I like Zack Snyder. He seems to paddle his own canoe and move independently to the whims of critics. I think 300 is a great movie, his Watchman adaption has long been criminally underrated, and Man Of Steel was the most interesting take on Superman in years, and should have been allowed to breathe via a sequel. I love that the SnyderCut exists and is as massive and bonkers as it is. But this, about Rebel Moon, just starts to feel like it’s always the same.
The reviews of the theatrical cut of the sci-fi epic Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire have been staggeringly bad. 20% (3.9/10) on Rotten Tomatoes with critics. It is on a very limited theatrical release, so even if all the audience scores are legit, then 72% is also weak, considering genuine reviews are from Snyder Bros who have had to be real motivated to get out and watch it.
So maybe it’s actually not very good. The complaints all center on similar themes, around choppy editing and incoherent plotting. So, regular as clockwork, here comes all the talk of the director’s cut that is an hour longer and will be released next year. Of this, in an interview with AP Wire, Snyder says people shouldn’t look at the director’s cut as just a new editt, but rather a whole different film:
“It’s not an ‘extended cut’ of this movie. It’s almost like a different movie. It’s almost a different universe that [the R-rated cut] lives in than this movie.
The reason for that is because it’s such a philosophical thing to shoot a director’s cut of a movie before you finish this version. All of my director’s cuts exist as a response to the things that were demanded of me to take out of the theatrical version, right?
With [‘Rebel Moon’], that demand was never made. We knew this would be a PG-13 movie. In my heart of hearts, I always wanted it to be rated R, but you realize this sort of scale and cost of a movie and say, ‘Well, it’s not 100% responsible to have that demand.’
I’m a good partner, in that sense. It was Netflix’s idea, they’re like ‘What if we said do whatever you want over here? Do the PG-13 version and then go nuts [on the other cut]. We don’t care.’ That was a thing I’ve never experienced before. That’s when the dimensional rift happened [between the two versions], when that was said out loud.”
Look, we get it. The SnyderCut of Justice League is great fun and far superior to the theatrical, but right now this is all just starting to sound like excuses.
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire the “theatrical cut” is in cinemas now and on Netflix from Friday.
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