Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon movies have gotten off to a rough start, and changes are necessary to right the ship for the third installment. Snyder’s vision for Rebel Moon began as a Star Wars project that would be unrelated to any of the core narratives established by previous films. When Disney rejected the plan, he re-established the saga as his own original Rebel Moon sci-fi universe, with some exciting world-building and mythology. There are some truly promising ideas at the core of these films, but they haven’t been realized to their full potential.
Several things went wrong with Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon movies, and, truthfully, it might be too late to course-correct the broader audience appeal. For example, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had a much-improved director’s cut, but most of the $872 million box-office worth of viewers who’d seen the theatrical cut wouldn’t be willing to give it a chance, given the poor taste in their mouth. Still, plenty of audiences love Snyder’s films, so if Netflix decides to fund another sequel, it wouldn’t be impossible to improve the series.
The sensationalism surrounding Snyder’s director’s cut worked to his benefit for Justice League, but it’s been largely detrimental to Rebel Moon. Before A Child of Fire was released on the streaming platform, Netflix announced its strategy for the main releases to be PG-13 two-hour versions, with complete R-rated director’s cuts to come out later. While this could seem like a fun gimmick, it sets an awful precedence for the film’s initial release, as someone aware of this knowledge is essentially expecting to watch an incomplete movie.
Seeing the first two Rebel Moon movies, they feel incomplete. The narrative often feels condensed, the movies lack time for authentic character development, and Snyder seems to be pulling his punches on many of the action sequences. It’s like Netflix is offering a two-hour trailer for a complete movie, but by the time the full edition releases, most of its potential audience pool will already be disinterested.
Much of Netflix’s marketing for Rebel Moon is that it’s a Zack Snyder movie to the core. It’s a visually epic, grand-scale action movie with many of his usual motifs. Yet, the version audiences have seen isn’t even Snyder’s version; it’s the version he’s cut to fit Netflix’s two-hour, PG-13 restrictions. For better or worse, if Netflix is going to fund a quintessentially Zack Snyder project, they have to go all in from the start.
Netflix’s release plan for Rebel Moon has been bizarre and likely a significant contributor to Rebel Moon 2’s poor reviews. The streaming service has created such a frustrating spectacle with the idea of later-released director’s cuts, playing into Zack Snyder’s divisive perception among film viewers, and it’s totally backfired. The criticism of Rebel Moon movies is totally justified, but it’s likely amplified by the fact that Netflix might be withholding improved versions of the films because of their marketing gimmick.
When analyzing the flaws of the first two Rebel Moon movies, many critics cited the film’s dialogue as one of the major issues. Dialogue has been an issue throughout Snyder’s career, and it’s commonly an issue in similar movies. For example, members of the original trilogy Star Wars cast criticized George Lucas’s script for its dialogue, with lines being changed for the final product. In doing so, Star Wars still balanced necessary world-building with each character having a distinct, memorable personality.
The Rebel Moon cast features some talented stars, but their performances are made generic and bland by the film’s dialogue. Each character is used primarily as a vessel to share their own backstory by directly telling audiences and other characters precisely what they need to say. It’s all heavy-handed exposition, breaking the capital storytelling rule of “show, don’t tell.” Rebel Moon 3 needs to allow each character to have their own unique voice and disposition, allowing their development to flow and audiences to connect with them better.
Dialogue is a crucial element in developing characters, but film is also a visual art. Using movies like Star Wars and Seven Samurai as examples, due to their apparent influence on Rebel Moon, there are vital ways in which character arcs play out through subtle physical performance elements. Rebel Moon has the tall task of very quickly introducing several different characters on top of world-building elements, and it’s tricky to balance them all out.
The first movie primarily introduces the Rebel Moon characters’ weapons and fighting skills, demonstrating what each can bring to the team in action sequences. Rebel Moon 2 offers a series of flashbacks to show each character’s motivations, but all of this growth ties explicitly to the film’s plot. Interpersonal character moments are few and far between and seem to lack specific meaning. Gradually building up the friendships among the rebels should be a top priority in the third movie.
