I Spent 10 Hours Watching Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon And All I Got Was This Lousy Blog Post
Some thoughts on the Director's Cuts of 'Rebel Moon': 'Chalice of Blood' and 'Curse of Forgiveness.'
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon - Chapter One: Chalice of Blood (AKA the director’s cut) opens with an entirely new 20-minute action sequence.
Imperium Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) is leading an attack to bring some rebel scum to justice. We see the battle from both Noble’s perspective and from the perspective of a local leader (or “administrator,” in this universe), who is fighting to prevent his family from being taken captive. Along the way, we see local priestesses stripped naked and painfully branded, as well as the administrator’s cute pet alien creature becoming a suicide bomber (don’t ask). Finally, Noble corners the administrator and his family and presents the administrator’s son, Aris, with a choice: murder your father or everyone in the family dies. Aris reluctantly caves his father’s head in and Noble proceeds to play with his father’s brains that have been splayed out on the floor. Noble then proceeds to kill the rest of Aris’s family, as Aris is forcibly enlisted into the Imperium army.
The movie has just begun but it’s already clear what these new director’s cuts represent: They are bloodier, meaner, nastier, longer, and deeper versions of the Rebel Moon films that have already been released. Inspired by Tansy Gardam’s recent deep-dive into the subject, I decided to explore Zack Snyder’s new Rebel Moon director’s cuts on Netflix, each of which is roughly 3 hours long. In Tansy’s piece, she used copious evidence to infer that Snyder ended up compromising his original vision in order to get the original Rebels Moon to a PG-13 rating. I wanted to understand exactly how that played out and deliver a final accounting of these films. So, reader, I watched over 6 hours of additional Rebel Moon movies, on top of the 4-hour runtime of the original two films, to bring you my thoughts on what was changed, what stayed the same, and whether these new director’s cuts are any good.
Tansy and I also chatted extensively about these films and you can find that conversation on my YouTube channel below. The below conversation and post contain SPOILERS for all four films.
The Biggest Differences
The new Rebels Moon (part one is called Chalice of Blood and part two is called Curse of Forgiveness) don’t just feature additional scenes or moments. These films have been totally restructured in a feat akin to Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
The biggest change is the best one, and also the one that’s introduced in the opening scene: The character of Aris (Sky Yang) is given a much richer backstory and a fully realized role. Not only does he have an extremely good reason to betray the Imperium (they murdered his family and played with his dad’s brains), but his relationship with Sam, one of the villagers on Veldt, is given a decent subplot. Through the process of preparing for battle, Aris and Sam get to know each other better and I found myself much more invested in their fate by the end.
The other big change is that there is a lot more sex and violence in these films. Laser beams penetrate torsos, heads get blown to smithereens, body parts and limbs are torn asunder — these movies are not for the faint of heart. But this also feels like how these movies were meant to be seen initially. The original PG-13 cuts used awkward cutaways and weird crop-ins when characters got grievously wounded or killed. The director’s cuts do away with all of that and deliver the viscera and gore that you’d expect from a Zack Snyder joint.
Kora (Sofia Boutella) also gets two extended and fairly graphic sex scenes. While the scars from Kora’s past life as Arthelais are prominent in these scenes, it’s unclear how much they were necessary for character development. That said, I also had a revelation while considering why these scenes were included: This is how Zack Snyder prefers to tell stories. Not with dialogue or screenwriting, but with visuals, often in slow motion, that show heightened emotional states. So instead of a heartwarming romance between Kora and Veldt villager Den, we just get 6 minutes of them fucking.
Some of the other prominent additions to the director’s cuts include:
JC-1435’s subplot - In the original movies, Anthony Hopkins plays the voice of JC-1435, also known as Jimmy, a sentient robot designed to protect the royals of the Motherworld who eventually turns on the Imperium. In the director’s cuts, Jimmy has a lot more to do. He helps the villagers out as they plan their defense against Atticus Noble and spends a lot of time communing with the land on Veldt, accompanied with additional ponderous voiceover. It’s not the greatest arc but it makes the character feel like way less of a tacked on afterthought.
More flashbacks with the King - In the original Rebels Moon, we saw brief glimpses of Cary Elwes playing the King before he’s unceremoniously murdered by Kora at the behest of Balisarius. In the director’s cuts, there are several more flashbacks showing the King’s relationship with Kora (at the time known as Arthelais), along with more details about the relationships in the royal family, giving some additional weight to Arthelais’ eventual betrayal.
Rue Kali (and other religious stuff) - At the end of the original films, Kora detonates explosives in the power core of Noble’s ship, the King’s Gaze, in order to thwart Noble’s plans. In the director’s cuts, we see that there’s a race of interdimensional beings known as the Kalis — gigantic, mechanical, goddess-like creatures — who are imprisoned by the Imperium and are powering ships like the King’s Gaze. They also derive their energy off the remains of people that the Imperium has murdered on its never-ending rampage through the galaxy. Pretty interesting world-building! But I understand why it was cut because it does pretty much nothing to advance the plot of the film. There are also a few other religious elements in the director’s cuts. For instance, whenever Noble destroys a planet and kills its leader, Motherworld priests will take a tooth from the skull of the dead leader and place it into a kind of tooth collage with the dead princesses photo in the middle. Creepy! But again, completely inconsequential plot-wise.
