Rebel Moon: So, what is the Director's Cut worth?

The “hardcore” and “deeper and bloodier” (according to Netflix) version of Zack Snyder's space opera raises the bar (a little).

Barely seven months later, here is the long version of Rebel Moonthe ambitious science fiction fresco by Zack Snyderher “Seven Samurai Star Wars Version”The original version didn't really convince us, nor the first film, nor the secondso what can we say about the Director's Cut? First of all, there is no deception on the merchandise in terms of length: chapter 1 is extended by 70 minutes, while the second takes an additional 50 minutes. Almost a third film in addition? An entire season of series, in fact: watch the two films version “hardcore” And “deeper and bloodier”according to the platform's words, will take you 6 hours and 17 minutes in total. With a lot of blood (digitally) and even sex, so not recommended for the most sensitive.

Throwing The Blood Chalice (this is the new title of Chapter 1), you could almost believe it. The prologue is brand new: the conquest of a planet by the Mother World. A great intro, which sets the stakes of the world created by Snyder, but which especially reminds us how strong the filmmaker is when it comes to the beginnings of his films: the prologues of Army of the Deadof Watchmenof 300 or of Sucker Punch are real little mannerist manifestos. We can therefore add this new prologue, where we see the fascist-communists of the future branding naked women with hot irons or pulling out the teeth of their defeated enemies to add them to a hunting board… Great!

The problem is that afterwards it becomes again Rebel Moonand it hasn't really changed: it's still a sub-Seven Samurai who didn't understand anything about Kurosawa, totally devoid of humor, stuffed with an imagery oscillating between the worst flaws of the paintings of Boris Vallejo and of lore mascu-muscu-faf of Warhammer 40,000. A predictable, hopelessly straight, basically completely untrue fantasy. straight -on target. It's a shame, because this new version includes some nice additions: the most exciting is the introduction of Kali, a colossal woman held chained in the bowels of the bad guys' warships, whose energy powers the engines -and whose tears contain galaxy dust. The first part is thus the most modified; the second, entitled The Curse of Forgivenessdoesn't change much despite its length and remains an exhausting three-hour fight scene that could last half as long if only there weren't so many slow motions and annoying flashbacks – we save, here again, a beautiful new scene where the warrior Nemesis (Doona Bae) does some shadowboxing before the eyes of fascinated children.

Deep down, this Director's Cut may tell something more tragic, industrially. The Netflix platform – no platform, in fact – is accustomed to broadcasting a Director's Cut of its films. How can we explain the existence of this long version, if not by a marketing gimmick consisting of trying to capitalize on the highly publicized “Snyder Cut” effect of Justice League ? For there to be a Director's Cut, there must be a Cut: “hardcore” editing can only exist as a consequence of “soft” editing. For there to be a long version, and therefore an event, there must be a short one. Just like Deadpool & Wolverinewhere the apparent criticism of Marvel is in reality completely controlled by the studio: thus the system creates and controls its own criticism, and above all (this is its goal sui generis) capitalizes on it. “From liberating, irony has become enslaving”wrote David Foster Wallace.Somewhere someone wrote a beautiful phrase about irony: It is the song of the prisoner who has learned to worship the bars of his prison.”