Ed Skrein is a compelling actor, and he does a fine job as Atticus in the first two Rebel Moon movies, but as a villain, he’s not particularly nuanced or original. Atticus serves a distinct purpose of being so despicable that audiences feel inclined to root for the heroes just to see him killed. The third film can utilize one of the saga’s most intriguing characters, Regent Balisarius.
So far, Balisarius hasn’t been explored with any particular depth, but there’s an intriguing air of mystery surrounding him that makes him a more engaging villain. This could perhaps be because the performer, Fra Fee, doesn’t have as much experience and hasn’t played a villain character in a mainstream movie. Ed Skrein was the main antagonist of Deadpool and is often typecast in villain roles. Fra Fee’s Balisarius can offer Rebel Moon 3 a fresh cinematic villain.
Regarding its narrative structure, Rebel Moon draws more from Seven Samurai than it does Star Wars, but comparisons for both are notable. Star Wars is the defining cinematic space opera, and, naturally, anything in the science fantasy genre will draw comparisons to it. Dune: Part Two was released earlier in 2024 and was met with astounding praise from critics and fans, as it provided something totally original in the genre.
There’s a particular desire among movie audiences for compelling, original stories right now, and Rebel Moon suffers from feeling like a worse version of Star Wars. Of course, that’s a simplistic, generalized review, but the initial releases draw so many elements from Star Wars and don’t even have the brutal, R-rated Zack Snyder elements to differentiate it. More grotesque elements may not precisely be the answer, but Rebel Moon 3 needs to steer away from Star Wars and find its own identity.
With the audience’s desire for original stories in mind, specific elements made 2023 movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer successful. They were a refreshing change of pace compared to the seemingly repetitive blockbusters of the 2010s. In a sense, Zack Snyder’s movies have stood for the exact same thing in the past, with his superhero movies distinguished for offering a darker tone than the Marvel movies released around the same time.
Love or hate his movies, Zack Snyder is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable names in filmmaking because his work has stood out for having a distinct style. Netflix can hone in on this aspect of Rebel Moon, advertising them as sci-fi movies that offer something fresh and exciting. Streaming releases won’t have the same event nature as theatrical, but Snyder’s movies could have a similar effect if the marketing is geared towards offering viewers an original experience.
The emotional core of the first two Rebel Moon movies is arguably the communal relationship of the farmers on Veldt and the romance between Kora and Gunnar. However, neither of these elements plays out as fluidly as intended. This is due to several factors, but primarily ties back to individual characters not being well-developed. The action sequences in Rebel Moon are visceral, but they’d mean even more if audiences connected with the participants.
Consider Star Wars again, and the sheer emotion of the third act in The Empire Strikes Back. The “I am your father” line is one of the most famous in movies, but the impact comes from a distinct level of care for Luke Skywalker and his process through the hero’s journey. In the same sense, Kora’s reaction to Gunnar’s death should offer a similar impact, but there are so many missing pieces along the way that prevent the emotional response. Rebel Moon 3 will have some catching up to do in helping audiences relate to the characters more.
Slow motion is a staple of Zack Snyder’s filmography, leading to some of his movies’ most memorable moments. It’s hard to forget the iconic smiley face coin dropping to the ground in Seemen or the “This is SPARTA!” kick from 300. In a recent interview with WIRED, Snyder explained the purpose of slow motion in his movies is to create painting-like shots, framing the most heroic moments to be more distinct and memorable. There’s an interesting thought process behind this style choice.
Snyder’s movies are known for their memorable shots, but there’s just too much slow motion in Rebel Moon 2, and it’s not even all for action. There are prolonged slow-mo shots of wheat being moved around on a farm. Having too much of it dilutes its meaning and the purpose of its intent, as those “iconographic frames” become so common that they lose what makes them unique. At times, in Rebel Moon 2, the slow motion is so unnecessary that it practically seems like a parody of itself.