‘Rebel Moon: Director’s Cut’ review: Potential, a cool poster, and little else

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of Seven Samurai, arguably Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece and one of the greatest and most influential films in cinema history. With many comparing the film to westerns, its narrative about a team of disparate characters who are grouped to undertake a specific mission would become a recurring influence on many films, ranging from The Magnificent Seven, Battle Beyond the Stars and even Three Amigos. However, we are here talking about one imitator of the Seven Samurai formula, one that is getting a revisit in light of Netflix finally releasing the director’s cut, and that is Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon.

Originally released in December last year and this April with Part One: A Child of Fire and Part Two: The Scargiver, you can now watch “Zack Snyder’s true vision” with a longer, R-rated version of the two Rebel Moon movies, clocking in with a running time of six hours and twenty-eight minutes. The story remains the same as before, in which a militaristic empire known as the Motherworld threatens a farming colony on the moon Veldt, which initiates Kora (Sofia Boutella) to venture on a quest to recruit warriors from across the galaxy to make a stand against the Imperium before they return to Veldt.

Whereas Seven Samurai, along with a number of the director’s other works, is about a deep perception of human nature, showing what a humanist filmmaker Kurosawa was, when you look at Rebel Moon and the rest of Zack Snyder’s filmography, this is not the work of a humanist. One of the additions from this director’s cut is a lengthy opening sequence that showcases the brutality of the Motherworld, where human heads are getting blown off by lasers or smashed in by clubs, whilst naked women scream in pain after being branded. This sequence alone sets up the bleak tone that covers the majority of the six-plus hours.

Considering that Snyder originally pitched this as a Star Wars movie before Lucasfilm rejected it, Rebel Moon carries many of the hallmarks that you would expect from that franchise, such as space battles, lightsaber duels, funny aliens and droids, and a group of underdogs rebelling against space Nazis. And yet, unlike George Lucas’ space opera, there is none of the fun, especially from the action which now features blood splattering everywhere like hot jelly, but Snyder’s trademark slow-motion makes everything move at a snail’s pace. It is still baffling that Doona Bae stars as a Swordmaster named Nemesis, who battles a giant spider-like creature in her introductory scene and yet it’s so dull.

A number of Snyder’s films are getting their own director’s cut – some of which are better than others – such as Zack Snyder’s Justice League. However, longer doesn’t always mean better, and that is definitely the case with Rebel Moon, in which a huge ensemble cast playing a variety of roles whose personas are explained out loud, but never allowed to be explored through any human drama.

From Part One where Kora’s band of warriors is established by name and skill, and then are basically placed in the background looking cool, to Part Two where their backstories essentially explain that they are all victims of the Motherworld, it is shocking what we just don’t care. Actors like Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou and Ed Skrein (who deliciously chews the scenery as the top space Nazi) deserve better. But at least we get more of Sir Anthony Hopkins narrating as Jimmy the Robot for no reason.

What is most frustrating is that Snyder’s space opera isn’t an absolute disaster as somewhere within the drudgery, there is a decent sci-fi franchise trying to get out. Although Snyder isn’t being secretive over his influences here, ranging from Frank Frazetta paintings and the pages of Heavy Metal magazine, and when you see them in flinching moments, this has the potential to rival the gonzo blockbusters like 2017’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Amidst the bleak and oppressive tone, along with the uncomfortable moment of sexual threat, there is the rare occasion where Snyder is oddly wholesome, particularly in Part Two where characters farming together, whilst there is a new addition that is a passionate love scene between Boutella’s Kora and Michiel Huisman’s Gunnar. Considering that Zack Snyder made that animated owl movie in 2010, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, where he oddly balanced the dark and the sweetness, maybe Rebel Moon deserves a similar treatment.

‘Rebel Moon: Director’s Cut’ review: Potential, a cool poster, and little else

Rebel Moon: Director's Cut

Despite how butchered the original versions were, the director's cut of the two Rebel Moon movies isn't much of an improvement as it can be summed as a horny, problematic teen's idea of what he thinks an R-rated Star Wars should be.

Reader Rating0 Votes

0

Serving as his own cinematographer, Zack Snyder presents some stunning visuals.

While Snyder isn't shy away from his influences, there are glimpses that show gonzo Rebel Moon could have been...

...but instead, so much of its world-building is shallow and a dark tone that is hard to stomach over a long period of time.

Even with a longer running time, there is still very little to care about the characters and indeed their central conflict.

Despite the gory enhancements, the action is succumb by the amount of slow-motion, and it is numbing.

4

Meh