With Netflix’s ‘Rebel Moon,’ Begun, The Snyder Wars Have

While critical reception is not always indicative of overall performance, especially in the streaming era, Netflix’s grand attempt at a Star Wars-like sci-fi IP, Rebel Moon, is starting out rough. Zack Snyder’s epic, which is already two completed movies and potential Netflix-made video game, has had Part 1 reviews come in at a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 42 critics scoring it. Then, as expected, audience reviews have arrived and they are much higher.

While this is not unusual, in this case, we are likely seeing the birth of the next stage of Snyderverse fandom, the extremely vocal contingent of fans who demanded that Snyder’s cut of Justice League be released, which it eventually was, but then that his DC universe be continues, which it won’t be. Now, Rebel Moon is the next front.

While Snyder previously directed Army of the Dead for Netflix, a decently reviewed zombie movie that arrived with little fuss, Rebel Moon is different. This has long been heralded as Snyder’s attempted magnum opus with a big budget and great cast, based on a rejected Star Wars pitch that he now had the freedom to make his own way.

Again, despite some claims about this, critics have generally not hated Snyder movies, where most of his features are a perfectly decent 60-70% on Rotten Tomatoes. His lowest is Sucker Punch, another wholly original production instead of an adaptation, at 22%. Now, Rebel Moon is just above that.

However, it is clear that Snyder fans will not take this lying down. We have already seen hundreds of reviews pour in for Rebel Moon despite the fact that is has not…premiered on Netflix yet. It has debuted in a few select cities for a very limited theatrical release, but accusations are already coming in about high scoring reviews from fans that haven’t seen it (some quite literally haven’t seen it, “I’m sure this is going to be good,” one review says) or more accusations of botting, which was a thing that happened during the entire Snydercut drama. Zack Snyder himself shrugged off the idea of his fans botting during that campaign, as hey, whatever got the job done.

Currently, there are 500+ audience reviews for Rebel Moon, but only one “verified” review, which means you can prove you bought a ticket to a showing. The rest are a mix of mostly 5 stars, but some 1 stars, and rarely anything in between. A battle between the haters and fans. Most everyone involved here may only have Rebel Moon as the singular movie they’ve review on Rotten Tomatoes. I just tried myself, submitting a review that literally said “can I review this without seeing it?” and that 5 star review was approved and posted. So there is really absolutely no way you can trust any of these reviews are legitimate, be they 1 or 5 stars.

The thing is, this will be judged by a much different standard then say, a Star Wars movie, given the context of the Netflix release. The theatrical release is so limited that it simply doesn’t matter, and all that matters is how many people watch it onstream. Netflix viewers are prone to not look up reviews at all, and of course Netflix doesn’t list star ratings, and watch whatever new thing comes out. Hence you see practically all mildly big Netflix original movies hit the top of the charts, at least for a little while. This doesn’t have The Rock/Ryan Reynolds/Julia Roberts A-list stars, for the most part, as the movie is led by the little known (but excellent!) Sofia Boutella, supported by the likes of Charlie Hunnam, Jenna Malone and Michael Huisman, not exactly household names. A lack of star power may be an issue.

There’s also some level of controversy that Netflix is purposefully hiding the “Director’s Cut” of the film in some sort of attempt to recreate the “release the Snyder cut” movement, but many viewers, even fans, are wondering why that wasn’t simply released in the first place, as this clearly wasn’t a studio like WB hacking Justice League to bits after Snyder had to depart. It feels disingenuous.

It is easy to see how this will be the next front in the seemingly endless Snyder Wars. But this time, Snyder fans alone will not be enough to generate the viewership the film needs to be a success. It has to appeal to a wider audience given the scale of Netflix. The critic reviews seem to indicate it may not, but at this point, 500+ audience reviews for a movie only in a few theaters do not seem like they can be trusted either. We won’t know much of anything for sure until its actual release on Netflix on December 21.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.