Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Rebel Moon Part One: Director’s Cut’ on Netflix, Zack Snyder’s Extra Long Take On His Already Unwieldy Sci-Fi Epic

Netflix calls it Rebel Moon Part One: Director’s Cut , but the #snydertitle is Chapter One: Chalice of Blood . And even if Rebel Moon drags enough to occasionally feel like it’s one hundred chapters long, the introductory part of this overwrought sci-fi epic does manage to construct the universe it’s playing with – basically, Space Nazis chasing rebellious agitators across a string of fringe planets – and build a team of heroes to counteract that evil. It’s just that along the way, there will be as many heavy sighs and groans as there are cool spaceships and lava guns. Zack Snyder co-wrote Rebel Moon in addition to directing; Sofia Boutella leads a cast that also includes Ed Skrein, Djimon Hounsou, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Charlie Hunnam, and Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins is the voice of JC-1435 of the Mechanicus Militarium – you know, a “Jimmy” – as the mechanized Imperium warrior becomes a vessel of righteousness. But to learn more about that, you’ll have to stay tuned through the 173 minutes of Rebel Moon Part Two: Director’s Cut. Better order a shot of carbost at the cantina on Veldt. We’re gonna be here awhile.

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Rebel Moon Part Two: Director’s Cut’ on Netflix, Where Zack Snyder Amplifies The Violence On His Way To The Conclusion For His Lengthy Space Epic

The Gist: One of the most significant additions to Rebel Moon Part One: Director’s Cut is a violent opening sequence that establishes two things. That the Motherworld forces of the Imperium, led in the field by Admiral Atticus Noble (Skrein), are a bunch of sick fucks in love with their own megalomania, and that wherever it can, Rebel Moon is gonna intersperse what’s actually meaningful with a bunch of stuff that’s either half-baked or barely explained. As he wields his holy staff to crack skulls in Snyderian Slo-Mo™ across many, many worlds – it’s actually a femur of the sacred lochna, if you must know – Noble is also in pursuit of the Bloodaxes, Devra (Cleopatra Coleman) and Darrian (Ray Fisher), brave siblings whose rebellion against Motherworld rule will not stand. That pursuit leads Noble to the remote moon of Veldt, where he forces a simple farming community to do his bidding. He’ll kill everybody if they don’t produce thousands of bushels of wheat to sustain the crew of his massive dreadnought starship, The King’s Gaze. But this village has a secret, and she knows all about Noble’s lies and the world-destroying cruelties of the Imperium.

‘Rebel Moon: Director’s Cut:’ More Blood, More Sex, and a More Comprehensible Plot

Kora (Boutella) has been living quietly in the community on Veldt ever since she fled the kingdom of the Motherworld. A refugee of its destruction raised as a daughter by Balisarius (Fra Fee), a violent, power-mad Imperium general, Kora – also known as Arthelais – became a fearsome warrior and protector of Princess Issa (Stella Grace Fitzgerald), the young royal heir who embodied a more peaceful future. (She can also resurrect birds? It’s a whole thing.) Without revealing her true identity, Kora pledges to gather a team that will defend the village from Noble and his dreadnought. And joined by Gunnar (Huisman), the local farmer who pines for her, she soon recruits Kai (Hunnam) – sort of a Han Solo type if he was more transparently wicked – plus General Titus (Hounsou), the valiant and shirtless Tarak (Staz Nair), and fire-sword warrior Nemesis (Bae). Each of them have cause to hate Motherworld, which makes Veldt as good a place as any to make a final stand.

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What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Let’s see. A galaxy-conquering Imperium instead of the Galactic Empire. The rebel Bloodaxes instead of the Rebel Alliance. Gunnar the wheat farmer instead of Luke Skywalker the moisture farmer. (“Ever been off world before?” Kai kids Gunnar as they depart Veldt in his spaceship, and the hayseed looks queasy.) Comparisons to the Star Wars universe abound in Rebel Moon . But then again, everyone in Kora’s village dresses like they live in Panem , so you could play the reference game with this film for as many cycles as it takes to bring in Veldt’s wheat harvest.

Performance Worth Watching: “Prepare the hyperlaunch – I’ll go and retrieve the traitorous dogs myself” is a line that could feature in a multiple choice question with five different sci-fi movie answers, and you’d be correct every time. But Ed Skrein can do something with it as Atticus Noble. The central villain of Rebel Moon is one hundred percent despicable. But Skrein plays him with a perverse form jaw-locking joy that’s always watchable.

Memorable Dialogue: Kora’s got history with the dastardly forces of the Motherworld. “I fought on distant worlds, under the banner of a people who murdered my entire family and destroyed my world. They had trained me, broken me, and rebuilt me in their image. You asked how I know that they’ll destroy you? It’s what I would do.”

Sex and Skin: Added into Rebel Moon Part One: Director’s Cut is nudity that feels cheap and random – Noble’s men stripping and branding the holy women of a subjugated culture – and legitimate, at least as it relates to Kora’s journey. The pronounced scar tissue her love scenes reveal is something Sofia Boutella fought to include .

Our Take: Why wouldn’t you just release it like this the first time? It’s not like the characters and world-building in Rebel Moon are better served in either ratings format, PG-13 or hard R. Part One: Director’s Cut doesn’t fix the film’s wavering tone, doesn’t fill the gaps in our heroes’ backstories, and doesn’t clear up anything on the Imperium side of things, where Atticus Noble reveals his subcutaneous “neuro-link” and a fetish for being suckled by galactic moray eels. There is no question that Rebel Moon is ambitious, and determined to set up even more sequels. But if it just appeared like this right out of the gate, with its frequent splatters of digital blood and body parts, that might have established a baseline for what it’s trying to do. Instead, we’re sitting through a movie identical to its first version, only everything takes longer despite nothing being different.

Which is frustrating, because there are things to enjoy in Rebel Moon . The spaceship designs are impressive, blending analog bits like hand cranks and black diesel smoke with advanced technology. Snyder’s predilection for slow-motion works in his favor during a few well-executed battles, like Kora’s barn-based beatdown of an entire squad of soldiers or a sweeping combat sequence on the face of some unknown, war-torn planet. And there are other intriguing things in this galaxy, like a race of feminine superbeings who both power the Imperium’s ships and share a personal bond and/or prophecy with Kora. What Rebel Moon Part One and its part two companion film really, really need is an editor. And releasing even more unwieldy director’s cuts of the initial films is not a route to concision.

Our Call: Rebel Moon Part One: Director’s Cut is a STREAM IT, but maybe have your fast-forward button at the ready. Inside the aimlessness of Zack Snyder’s extended take on his already lengthy original film are scenes and moments of really satisfying science fiction. You just gotta get past all the space junk that surrounds them.

Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.

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