Julien Neaves, Sci Fi Head Writer
Do you remember when some 80s slasher films would include lots of gore and nudity to distract from the lack of a plot or fleshed-out characters? That appeared to be the approach by Zack Snyder with his director's cuts of derivative space opera films Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire and Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver. Anyone hoping for a massive improvement in these movies as we got between Justice League (2017) and Zack Snyder's Justice League should really check those expectations. The new cuts are better, but minimally so. With a dreadnought-sized SPOILER ALERT let's dive on in.
I'll start with the few positives to be found with Rebel Moon - Chapter One: Chalice of Blood and Rebel Moon - Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness (the latter subtitle sounds like a cheesy period romance novel). The new scenes do add some context and motivations for characters like turncoat Motherworld soldier Aris, rebel fighter Milius and robot knight Jimmy. Aris' backstory at the opening of Chapter One and Jimmy laying the smackdown on the Hawkshaw mercs in Chapter Two were welcome additions (for the most part). I was also intrigued by the creepy Motherworld priests and their penchant for tooth collecting, the giant ship pilot female alien things, which reminded me of the Guild Navigators from Dune, and the glimpses of other new aliens like the cantina prostitute. And there is a whole lot more action in the new versions than in the first cuts, so I guess that is something.
Here we come to wreck the day!
Unfortunately, that is where the positives end. The original plots were both very weak and Snyder does little to fix them. And making it R-rated actually makes it worse. The nudity and sex scenes all feel gratuitous. All the blood and gore are neither fun nor entertaining but just felt excessive and, in many cases, mean-spirited. We understood from the original cuts that the Motherworld is evil; we did not see them repeatedly smashing heads, stripping women naked and murdering multiple women to drive the point home. And while the action is more violent, the fight choreography is still weak, making the whole experience mind-numbing.
The Snyder Cut of Justice League redid the film from start to end but most of the new content in the first two acts of each film. Therefore, by the time each Chapter dragged to the final act I mentally checked out and was just counting down the clock. If, unlike me, you enjoyed the original versions of the Rebel Moon films, then you will likely be happy to check out the extended cuts. But if you didn't, then don't waste your time with these bloated versions.
What did you think of the Rebel Moon extended cuts? And you can check out more from the Snyderverse below:
REBEL MOON - PART TWO: THE NOT-SO MAGNIFICENT SEVEN IN SPACE
REBEL MOON - PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE IS A DREADNOUGHT OF DISAPPOINTMENT
ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE: ONE MASSIVE MOVIE, FOUR MINI(-ISH) REVIEWS
ARMY OF THE DEAD: STYLISH, GORE-FILLED BUT IT'S NO 'DAWN'
Julien "Editor Jules" Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by the Cryptkeeper, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like "13 flavours of awesome sauce". Read more.
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