Starring Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounso, Michiel Huisman, Ed Skrein, Bae Doona, Ray Fisher, Charlie Hunnam, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Staz Nair, Fra Fee, Cleopatra Coleman, Stuart Martin, Sky Yang, Invar Sigurdsson, Alfonso Herrera, Cary Elwes, Rhian Ree, Elise Duffy and Jena Malone

Directed by Zack Snyder

Seventy minutes longer than the original version, does Chalice of Blood improve on Child of Fire? Absolutely. What’s weird is that by adding more, it feels like everything that’s already here has room to breathe.

That’s proved straight off the bet with an extended 20-minute opening that shows us the origin of Aris, played by Sky Yang. You remember the young soldier who tries to save Sam from being assaulted by his colleagues? No? Don’t blame you, he was barely named on screen. Here he gets a full backstory that adds vital context to his actions, improves the Veldt plot, gives Jimmy more to do and makes him an actual character.

He’s far from alone. Everyone benefits from the additional screen time, especially Boutella and Skrein whose mirror-image soldiers are given an extra dimension by the expansion of Aris’s arc. Aris and Kora are child soldiers recruited from the war. It’s implied, heavily, Skrein’s magnificently odious space tory is too. The moral choice the three make shows how agency survives or withers in the face of fascism. Noble’s embrace of that fascism, and the clear love he feels for his work, makes him a true believer. By contrast Aris and Kora are troubled, less certain but on the right side of history. It’s a smart approach and the movie is so much better for it.

What’s really interesting though is how the extra story solves so many of the original cut’s problems. The ‘go to world/recruit soldier/go to next world’ interminable middle act is still here but it feels far more organic and without the constant rush, elements from the original cut become more perceptible and more successful too. Hunnam, clearly having a blast as Kai, gets some surprisingly emotional moments as another Motherworld refugee and the Bloodaxes actually feel like a presence here. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still barely on screen before one of them sacrifices themselves but they have meaning here beyond the boxticking that their presence in Child of Fire, the original cut, felt like. There’s actual arcs! And acting! For basically everyone!

It seems very strange to say a longer cut feels like it has less in it but it honestly does. Characters all get room to breathe, there are moments of calm and some nicely handled suggestions of what’s going on off screen. The Hawkshaw bounty hunters hiding near Veldt are a nicely handled constant threat and Jimmy’s evolution from pacifist to robotic nature warrior god actually happens on screen instead of off here. Crucially, the Motherworld too feels far more defined, and the collision between conquest as imperial glory and conquest as mindless consumption feels like an actual thread instead of stuck on a post-it note in a slow motion gunfight. Even the introduction of the Kalis, the colossal robotic female aliens who power their ships, feels like it’s in line with the Motherworld’s rabid oppression rather than another excuse to show naked women having bad things happen to them. That being said, the sexual politics are still just this side of ‘What are you THINKING?!’ with added topless branding and a deeply perfunctory sex scene as well as more of Noble’s ocotopoidal lover.  It’s the weakest element by far along with the added brutality, which is as constant as the slow motion is not. Countless heads get bashed in, endlessly badly realized CGI blood spatters and the fights that work rely on neither of these things. Kora dismantling Noble in the closing scene really benefits from more space and minimal goo. The endless parade of slow motion blood gouts that define a lot of the gunfights not so much.

Verdict: In the end, Chalice of Blood feels like a complete movie where Child of Fire felt like a hurriedly cut down one. It’s much more successful and while it won’t convert anyone to Snyder’s style, fans will find a lot to enjoy. The only question is, why wasn’t this the first release? 8/10

Alasdair Stuart