The Zack Snyder directors cuts are the way Zack Snyder intended you to watch the project, so why bother watching the “theatrical cut”; stripped down of its rating and confined by a made-for-cinema edit that wasn’t even released in cinemas in the first place? Chalice of Blood extends the runtime to three point five hours in favour of a gory, exploitation filled action flick that is the much better version than what you’d expect. Opening with a prologue that sets the structure up for the storyline in a much better way, we spend more time with Admiral Noble here; more time with the villains, and more time to give the characters arcs – Ed Skrien was a tad too rushed in the first cut and it’s really interesting to try and watch this film, having seen both versions – and try and argue why it was cut when it really shouldn’t have been. This lets you know how terrifyingly ruthless they are from the off rather than being told how scary they are – so that when the Motherworld’s Dreadnaught comes to the small farm you feel afraid for them so much more than you did before, and you buy into the fact that Sofia Boutella’s character argues that there’s no chance fighting them. He benefits the most from this film and Skrien’s presence is a real delight.
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| Sofia Boutella in Rebel Moon - Part One: Chalice of Blood |
Plus it allows Snyder to show the audience where his real strength lies, as a visual director. His aim to create a Seven Samurai-inspired science fiction epic lets him have fun with the awe-inspiring visuals that really give the worlds on show here added oomph and depth. It feels like they have been upgraded from the original cut and given more time to breathe – so the alien worlds feel properly alien, and the vast galaxy feels vast and audacious. It also allows more room for the characters to shine here with Sofia Boutella benefiting the most from the extended cut, her fight sequences have been upgraded with flair and gravitas, and her early-on character moments betray a hint of conflict that wasn’t there before. The opening scene not just changes the movie entirely but elevates it; gives it stakes – gives the Veldt village a sense of mortal peril and agency that the first part lacked. It’s clear that the PG-13 rated cuts held back Snyder from being full Snyder, at his heart, he’s just a big, dumb, blockbuster version of Terrence Malick – and whilst to argue Chalice of Blood is “great” would be wrong – you can’t help but applaud its efforts to create an immersive world.
The plot is still largely the same – but the strands of Imperial violence and cruelty give a darker town and establish who these villains are rather than just generic bad guys. The King, played again by Cary Elwes (I reviewed The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare recently where he plays a major role), was killed – and now the Imperium is going about on a ruthless killing spree. It’s a movie that shows you that the stakes were missing from Child of Blood and shows you why more time spent in this world is a better, not a worse thing – and the stakes are clearer still with the film’s need for violent, heightened combat that puts the characters in more mortal peril. Snyder’s subplots make the film feel like a graphic novel come to life – this makes perfect sense of course; for the last decade’s flagship of the DC Universe on film, and the helmer of Watchmen and 300.
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| Ed Skrien, Rebel Moon Part One: Chalice of Blood |
A visual director first and foremost with references everywhere, this film is Snyder’s blank cheque, almost – a mythmaking world that fleshes out the need for ritualisation and shows you part of the village’s character and heart before the story starts. Aesthetic bombast and visual flair makes the film feel like a comic book, anti-imperialist sentiments owe much to the gravitas of a Lucas-influence, with Star Wars being a heavy shadow over Rebel Moon as much as Kurosawa. Influences are everywhere and whilst at times the film can’t escape its derivative shadow, it tries – mythmaking as an artform, worldbuilding and care put into creating a fully-realised epic.
A grand struggle against an all-cannibalising Imperium helps Chalice of Blood emerge out of the shadows to become a mash of influences ranging from the prequels to Terrence Malick. It doesn’t all work – yet you can’t help but admire the efforts of a madman.
A grand struggle against an all-cannibalising Imperium helps Chalice of Blood emerge out of the shadows to become a mash of influences ranging from the prequels to Terrence Malick. It doesn’t all work – yet you can’t help but admire the efforts of a madman.
