Taking no lessons from recent successes Army of the Dead (2021) or the passable, yet bloated cut of Justice League (2021), Rebel Moon (2023) revels in the same excesses and poor characterizations that have weighed down other promising Zack Snyder productions.
Rebel Moon Part One: Child of Fire
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein
Runtime: 2 hours, 14 mins
Synopsis
Kora (Boutella) takes up arms against the militaristic, galactic empire Motherworld when they threaten her new home. As she hops around the galaxy collecting various rebels towards her cause, her past dealings with the empire will come full circle – affecting her future and the people she now calls family.
Waiting For Something To Happen
I can’t say that nothing happened in the film.
As much as I would love to come here and say it as a very cheeky, humorous expression of my frustration, events technically took place. However, there’s a difference in the measurable plot points that occurred versus the depth of those plot points.
The core structure of the story – protecting a small village from a massive, interstellar force – should be compelling. Collecting a ragtag team of characters from around the galaxy who share a dislike of an empire should galvanize the audiences towards their cause. However, Snyder doesn’t seem interested in actually exploring these characters with any depth. The script repeats character names and why they should be important, but it doesn’t actually let any of them shine in their moments.
Credit: Netflix
For example: Djimon Hounsou plays General Titus, a character we’re told is a brilliant strategist, someone to be feared, and has waged battles against the Motherworld. But what he actually accomplishes during his little screen time doesn’t actually connect to this characterization. Ray Fisher as Darrian Bloodaxe, a rebellion leader who should feature or be better connected given his importance to the story, suffers from a similar fate. Both characters are touted as having a major impact on the galaxy overall and yet when they finally show up, their contributions are effectively non-existent.
Sofia Boutella’s role as main protagonist Kora and her potentially romantic interactions with fellow townsfolk Gunner (Michiel Huisman) is easily the strongest narrative thread. However, these conversations often happen separately, mostly away from the other crewmates. This disconnect becomes palpable as very few members of the team have opportunities to connect with Kora and when the body count starts to increase in the final act, we don’t really feel those impacts. Now, you don’t have to make every character on the team connect deeply with the main protagonist, they can have varying degrees of connection. However, the lack of effort here really shows when it’s not available or the screenplays desperately wants to tap into emotionality they haven’t created.
Lazy…Simply Lazy
What’s worse than failing to connect characters are the trope driven shortcuts to move the story forward. Since Snyder and fellow writers are disinterested in actually fleshing out the crew, they cram the story full with every narrative shorthand possible – with allusions to or complete rip-offs from other movies – where the sense of deja vu in every scene can be overwhelming. Nothing about this narrative will outsmart or leave you guessing because as an audience member, you’ve seen every element of this film – portrayed the exact same way – in mediocre or much better films that tried harder than what Moon attempts.
Content Warning: Sexual Assault / Rape
I’m not an advocate for rape scenes in films and would lean more towards the idea that you can create the implication without needing to show anything. I also think it shows a laziness in the writing that you couldn’t make evil soldiers feel terrifying without resorting to it. If you lack imagination to make compelling villains, then you definitely don’t deserve to handle sensitive issues of sexual assault.
When it comes to the early scene in question, Rebel Moon doesn’t show anything, but it leads up as close as it can go. Given how poorly this film takes ideas and remixes them, I’m not granting them any grace for including this scene. It may be the catalyst that gets Kora to finally act and defend the townsfolk, but it makes the lack of character building all that more egregious and dissatisfying with this moment included. My worry for Snyder fans that will inevitably clamor to watch the R-rated version is that this scene may have been extended, which is a horrific idea to consider.
And Lazier Slo-Mo
Snyder is no stranger to using the slow motion technique in various moments in his films and has shown a capacity to execute the technique well, like Army of the Dead‘s opening sequence or the infamous Batman warehouse scene from Batman v Superman (2016). But there’s also been moments, like the opening to Justice League, that strain the technique in ways that become laughable. Snyder has shown an inability to help himself; whenever there’s an opportunity to stop himself and make a better choice, he tends to take the opposite path.
Credit: Netflix
In Rebel Moon, Snyder’s dicey history with slow motion is underscored with the lack of emotional stakes. Seeing Kora take flight in a battle doesn’t amount to much when her story hasn’t resonated or when the various character montages take place, nothing lands or connects. Moment after moment is undercut with a goofy slo-mo decision and what’s worse, Snyder’s great eye for composition suffered at the worse possible moment. Even the slo-mo scenes in previous films where I felt he overdid it had something interesting to look at or process. With Rebel Moon, Snyder slows down moments so haphazardly and randomly that you get used to being disengaged with the scene because the moment is unflattering or inconsequential.
Conclusion / Recommendation
Zack Snyder’s ambitious aims to produce a sci-fi epic for Netflix never gels into anything resembling that type of scale. It remixes the best parts of so many sci-fi films it will make your head turn towards the door so you can escape to better productions. With an extended, R-rated version on the way, there’s little doubt that it will turn a boring, drab production into a bloated stinker of a film.
Even avid fans of Zack Snyder are going to have a hard time watching this film and telling you they enjoyed it with a straight face. If you need to watch something on streaming, I would stream or rent The Creator (2023); it’s a much better film that actually has something to say while making a homage to other sci-fi greats like Blade Runner.
Score: 4 out of 10
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