On August 2, the Netflix streaming service released the director’s version of Zack Snyder’s epic space opera «Rebel Moon», both parts of which run for almost 6.5 hours. In the review below, we explain why the binge-watching of this impressive runtime is comparable to a superheroic feat.
Pluses:
The R-rating was a good thing, as the final action of both parts is exciting;
Minuses:
The main problem is that the director's cut generally offers almost everything the same and does not correct the deplorable situation of the project;
«Rebel Moon»
Genre space opera
Director Zack Snyder
Starring Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Gonzou, Ed Skrein, Ray Fisher, Anthony Hopkins (voice acting)
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
When the streaming service Netflix announced Zack Snyder’s space saga «Rebel Moon», and even with the option of a director’s cut, it aroused a healthy interest. But when the first part of this completely secondary and absurd opus was released on the platform, the credibility of both Netflix and Snyder himself began to rapidly melt away. The release of the second movie put another nail in the coffin of this dubious idea. And in this context, the release of another 6.5-hour-long sniper movie is no longer perceived as a lifeline, but as a branded mockery of the viewer.
Netflix decided to imitate Zack Snyder’s «Justice League» success formula, but the smart strategists failed to pull off the same trick. And it’s not just that, unlike the epic Batman and Company movie, the local hype was artificially generated. The problem is the quality of the product itself, which essentially offers the same thing, only in an unacceptably long form. Whether such a marketing ploy by the streaming giant was justified is a rhetorical question.
It’s a pity that they thought about the pretentious headlines more diligently than they thought about the script itself: the mysterious «A Child of Fire», poetic «The Scargiver», which in the new version have become the ominous «Chalice of Blood» and the slightly clumsy «Curse of Forgiveness».
What Snyder really can’t be denied is his attempt to dramatize on an ancient scale, where there is no space for ancient Greek tragedies in principle. In particular, because of the completely cardboard, even caricatured characters. Hence the 10-minute flashbacks (most of which don’t work because many of us already know what they’re about), pretentious speeches, sad a cappella singing, and a painfully annoying, jarring soundtrack.
The director doesn’t spare the audience’s time either — almost 6.5 hours is the format of a full-fledged miniseries, but in its current form, with the audience knowing what will happen next, this bulky and clumsy machine, like a space dreadnought, is simply unviable. If you remove all the scenes in slo-mo from the story, you’ll see that the duration of the movie will be reduced by an hour.
So what has changed compared to its «low-fat» predecessors? First of all, the abundance of implausible computer-generated blood is striking, and even so, this was sorely lacking before. There are two erotic scenes in the film (one sexual partner for each part for the protagonist), and they are remarkable not only for emphasizing Sofia Boutella’s charm, but also for their mood and details. The first one is characterized by pure passion, and it’s not an easy task to unfasten that damn bra. The second one symbolizes sincere love, and there are no more problems with unruly underwear, and the maneuver for the dramatic moment in the end is planned.
Snyder is probably guided by the postulate that there are three things that people are willing to watch forever — how fire burns, how water flows, and how someone works. After all, how else can we explain such close attention to the work of a stoker, and especially to agricultural activities? The bucolic harvest in slumming is such a blatant and pretentious excess that even the television program «Village Time» did not allow itself to do so.
The famous director also has a childishly naïve view of the world as divided purely into black and white; even the recent «The Acolyte», the memories of which can hardly be called pleasant.
Ed Skrein’s Mad Nazi — is still the most interesting character, at least in terms of performance. He stares at a woman’s breasts like a Homelander from «The Boys» into a kind of fetish, and his pornographic scene with matzos is something clearly close to relationships The Deep and the octopus. Some secondary and even tertiary characters received a little more screen time, in particular, dentist priests or orcs from «The Lord of the Rings» the number of piles was significantly higher. However, this made little difference. Jimmy the robot, for example, remained a faded blob somewhere on the periphery of history.
In the end, both versions of «Rebel Moon» in the Netflix library are nothing more than meaningless clone wars for the subscriber’s attention.
The new scenes cannot fix that shameful scenario, and Snider’s unhurried pacing clearly did not do him any good. It’s endlessly boring and unnecessarily long. The streaming empire strikes back in response to numerous criticisms of its failed brainchild, but fails again. Where are the priests with the tongs, there is another space opera to be sung.
LG Home Entertainment is a recognized innovator in the TV and AV industry. LG offers an enhanced home entertainment experience through its award-winning OLED and QNED LED TVs on the innovative WebOS Smart TV platform. In an effort to provide consumers with a first-class user experience, all LG home entertainment products are designed with environmental sustainability in mind, from production to disposal.
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: