Quantity over quality. They are a source for content, not entertainment.

Well they certainly succeeded at creating a lot of this.

They probably should have released the DC as a six or seven part mini-series with little title cards like Snyder's cut of JL. This looks pretty unbearable in any form. I watched the first and made it through about five minutes of part two before I stopped. Just couldn't take anymore.

That is how they handled the "extended cut" of The Hateful Eight. Great, now Netflix is bound to release a third version of these movies.

The H8 extended cut was a totally different thing that QT sold Netflix way after the fact. The Rebel Moon thing was Netflix wanting initial PG-13 versions before letting ZS do his Rated R DC versions. That was deal: cut PG-13 versions and you can do your DC's. How some folks out there can't seem to comprehend this is beyond me. It's not that hard to understand.

I understand how the deal worked, I'm just questioning the why it was the deal. It's a streaming service and there's no other reason being given than they said so. That's a pretty lame answer.

Exactly. As I've said before, if Netflix had done a theatrical run (limited or wide), I'd understand the existence of the PG-13 cuts. Otherwise, it's a silly decision.

So then why are folks blaming Zaddy for it?

Not that I'm interested in these movies in any form, but it is entirely stupid that they did it this way. To me it reeks of Netflix saying "Hey let's get viewers all worked up and clamoring like they did for ZSJL and we'll build hype and get the Internet abuzz and everything!"

Except that it doesn't work that way. You can control hype, but you can't control buzz, and Netflix has way too much of the former and absolutely none of the latter. adult movies

I’m 30 minutes into the first and the opening scene was pretty brutally violent and now a sex scene with Sofia Boutella nudity. I did not bother with the other version but based on this so far they must’ve been atrociously neutered.

I assume Netflix has data on how often people watch short vs long movies. It’s probably not clean data comparing different versions of the same movies, but enough to make them believe that the shorter versions of Rebel Moon will get more play. There’s a widget on my NF home page that pulls movies under 90 minutes and further fuels my theory.

I'm over halfway through Part 1. So far the DC is a far better cut. The opening sequence does a better job of setting up the antagonist, even giving context to the young soldier that sides with the villagers. Jimmy (Anthony Hopkins) also gets an actual arc, instead of just dropping out of the story as quickly as he's introduced, only to reappear just before the end credits. There also some minor extensions that go a long way to better flesh out the world and character motivations. It was also good to see that it was never really about the grain, and there's even mention of why the villagers insist on harvesting by hand (it's a religious reason, as I'd assumed after watching the TC). So far, I am really enjoying this cut, even if I find the CG gore silly looking. Also, it does nothing to negate Snyder's slomo fetish.

Overall, the DC of Part 1 is objectively better, even if still a flawed film. I will say that there is one change I thought was odd was the removal of Anthony Hopkins' opening narration, given that it makes his later moments of narration in the DC (now beginning about an hour into the movie) stick out as odd. Had the opening narration been left intact the later bits of narration would have not stuck out as awkward.

Jesus... that was too fucking long.

I wouldn't have trimmed any of the plot, but I would have forced Snyder to only keep 5 slomo sequences. I don't hate slomo, but he has many many shots that did not warrant slomo at all (and quite a few action beats would have benefited being shown at full speed). However, there are a handful of shots that were effective.

By the way, I wish the director's cut would have excluded the death of the guy who owned the griffin. Nothing about his behavior or demeanor made him seem like he deserved such a death. Heck, he seemed to he real civil towards Tarak, despite the latter's debt. He also never reneged on the bet to free Tarak. So Tarak looking proudly as the griffin clawed that guy to death always bugged me.

It loses steam in the middle collecting the warriors. It didn't need to be 3.5 hours.

Watched Part I last night and it was awesome. It's definitely a completely different film in terms of story, violence, brutality, and pacing. It's definitely as I said it would be -- it's basically the novelizations come to life.

Starting Part II now.

Made it about an hour or so into Part 1 of the DC last night. While the introduction was impressive, I don't think it did anything other than show what would later be shown again when Skrein and his baddies came to the farm planet. He's a bad guy, we get it. I didn't watch the regular cut second part , so didn't know about the kid who came from the unfortunate family (not to mention the little creature who gave his life for nothing). I will agree that this version is more hard core, and Snyder's love for old school Heavy Metal magazines is on full display. That being said, the dude needs to go back to just directing stuff and not writing as well. I think a movie with a good screenwriter and Zack Snyder directing only would work. He just needs to scale back the damn slo-mo....

I watched the original versions when they were released, and I can't remember anything about them. Started watching the DC of Part One, and some of it seems a little familiar but I still remember nothing about it. Now I'm not even sure if I watched the original cut of the second movie.

About the only thing that stands out in my memory is thinking that Snyder wanted to remake Star Wars but remade Battle Beyond the Stars instead.

Watched Part II this morning and it's only marginally better. The action and violence still rock but unfortunately that makes getting to it take that much longer since there's more character arcs. Also, the ending is a bit more final with that "kingly" epilogue.

I think the DC of Part I is awesome all the way around. Part II is certainly flawed but has some good shit in it. Oh, and both films start differently. They no longer have the labial "vagina" folds of space opening up. There's no more Jimmy narrating the opening of the films either.

I do think Netflix should have released this version from the very beginning because you're going to have a lot of people that will not want to revisit these longer versions. Ironic since most of the MCU crap out there is rather unwatchable but something like this is more of a curiosity that should be given the benefit of the doubt. Oh well.

I just finished Part 2. Just like Why So Blu?, I found the DC to be an improvement, but not so vast an improvement as Part 1. Also, I wish the trailer hadn't spoiled

Best that had been left as a surprise, given its sole purpose is that of sequel bait.

Anyhow, both these DCs should have been the only versions released, but neither is a five star affair. I'd give four stars to Part 1 (three for its TC) and three stars to Part 2 (two and a half for its TC). There is enough here to make me want a Part 3, but Snyder needs someone to really refine his work. Basically a film editor willing to be more like a book editor. Then again, Dody Dorn is no hack. So perhaps the fault lies with Deborah Snyder, Eric Newman, and Wesley Coller not pushing back against their director (and co-producer)? Because sometimes the right amount of resistance helps a director to be more judicious with his/her particular flourishes.

Oh and as much as I like Tom Holkenborg, his music in Part 2 (either cut) sounds like leftover music from his score to Zack Snyder's Justice League. Especially during the final shot of Part 2's DC that left me expecting Darkseid to show up and say "prepare the armada".