This review covers both director’s cuts for Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver.
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and Part Two: The Scargiver are generic sci-fi shlock that feel as if their paper-thin narrative was generated by AI rather than something an established and acclaimed director of 20 years with massive blockbusters in major franchises like the DC Universe under his belt would write.
Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood and Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness are sprawling space opera epics, albeit heavily flawed ones, that successfully showcase their beautiful world while allowing their epic cast of characters including a rogue general, a prince in exile, an honor-bound enslaved android to carry a pretty tightly written narrative.
Zack Snyder is a filmmaker that I disagree with creatively on a fundamental level, but he’s also one of those directors that I make an effort to watch most of their projects to try to understand them and their style. He’s a director I very much admire, if not like. I’ll always be seated for a new Snyder movie because even if I don’t necessarily like it I know it’ll be unique and interesting. Rebel Moon is no different.
I watched the original cuts as they were releasing and they had some intriguing ideas and concepts and I liked the world but they felt very underbaked. I found the first part somewhat enjoyable but it was plagued with pacing issues, a boring narrative, and flat characters. Additionally, the film was also an eyesore with copious amounts of slow-motion and action shots that look cool in trailers but felt jarring in the film itself.
On the other hand, the second part’s original cut didn’t really have any redeeming qualities. It was about an hour of harvesting grain in slow-motion and then an hour-long final battle that I can only describe as a vomit of dirt and lasers and explosions in slow-mo. It’s not a very fun battle, visually disinteresting, and unwatchable at times.
In spite of this, I was looking forward to the director’s cuts to see the changes. After watching them, I just have one question for Snyder: why? Why butcher your own movie and release it unfinished? I understand that Netflix was most likely the cause of the director’s cut to artificially recreate hype for the new “Snyder cut” but the amount of important things that were cut are insane to me. Releasing these neutered original cuts has undoubtedly cast a shadow over Snyder and his vision, with these movies being amongst the lowest rated and critically panned in his filmography.
With these director’s cuts however, Snyder finds his mark. Chalice of Blood starts off with a sequence that is easily my favorite of the duology, a scene of the forces of the Motherworld invading a small planet to locate the infamous rebels, Darrian and Devra Bloodaxe. It’s an action sequence that I didn’t know Snyder still had in him, after seeing the one in Rebel Moon – Part Two. It’s gloriously brutal and bloody, as is the entire duology, and maybe a tad too much, but I’d rather Snyder indulge himself this way rather than every scene slowed down to look like TikTok edit.
The original cuts (OC) were released with a PG-13 rating and had no extreme violence, but these director’s cuts (DC) are vastly different. Every action sequence from the minutest firing of a blaster or the connection of a blade with flesh to full large-scale battles have been digitally altered to add blood and gore. Snyder also adds a couple intimate moments in the new cuts. This feels like the Snyder of the aughts and it’s still not for everyone, but I would personally much rather have gratuitous sex and violence Snyder over gratuitous slow-motion Snyder any day.
The first chapter stays consistent throughout. I really wish we’d have gotten more scenes on the various planets, but at the very least they’re extended and we spend more time with the many characters. One of my biggest complaints with the OC was that the world was so interesting, but it’s barely explored and the characters that I loved had no characterization. The DC still doesn’t go as far as I would’ve liked it to in expanding upon the OC but it’s an improvement nonetheless.
Curse of Forgiveness is also a vast improvement over the OC. There isn’t any less slow-motion grain harvesting, however now I was familiar with the colonists and got to know and like them, the scene meant something. The final battle is epic in scale and execution and a much more enjoyable watch with the addition of blood and guts thrown into the mix of dirt and lasers and explosions. The downside is the battle is extremely long and does unfortunately overstay its welcome, similar to Man of Steel, and I personally grew bored at about an hour of it.
The added narrative and world-building in the new and altered chapters were a very welcome inclusion. The story was pretty barebones in the original cuts and while it still isn’t where I’d have liked it to be, it’s a massive upgrade in the DC. There’s a lot of added depth to a simple narrative which does wonders.
One scene in particular in which an angry, little man with funny facial hair waves his arms around and speaks aggressively about protecting “our home from the darkness that creeps toward us” in front of a large, red and black regime banner feels like the thesis of the movie and it baffles me that it was removed from the OC. The scene also makes General Balisarius’s “cancer of ethnic impurities” line later in the film make more sense and not out of place as it felt in the OC.
I don’t think Rebel Moon: Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness are good movies but Snyder fans that were left disappointed by the original cuts may yet get some enjoyment out of this franchise and non-fans may find something to appreciate. I don’t particularly love these director’s cuts but I do appreciate having Snyder’s full and realized vision available after the neutered original cuts.
Zack Snyder’s director’s cuts Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood and Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness are available for streaming on Netflix as of August 2nd, 2024.
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