Netflix's most expensive movie of 2023 becomes huge hit despite bad reviews

Netflix's most expensive movie of the year has been pulled back from the brink of disaster after becoming a huge hit.

Almost an entire three decades have passed since director Zack Snyder first began dreaming up Rebel Moon; the sci-fi fantasy movie that arrived on Netflix at long last on 15 December.

The movie comes at the end of a strong year for Netflix, which has already dropped the likes of Murder Mystery 2, Pain Hustlers and Leave the World Behind in 2023, but none of those titles reached the budget of Rebel Moon.

The film, which is split into two parts, is reported to have cost $166 million to make - a price which you'd hope would pay off with some good reviews.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Netflix

Rebel Moon has been hit with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 24 percent, making it undeniably 'certified rotten' on the site. On IMDb, the movie has received a middling rating of 5.7/10, and the critics' comments don't incite much confidence, either.

"The story is a derivative mess that feels as though it was assembled from bits of plot picked off the carcasses of other, better films, and glued together with brain-numbing, pace-killing chunks of exposition," wrote Wendy Ide of the Observer.

Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post commented: "Like the Death Star obliterating planets, Zack Snyder is out to topple countless innocent genres."

These certainly aren't words that would usually encourage people to watch a film, but the reviews and ratings seem to have had little impact on those curious to find out what Netflix's most expensive movie of the year is all about.

The film currently holds the top spot in Netflix's Top 10 movies, and it's proved so successful with viewers that Snyder himself decided to create a video to thank everyone who's given it a chance.

In a post shared on X, he wrote: "We did it rebels! Thank you for making Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire the # 1 movie on Netflix WORLDWIDE!"

The director shared further thanks in the video to his fans 'around the world', before reminding them that the Rebel Moon experience isn't finished yet.

"Cannot wait for you to see Part Two: The Scargiver April 19th," he added in his post.

Fans on X have made clear that they don't believe the critics' reviews are accurate, with one person describing the movie as 'amazing'.

"#RebelMoon is great," they wrote. "Truly breathtaking and totally transportive to another world.

"Any imperfections it suffers are not anything you won't find in your favorite fantasy films. I haven't finished it yet but so far it's amazing!"

The official Rebel Moon X account offered people even more reason to watch the first movie by releasing a sneak-peek of the second instalment which featured a spoiler.

The next movie will continue to follow Kora and the warriors, bringing their battle to its epic climax and conclusion.

Rebel Moon Part Two will arrive on Netflix on 19 April.