“The Stakes Are Different”: Rebel Moon Part 1’s New Opening Scene & Aris Impact Detailed By Zack Snyder

Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood!

Zack Snyder has explained how the new opening sequence for Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood completely changes the movie’s tone. Following Rebel Moon’s original PG-13 rated cuts released on December 22, 2023, and April 19, 2024, Netflix recently released Snyder’s full R-rated vision for his space epic under their new chapter names, Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness. The changes made in these versions are immediately apparent, with the first movie including a new, violent opening scene that introduces Ed Skrein’s Admiral Atticus Noble and provides a backstory for Aris, the Imperium Soldier who later comes to switch sides.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about the new Rebel Moon director’s cuts, Snyder explained that he always knew that Chalice of Blood’s opening scene would never be included in the PG-13 version. However, he does agree that its inclusion not only changes the whole tone of the film, but even puts a different spin on Aris’ future interactions later in both movies. Check out his comments below:

Yeah, it was, but we knew before shooting that it was not going to be [in Part One’s PG-13 cut]. I couldn’t really conceive of a PG-13 version of the scene that really got to the why of it, and so we cut it. It was always going to be in the R-rated version only, so we all made peace with that. But I agree a hundred percent. It’s incredibly important, and it really changes the tone of the movie in general. When the Imperium shows up to the Veldt village, the threat is much greater. The stakes are different in general.

Yeah, and there’s also the whole sequence where [Aris] and Sam talk inside [Kora’s] dropship. They have that whole conversation about how they need the guns: “You don’t understand.” So that whole bit is much different.

Were Rebel Moon’s PG-13 Cuts A Mistake?

Many Critics Accused The Original Cuts Of Being Incomplete

While 2021’s release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League is undoubtedly the director’s best-known example of delivering a more complete vision for one of his movies, over the years Snyder has released other extended cuts to greater acclaim than their original versions. Yet despite giving the same treatment to movies like Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snyder’s approach to Rebel Moon’s director’s cuts was unique, in that he had always planned to deliver both the PG-13 and R-rated versions from the outset.

However, when the original PG-13-rated Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire debuted on Netflix, the movie was largely slammed by critics and audiences alike. Accused of being overly derivative, and populated with characters lacking proper motivation and development, many assumed that the PG-13-rated cuts had severely truncated the movie’s more complete narrative. Now, with the R-rated versions seeing improvements in Rebel Moon’s critical and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, it may lend some credence to those original assertions. Check out a comparison of the movies’ current scores below:

While the desire to appeal to a broader audience by offering a PG-13-rated version accessible to younger audiences is understandable, perhaps Snyder and Netflix would have been better off had they simply focused their attention on delivering an R-rated product from the outset. Even from the first few moments of Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood, it is clear that the first version audiences experienced was handicapped by leaving out key backstory details and more violent scenes that have a major impact on the story that follows.

Source: THR