A Good Trailer Can’t Hide How Unnecessary Zack Snyder’s ‘Rebel Moon’ Director’s Cut Is
Netflix has released the official red band trailer for Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of Rebel Moon. While the trailer has earned some viewers’ approval, it can’t hide the fact that the movie is unnecessary.
The original Rebel Moon movie was released in two parts, with the first arriving in late 2023 and the second in April 2024. Although the films received a lot of hype from Netflix and Snyder and were touted as epic space operas certain to kickstart a new cinematic universe, they both proved to be critical failures. Critics panned the movies for utilizing too many space opera tropes and lacking a strong storyline or character development. They were also criticized for their length, as, combined, the films came in at over 4 hours of runtime. However, the strangest part of the Rebel Moon debacle is that before either movie was released, Snyder confirmed that both would get extended R-rated director’s cuts.
Both director’s cuts, Rebel Moon—Chapter One: Chalice of Blood and Rebel Moon—Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness, will arrive on Netflix on August 2. Netflix recently dropped the bloody official trailer for both parts of the director’s cut, but it’s leaving viewers questioning the purpose of these movies.
Rebel Moon doesn’t need a director’s cut
It seems like Rebel Moon‘s director’s cut is trying to replicate the success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Although the initial Justice League was a critical and commercial flop, fans relentlessly demanded to see Snyder’s version of the film. Eventually, Warner Bros. relented and gave viewers Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which enjoyed a much more positive reception than the first movie. However, there are a couple of major differences between Rebel Moon and Justice League.
Snyder was the original director of Justice League, but he chose to step down after losing his daughter. Joss Whedon stepped into his role, and he and the studio significantly changed the project. So, it made sense that there was a whole other unseen version of the film that viewers were interested in. The difference with Rebel Moon is that Snyder was in charge the whole time. He appeared to have significant creative control, with Netflix even allowing him to release the film in two parts because of the long runtime.
It’s difficult to say from the trailer how different the director’s cuts will be from the original films. For the most part, it seems like the same story but with additional gore and sex scenes. However, there is some wholly new footage, as well, such as the presence of a mysterious giant robot lady, that suggests the director’s cut may add some additional context.
While many agree it’s a good trailer, one still can’t help but ask the obvious. Why didn’t he just release this version in the first place? Netflix is already marketing the director’s cut as Snyder’s “true vision,” but what exactly stopped him from getting his “vision” right the first time around? He was the director from the onset, had creative control, and there was less pressure to give the film a PG-13 rating or edit it down significantly because it was a streaming release rather than a theatrical release.
Additionally, Snyder can’t blame Whedon or Netflix for the first film being a disaster. If the next movie is his “true vision,” then it feels like he intentionally left out his vision and made a bad movie the first time around. The problem is that there’s absolutely no reason for a director’s cut in this case. However, Netflix and Snyder decided even before the movie was panned by critics that it would have a director’s cut. The director’s cut is nothing but a cash grab because Netflix and Snyder think they can re-create the frenzy over Zack Snyder’s Justice League, even though it doesn’t make sense in this situation.
Some may say that the studio wanted the PG-13 version for families. Yet Snyder’s Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves were rated R and fared well on the platform. There are plenty of R-rated original Netflix films that have performed well. So it’s hard to see Netflix denying his original R-rated vision. Ultimately, there’s no way to explain why the ill-received Rebel Moon is now getting a 6+ hour director’s cut that Netflix is trying to claim is the real version, other than that it’s a marketing gimmick. Its unnecessary nature makes it very hard to believe the movie actually will be fundamentally different from the original.
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