Rebel Moon director Zack Snyder has responded to the backlash of the first installment of his Netflix sci-fi saga received, saying his movies are always "very polarising."
In a recent conversation with Empire, Snyder acknowledged the critical reception to Rebel Moon: Part 1 - A Child of Fire, saying he doesn't have a "rebuttal" to the backlash. He said he is unsure why it garnered such a response, but he has now come to expect it as his movies often cause divisions among fans and critics.
"I don't really have a rebuttal to the reviews. For whatever reason, the reaction to my movies is very polarising, and it always has been," Snyder admitted. "The movie, it doesn't seem like there's that much in it that would warrant such visceral responses."
Part 1: A Child of Fire boasts a 21% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the general consensus being that the movie's visual eye candy "isn't enough to offset a storyline made up of various sci-fi/fantasy tropes." IGN, however, said it suffered from "a derivative patchwork script, mediocre action sequences and a superficial story."
The audience score sits a little higher at 58%, but that didn't stop one of the movie's main stars, Sofia Boutella, who plays the titular "Scargiver" Kora, from being affected by the negative reviews. Snyder, too, is anticipating the response to his Rebel Moon director's cuts because, in his own words, they include "all the gore and the hard R-ness and the nudity and the violence and crazy s**t" that initially got left out.
"They're insane," Snyder said of the extended versions. "It'll be interesting to see what the [critics] say about the director's cuts. That's a different kettle of fish."
Snyder's sci-fi two-parter will conclude when Rebel Moon: Part 2 – The Scargiver releases on Netflix on April 12, 2024, less than five months after Part 1: A Child of Fire premiered. The R-rated director's cuts of both films will likely follow close behind Part 2, with the extended versions releasing on the same day sometime in the summer.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.