On that note, if I could identify the overarching ethos of the director’s cuts, I would distill it down to one word: maximalism. I can imagine Snyder or one of the producers in the editing room, saying, “Did we shoot it? Then it goes in the movie!” Dozens of scenes, moments, and shots have been added into the director’s cuts, regardless of whether they are necessary or make the films better. While the additional scenes sometimes enhance the mood or augment the world building, too often, they’re just there.
Major Problems Remain
There are several big issues that the original Rebel Moon films suffer from: Pacing, character development, and overall story arc. The big question for me was whether the director’s cuts would improve the films in any of these dimensions. Sadly, the answer is no.
From a pacing perspective, too much of the first film is spent with Kora putting together the crew they use to fight off the Imperium. What would typically be a montage instead becomes the main thrust of the first film, which culminates in a mini-battle during what’s essentially a side quest. The director’s cuts do nothing to alleviate this, as too much of the first film still feels like wheel-spinning before some minor action occurs.
In terms of character development, the original Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver was mocked for the fact that there’s a big scene where the main characters literally sit around a table and take turns sharing their backstories (all of which are shockingly similar, btw). Furthermore, many of the backstories don’t have any bearing on the actual plot of the film. As an example, we’re introduced to the character of Tarak (Staz Noir) as a slave who is somehow able to tame a massive bird and earn his freedom. We also learn he used to be part of a royal family and watched his mother take her own life in response to the Imperium invasion. Does any of this come into play towards the end of the film? Not really! And the director’s cuts don’t do anything to address this issue.
Finally, the original two films were maddening because the first one concluded with Atticus Noble being killed, only for him to be immediately brought back to fight Kora once again in the second film. What was the point of all of that? Why have Kora face the exact same villain twice across two films and leave so many other plot threads unresolved? Snyder and his collaborators obviously thought they were building a franchise that would last many films into the future, but given that that seems unlikely to happen, what we’re left with is two films that repeat the same fundamental emotional beats. Kora decides to join up with rebels to defend Veldt against the Imperium and kill Atticus Noble…and then she literally does the exact same thing again in the second film. As you might have surmised, the director’s cuts keep the same overall plot, and both sets of films end with the cliffhanger of Kora learning the Princess is still alive.
Curse of PG-13-ness
The Rebel Moon director’s cuts aren’t good films, but they are unequivocally better than the initial PG-13 cuts. After finishing all four films, the feelings I’m left with are sadness and annoyance. Clearly an enormous amount of work went into these updated movies. The visuals are overall very strong (there’s a reason movie trailers used to refer to Zack Snyder as a “visionary director”) and a handful of the action beats are genuinely thrilling. I think Sofia Boutella acts her heart out for a movie that looked like it had an exhausting shoot.
But Snyder and Netflix also made the cynical decision to release the PG-13 films first. Perhaps they really thought that the PG-13 versions would get a bigger audience or maybe they did it to try to gin up a #ReleaseTheSnyderCut-style fan campaign. Either way, the result is that most people watching Rebel Moon will see the shittier versions before they get to the director’s cuts (if they ever do). When you release the bad versions of your movie first, you make it less likely that people are going to demand sequels — and that’s a big problem when your movie ends on a massive cliffhanger.
Perhaps the ultimate lesson of these movies and their release is one of hubris. Snyder and Netflix thought that people would love the original movies so much, even in their compromised state, that the future of the franchise would be guaranteed. Maybe they thought that our feelings for Rebel Moon would be like Atticus Noble himself: able to survive a humiliating beating and a massive fall that breaks every single bone, only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes when called upon.
Sadly, if you’ve seen the Rebel Moon films, you know how that story ends.
[One final note: As Tansy pointed out in our video, if you’re only going to watch these movies once all the way through, I’d strongly recommend you just watch the director’s cuts. If you’re going to watch all four films, I’d recommend you watch the PG-13 versions, then the director’s cuts in order to better appreciate the changes. Happy Rebel Mooning.]
Other Stuff David Chen Has Made
[PAID ONLY] On my personal Patreon, @joyofnapping and I continue to podcast about the US Election. In our most recent episode, we spent 2 hours breaking down the Democratic National Convention as a televised event. Check it out here.
Over on Decoding TV, Patrick Klepek and I discussed the cancellation of The Acolyte and why it leaves Star Wars in such a dire place.
On The Filmcast, we reviewed Blink Twice with guest BJ Colangelo. It’s a great thriller and you should check it out in theaters if you get the chance!
I'm sorry you had to experience this. Wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
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