a boy forced to bludgeon his own father to death with a skeletal weapon, and a small alien creature blowing itself up to save its human family.
Picture: Netflix
That opening sequence set the tone for a massive increase in everything on Snyder’s R-Rated bingo card. Standard tough guy language gives way for a ton of swearing & uncomfortably vulgar dialogue that feels way off base for a space epic. “I’m gonna fuck that pretty little hole in his face” is something actually said in a movie about a farming village trying to fight off a galactic army. Yeesh. Add in multiple sex scenes for Kora that last way too long, Tarak waking up next to an older villager with her breasts on display, and a dreadnought ship whose engine is – wait for it – a giant naked woman.
While the ultraviolence & gratuitous sexuality may not turn off fans of Snyder’s previous work, what should offend them is the lack of improvement to the previously thin & redundant plot or the wildly inconsistent CGI work that borderlines on early 2000s video game interstitials at their lowest moments. If that doesn’t get them, maybe the multiple 10+ minute exposition dumping speeches that we’re forced to endure from Kora and her band of misfit toy soldiers; And don’t even get me started on slow-motion grain harvesting!
While the film does not truly justify its almost 90 minutes of added runtime, the best aspects of the new cuts are the vastly improved editing & pacing, which don’t feel nearly as rushed or choppy as the PG-13 version clearly felt throughout. We also get some added hero moment action sequences for Kora that help bolster her protagonist status that gets lost at times in the previous incarnation.
Overall, the Snyder Cuts of Rebel Moon 1 & 2 are only a mild upgrade on the original PG-13 versions previously panned mere months ago. The increased runtimes for each new R-rated creation may allow for some added breathing room for swallowed-up characters & worlds. Still, it also wastes incredible amounts of time with unnecessary exposition, unwarranted sexual content, & swearing for swearing’s sake. For good measure, Snyder didn’t even use the extra time to give a more proper finale to Part 2 in the face of strong odds against a Part 3 happening anytime soon.
6+ hours is hard to swallow for any double feature outside of The Godfather or Lord of the Rings, so don’t expect the Rebel Moon series to rise to the occasion, even with its “Snyder Cut” director at the controls. Hard to see him getting another Rebel Moon or another chance at a director’s cut of his film in the near future.
For the most loyal of Snyder fans only. Mere sci-fi action fans can wait for something more worthy of the bloated runtimes.