The first part of Zack Snyder's Star Wars-inspired sci-fi adventure, Rebel Moon, arrives on Netflix this Friday, but critics have not been overly kind to the divisive director's latest project.
One of the biggest complaints seems to be that A Child of Fire being edited down for its 2 hour, 15 minute streaming debut has resulted in a disjoined and borderline incomprehensible third act, with noticeable cuts to allow for its PG-13 rating.
An R-rated extended version is on the way at some point, however, and, according to Snyder, it's going to be a very different beast altogether.
“It’s not an ‘extended cut’ of this movie,” the filmmaker tells the Associated Press in a new video interview. “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,” Snyder went on. “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.’”
Many have wondered why Snyder didn't simply release his preferred version of the movie in the first place, but Netflix clearly wanted this first cut to reach as many people as possible.
At any rate, let's hope the director's cut really is a completely different film, because the version that's hitting Netflix this weekend? Not great (you can check out our review here).
From Zack Snyder, the filmmaker behind 300, Man of Steel, and Army of the Dead, comes REBEL MOON, an epic science-fantasy event decades in the making. When a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, 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 Mother World, Kora assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a battle over the fate of a galaxy is waged, and in the process, a new army of heroes is formed.
The heroes of Rebel Moon are: Kora (Sofia Boutella), an Imperium deserter who leaves the peaceful Veldt to fight back; Kai (Charlie Hunnam), a mercenary pilot whose Tawau-Class freighter will prove invaluable to Kora’s quest; Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), a Veldt farmer who knows little of the galaxy outside of his small, quiet corner of the galaxy; General Titus (Djimon Hounsou), a hardened gladiator who once served the Imperium; Tarak (Staz Nair), a noble indentured servant who shares a bond with a flying creature called a Bennu; Nemesis (Doona Bae), a cyborg sword master whose mechanical hands allow her to wield molten-metal weapons; Darrian Bloodaxe (Ray Fisher), an insurgent who has been harrying the Imperium with guerilla attacks; and Milius (E. Duffy), a refugee who seeks justice for their home — a colony that has already fallen to the Mother World.
Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire hits Netflix on December 21. The sequel, Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver, will debut on April 19, 2024.