Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire

A fun guilty pleasure where Zack Snyder bit off more than he could chew, but I have no problem with it. We didn't get a proper sci-fi flick this year. Creator was a dull bore and this, though ripping off a lot of other movies, was more likeable than the whole Star Wars thing, which I hate. Part of it may be the fact that I have a soft spot for movies where a team is being put together (The Magnificent Seven vibes!), I've loved Sofia Boutella since Kingsman, and Charlie Hunnam is a good too. The ruthless bad guy Ed Skrein of Nazi ilk kept me entertained and the rest of the characters are pretty okay. Too bad the character development and interaction between them is nil (it’s definitely missing some banter), but I can forgive that. The atmosphere and visuals have a "Warhammer" feel to them, which I applaud, and the action isn't bad. The barn fight is very good (I can imagine some decent gore if the film had been R-rated). Too bad Snyder didn't release an R-rated version immediately, the final impression could have been better. The finale is a bit meh, even though there is one minor twist, it doesn't quite pull it off. All in all I have no problem with the movie, I wasn't bored , the world was interesting, but I'd rather see an Army of the Dead sequel than this. Too bad they didn't add more monster-spiders here, it was excellent. 6/10. (12/27/2023)

Zack Snyder really needs to stop directing his own scripts. It's not doing him any favors, and it's certainly not doing any favors for those of us who, fifteen years ago, thought he was an up-and-coming filmmaker whose work we’d always want to see. Now, I know I don't want to see any more. Rebel Moon should never have been made. The producers of Star Wars, who Snyder originally pitched this to, knew exactly why they didn't want to turn this idea into another story episode. And others also sensed that this was going to be a mess. But then Netflix stepped in, knowing they could draw in viewers based on the names attached to the project, regardless of the film’s actual quality. People might watch it once, but many will struggle to finish it. This film is an absolute disaster. It has all the hallmarks of a decent sci-fi flick, but all the good elements are things we've seen before — and enjoyed more elsewhere. Here, it’s just an embarrassment. If only Zack could accept that screenwriting isn't his forte and instead adapt a well-regarded sci-fi novel. That, I believe, he could pull off — provided he doesn’t meddle with the story. As it stands, this film is a complete mess. How am I supposed to get excited about this universe after such a poor start? Maybe Zack will clear things up in the second part, but I’m not holding my breath. (12/27/2023)

Unfortunately, my expectations were not even halfway met. I can confirm that this is one of the biggest disappointments of the past year. Zack Snyder really missed the mark this time, and by a wide margin. Don’t get me wrong, it's not a complete disaster (I don't understand some of the reviewers here who think so). The visual effects occasionally surprise positively, and there are a few interesting sequences (like the fight with the arachnoid). But the story? What was that supposed to be? I didn’t understand the motivations of the characters at all, and why they joined the protagonist to defend the tiny village. The antagonist is more of a caricature. The acting doesn’t offer much either (considering the script, I suppose I couldn’t expect more), although Sofia Boutella performs decently. And the ending? I’m really not looking forward to the sequel. It had such potential. What a shame. I give it 5/10 (mainly because of the soundtrack... Junkie XL didn’t disappoint). P.S. The slow-motion scenes were more often laughable than anything. (01/11/2024)

Without the slow motion, it would have been half the running time. But okay. Let's just say I had a pretty decent time for the first half at the expense of Zack Snyder trying to embrace the concept of The Magnificent Seven and graft onto it some mythology that would stand up to many sequels. It didn't annoy me, even the graphic sequences from the panels of some overstuffed comic book somehow survived unscathed. But then it starts flying around planets, making do with a few ugly CGI settings, even darker, perhaps to make the digital clutter not so in your eyes. Snyder stuffs in a few generic fights that won't get a normal viewer out of their chair, without any suspense, let alone a hint of atmosphere, and with a villain that looks like out of a classy S&M club. Everything that happens after the scene of the monster taming is one big visually ugly waste, and that's pretty much the entire second half, with one slow-motion sequence after another, where Snyder must have thought that if it worked in 300, it must work here. No, Zack, it really doesn't, maybe in your wet post-pubescent dreams. (01/05/2024)

Zack Snyder used to be a director whose films I alternately rated very high or very low until about 2013, but in the last decade or so my acceptance of his films has settled more on the lower star numbers, with Rebel Moon clearly being the culmination of that trend. It basically can't go any lower than that, everything here is wrong except that it roughly keeps the technical parameters of a Hollywood blockbuster. Good luck trying to build a new cinematic universe around this shit, because I can't imagine who will realistically care about these characters and their world. (12/23/2023)