Following the huge success ofThe Snyder Cut, divisive directorZack Snyderhas gone back into the editing room again for his latest franchise,Rebel Moon, releasing two R-rated director’s cuts to Netflix, both of which are available from today. The two original movies,Rebel Moon: Part Two - The ScargiverandRebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire, now have 22% and 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively. But have the director’s cuts fared any better with critics comparedto their “rotten” predecessors? Has the addition of more blood, violence, and nudity improved on Snyder’s shallow, clichéd space opera franchise? Well, no, not especially.
In fact, according to Chase Hutchinson ofCollider, thingshave only gotten worse. Awarded just one and a half stars out of five, it seems that the director’s cut does not expand or deepen anything, and instead “it all just sinks that much faster with nothing worth revisiting it for.”
“No matter how much running around it does and the CGI blood bursts it throws at you in slow motion (which only makes it that much more cartoonishly bad), the lackluster choreography remains the same. It’s less a director’s cut that offers anything worth revisiting, and more Snyder’s glorified rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic. You might see a new piece of furniture as it sinks down, but it only descends all the faster from the dead weight.”
9 Valid Reasons Why Sci-Fi Fans Don’t Like Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon
The man, the myth, the legend, the thorn in the side of sci-fi. Zack Snyder isn’t making any new fans with Rebel Moon, and here’s why.
Alex Maidy ofJoBlofelt similarly, and believes thatthe original cuts(which were released on Netflix at the end of last and earlier this year) were far better and closer to “what Zack Snyder was aiming for.”
“Director’s cuts are intended to serve as the true vision the filmmaker set out to make, but in the case of Rebel Moon, it feels as if the original versions were better than what Zack Snyder was aiming for. Very little of the new footage registers as an improvement over what we already saw, with the sex scenes and exploding heads merely gratuitous.”
Rogerebert.com’s Simon Abrams, meanwhile, felt that all the problems with the original movies remain, calling the lengthy runtimes of the new versions “interminable.”
“More of everything doesn’t otherwise enhance this new version of “Rebel Moon,” whose shameless and uninspired cribbing from superior films soon makes six-plus hours seem interminable. The best scenes remain the ones that don’t revolve around people. I said it before, but I maintain that Snyder’s latest only really sings when big objects are either exploding or crashing into other large things.”
Rebel Moon – The Director’s Cut Might Satisfy Some Cinematic Bloodlust
However, on the positive side of things, Luke Y. Thompson ofSuperherohype.comdoes think that theRebel Moon – The Director’s Cutwillsatisfy those with a “cinematic bloodlust.”
“If you have any inner cinematic bloodlust, however, this should feed the beast. Pagan space Gods help me, but I kind of want to see what comes next, if anything.”
Overall, despite the Director’s Cuts not having an official Tomatometer score at the time of writing, with four rotten reviews and three fresh between them, the new iterations of Snyder’s latest universe seem to be fairing a little better than the cuts released earlier this year. The same can be said for audiences, whose score has risen a little to 66% - not exactly a huge increase from the 40-50% range of the previous versions, though.
Directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten,Rebel Moon – The Director’s Cutstars Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Charlie Hunnam, and Anthony Hopkins. you may check out the detailed synopsis forRebel Moon — The Director’s Cutbelow.
“Delve further into the mythology and madness of Zack Snyder’s epic sci-fi saga in the viciously sexier, bloodier world of REBEL MOON - CHAPTER ONE: CHALICE OF BLOOD and REBEL MOON – CHAPTER TWO: CURSE OF FORGIVENESS. In Snyder’s director’s cut, a peaceful settlement on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, and Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival.
Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Motherworld, Kora assembles a small band of warriors - outsiders, insurgents, peasants, and orphans of war who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a new army of heroes is formed.”
The R-rated director’s cut, titledRebel Moon - Chapter One: Chalice of BloodandRebel Moon – Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness, are available to stream onNetflixfrom June 16, 2025.
