Rebel Moon: The Director’s Cut – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood

The R-rated Director’s Cut of the first instalment of writer/director Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic is better than the watered-down version originally released, but it’s still unlikely to win over those unimpressed by what they’ve seen so far.

Premise:  In a far flung galaxy, the peaceful life of a farming colony on the moon of Veldt is threatened when the military forces of the distant Motherworld come looking for a hidden band of rebels.  The first instinct of Kora (Sofia Boutella), an outsider taken in by the villagers, is to flee – but she soon realises that the colony will only survive if she can find the rebels herself and recruit them to protect the village from the forces of the Imperium, led by the ruthless Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein).

Review:

While some “director’s cuts” are almost completely different movies (such as Zack Snyder’s Justice League), and others can offer a much more fulfilling experience that expands backstories and fills in plot-holes (like the extended versions of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Watchmen), some are just a ‘bigger’ version of the original release.  The Director’s Cut of the first Rebel Moon movie – now retitled “Chapter One – Chalice of Blood” – is for the most part essentially the same movie as Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, so I won’t repeat everything that I said in that review here.

The biggest change between the two versions is the ratings: I said in my original review that the first version felt like it was neither one thing or the other – too hard edged to be suitably for kids, but also like its wings have been clipped in terms of its violence.  The Director’s Cut is an 18-rating in the UK, and has tonnes of stylised, bloody violence (think 300, but in space) and bad language, as well as a fair bit of nudity (which is on the cusp of being gratuitous, although it does arguable serve a story purpose).

“…now leans more heavily into the pulp novel/grungy comic aesthetic…”

While some might say that extreme violence and profanity is not big or clever, it does actually improve this movie, which now leans more heavily into the pulp novel/grungy comic aesthetic.  The tone is now much further removed from the universe of Star Wars (which for some was a problem with the original release), and the bleak violence of the world is more in keeping with the stylised, hard-boiled world of something like Sin City than it is with something like Battle Beyond the Stars.

That said, plot-wise and character-wise ‘Chapter One’ does not add much more to what was already in ‘Part One’, despite being around an hour longer.  There’s a new extended opening scene to introduce Ed Skrein as Admiral Atticus Noble, who’s arguably even more cruel and sadistic in this version, but otherwise, the additional scenes mainly keep us updated on what the villagers are doing while Kora (Sofia Boutella) and Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) are off-world recruiting fighters to protect the village.  Thankfully this also means that we’re given much more insight into the evolution of “Jimmy”, the robot-knight voiced by Sir Anthony Hopkins, than we had in the original version (where he disappeared completely after the barn-fight, and then popped up in a field in the closing moments…).

“…feels like the director’s unfettered vision for the story…”

Overall, if you enjoyed Part One – A Child of Fire, there’s a good chance you’ll prefer Chapter One – Chalice of Blood, which feels like the director’s unfettered vision for the story.  But if the original release left you cold, there’s probably not enough new material in this director’s cut to change your mind.