At one point in time, Zack Snyder reigned over Hollywood, inducing a mind-coma over the entire comic book fandom with his daring take on DC’s classic lore by trying to go toe-to-toe with Justice League: Gods and Monsters. The resulting DCEU franchise was a controversy that led to a decade-long screaming war between the fans and the studio.
But, Zack Snyder has always played outside the sandbox. It’s difficult to come up with a film that hasn’t been flagged for nudity, morbid violence, or radicalism. A defining example of Snyder’s love for the extreme was found in Watchmen, a comic that was universally deemed unadaptable but stands as one of the most loved/hated (depending on who you ask) adaptations to date.
![Watchmen (2009) dir. by Zack Snyder [Credit: Warner Bros./Paramount Pictures]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/03135446/Zack-Snyders-Watchmen-2009.jpeg "Watchmen (2009) dir. by Zack Snyder [Credit: Warner Bros./Paramount Pictures]")
However, after being tampered down by the DCEU controversy, the director seems to have taken things down a notch — and descended into the realm of a rip-off Star Wars fantasy.
Zack Snyder Fails to Deliver on a Long-Held Promise
After a thorough examination of Zack Snyder’s filmography, it can be said with 100% assurance that a director’s cut is not worth the risk (for him) when it comes to his Hollywood career and reputation. Despite this fact, Netflix pursued Snyder and his full-fledged artistic liberty and was insistent on tapping his creative potential without the risk of an onslaught of fan-forum drama.
![Rebel Moon [Credit: Netflix]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/03135622/Rebel-Moon-%E2%80%93-still-from-the-film-1024x576.jpeg "Rebel Moon [Credit: Netflix]")
The deal between the two parties hinged primarily on letting Snyder realize his director’s vision while prioritizing the streamer’s need for a final cut. Snyder did provide that but could not circumvent the controversy that always seems to follow him around.
With Rebel Moon, the speculations skipped the whole 5-year angst routine and began fairly early, almost overnight even, after the Netflix two-parter failed to deliver on its promise. With its Star Wars-inspired plot premise and early concept art of landscape and characters relegating the anticipation to a peak, the film seemed mediocre at best compared to what it could have potentially been.
Rebel Moon Director’s Cut Goes Terribly Awry
Filled with excessive slo-mo action sequences and prolonged dramatic revelations, the thrill and anticipation are sucked out of the film as Rebel Moon fails to convince its audience of the overarching David vs. Goliath story.
Themes of sacrifice and camaraderie are force-fed down the viewer’s throat. The rag-tag group of nobodies who answer the call and ultimately rise as heroes feels a little too tried and tested, and as such, lacks mystery and originality.
![Rebel Moon [Credit: Netflix]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/03135648/Rebel-Moon-brings-out-the-macabre-vision-of-Zack-Snyder.jpeg "Rebel Moon [Credit: Netflix]")
The result is an appalling 29% Rotten Tomatoes critics rating based on 7 reviews. Could even 10 people not be bothered to log in and leave a review of the film that Zack Snyder pinned all his hopes and dreams on? Perhaps the excessive slow-motion sequences drained the enthusiasm out of their jobs too?
On social media, fans have been hurling curses at the director for his short-sighted attempt at divvying up a perfectly formulaic recipe for success into a long-drawn-out 2 part film that seems to leave behind more void than substance. Opinions range from the lack of a good script to agenda-pushing contributing to Rebel Moon’s failure.
In the end, Rebel Moon Director’s Cut did nothing to improve upon the first draft. The script that Zack Snyder officially marketed as an independent Star Wars spin-off story to Lucasfilm lacks the element that could crack the code and make it all work.
Rebel Moon Director’s Cut is now streaming on Netflix.
