Of course Zack Snyder is readying an extended, R-rated edition of Rebel Moon

Director Zack Snyder has a very clear personal brand. If you go to see a Zack Snyder movie, you know you’re going to get slow-motion fight scenes. You know there will be desaturated colors. You know the camera will be worshipful of powerful supermen in a way that maybe feels a little weird. And recently, you know that if you wait long enough, Snyder will probably release a director’s cut that will run the length of an entire afternoon.

Snyder started that tradition in earnest with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a four-hour version of his ungainly 2017 superhero movie Justice League. “The Snyder Cut,” as it came to be known, became a minor cultural event, with fans hunting for it like it was their white whale. When they finally got it, there was much celebrating in the digital streets.

Now, Snyder says that he’s readying an extended version of his newest movie Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, a Netflix original about a woman named Kora (Sofia Boutella) who rallies her community to fight against an incursion by an empire of space fascists. Speaking to Express, Snyder says the extended edition will be out before Rebel Moon: Part 2 — The Scargiver hits Netflix in April, and will feature more scenes involving villain Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein). “It’s, like, an hour longer and has a whole other opening that’s all Ed. It’s really crazy,” Snyder said.

For the record, Rebel Moon – Part One is two hours and 14 minutes long, so the director’s cut will be over three hours. It will also be rated R, which I’m surprised to learn it wasn’t already. Do we not come to Zack Snyder movies for glorious ultraviolence?

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire divides audiences and critics

Reviews for Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire are coming in, and it looks like we have an old-fashioned split on our hands; as of this writing, critics are ripping the movie apart — it has a 21% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes — while audiences are much more receptive; they give it a 72% fresh rating.

By and large, critics complain that the movie is an uninspired Star Wars clone that doesn’t stand on its own, while audiences…well, a lot of the positive reviews I’m reading stop at saying that it’s great. Many of them also mention that the director’s cut will probably be better, or that the movie will be better once Part Two comes out. Maybe that’s true, but I wish filmmakers would make it their mission for every movie they make to be entertaining on its own whether it’s part of a series or not, to say nothing of a first draft for a longer, better extended cut.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is out in theaters now. It drops on Netflix on December 21.

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