This story, which Snyder has been mulling for more than three decades, focuses on outcasts, malcontents, and refugees from many disparate planets who join forces to rise up together against a punishing authoritarian government.
This time the 300 and Justice League filmmaker is creating not just one world but a sprawling menagerie of planets, full of cyborg warriors with molten-metal swords, giant half-humanoid arachnids, and ancient robots that seem to have emerged more from medieval times than the future. The new Netflix space saga that Snyder directed and cowrote extends far beyond the verdant orb of the title. That moon is actually one of the more modest worlds. It circles an immense gas giant at a distant edge of the galaxy and is populated mainly by farmers. It’s nowhere special, but it’s about to change the balance of power in this fictional universe.
Debuting on Netflix on December 22, Rebel Moon is not just one movie—it’s already a saga, with plans to split the film into two parts.
Also arriving at later dates will be more explicit, harder-edged cuts of the two movies. The first version of Rebel Moon to hit screens will be a fantasy adventure “that anyone can enjoy and watch,” Snyder says. The later cut will be strictly for adults. “I think for fans of mine and people who are ready to take a deeper, harder dive, that’ll be fun for them,” he says.
Smart! While reading the first message, I was already mentally composing a snarky “#ReleaseTheSnyderCut” reply, but that’s now been defanged by fact being stupider than fiction.
I generally enjoy Zack Snyder, so I’ll definitely watch it. However, it looks super cheesy. Whether that’s cheesy fun or just cheesy stupid remains to be seen. Also aren’t those basically 100% lightsabers ripoffs in the trailer?
Seriously though, I haven’t liked Sofia Boutella’s acting in anything. She looks great, and she can certainly move fluidly, but her acting is not good.
I still have a paperback copy of Bruce Bethke (yay!) and Vox Day’s (boooo!) Rebel Moon, which was based on the PC shooter Rebel Moon Rising. When this new Snyder Cut came out, I wondered if there was a connection. Nope, guess not. Probably for the best.
Snyder does so love the idea of a massive franchise/setting that he can expand into through multiple movies or shows. Remember when he seeded Army of the Dead with multiple little nuggets?
No?
Well, I can’t blame you: It was a silly movie with a ridiculous premise, dumb plot holes, and forgettable characters. But Snyder absolutely tried – he had some zombies that were robots (they “why?” was supposed to be revealed in an Anime-style cartoon show); he had pregnant zombies; he had references to Area 51 and aliens; he had different “tiers” of zombies. He was clearly in it for the long haul… but his hopes were dashed when – through no fault of his own – audiences found the movie to be silly with a ridiculous premise, dumb plot holes, and forgettable characters.
I dunno, looks sci-fi, looks action, could be good. I mean, 300 was good (and I will argue Watchmen was as well). But if this ends up with a runtime of less than 190 minutes I will be surprised.
