Rebel Moon fails for 3 reasons, but there is still hope

Netflix wanted to end 2023 with a bang: With Rebel Moon – Part 1: Child of Fire by star director Zack Snyder (300), one of the most epic sci-fi films of the year was supposed to lay the foundation for a huge franchise. However, the desired bang feels more like a gigantic misfire. There are 3 reasons for this.

After a strong 20 minutes, things only go downhill for Rebel Moon

The first of two confirmed Rebel Moon films revolves around war veteran Kora (Sofia Boutella), who leads a peaceful existence as a farmer on the small moon Veldt. Your new life will be sudden destroyed by the arrival of Imperial soldiers. The troops are led by the cruel Admiral Noble (played brilliantly by Ed Skrein), who wants to subjugate their village. In order to stand up to her oppressors, Kora looks for powerful support on the neighboring planet.

Check out the trailer for Rebel Moon – Part 1: Child of Fire here

Child of Fire celebrates its best moments in these first minutes. Kora’s motivation and that of her farmer friends are clearly defined: the traumatized ex-soldier struggles internally to accept the new home that the level-headed village leader (Corey Stoll) and her crush Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) want to offer her.

With Noble and his soldiers, a cruel force descends on their small world. But that’s fun: Skrein plays his fascist officer with a mixture threatening politeness and an almost sexual sadism, which is close to that of the Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) from Zack Snyder’s 300.

His soldiers wear crew cuts and speak in Afrikaans. These are surprising creative decisions that make the characters more interesting. The military robot Jimmy, voiced by Anthony Hopkins, whom the soldiers bring with them, is one of the best characters in the film: tragic, poetic, wise, naive, all within a few scenes.

Reason 1: Netflix’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon looks surprisingly bad

But from minute 1 it is unfortunately clear that Child of Fire is visually disappointing. There is no lack of megalomaniacal motifs, for example when Sofia Boutella pushes her plow through an evening field in front of the panorama of gigantic planets. And if Kora in dark armor firing glowing red volleys across a snowy planet, it is a colorful delight.

But many of the CGI uses look cheap. The effect of imperial threat shrinks to aesthetic discomfort as Noble’s spaceships resemble video game cutscenes. According to Variety, Netflix spent at least $166 million on both Rebel Moon films, not including the actors’ and director’s fees. Where did the money go? Is the infamous Netflix look to blame? With a director like Zack Snyder, who has based his entire career on visual violence, this is the case Optics are a shock for fans and a break in the neck for the film.

Reason 2: Rebel Moon’s story is extremely weak

The story alone cannot maintain the suspense of the film. Koras is planet hopping in search of support essentially a remake of the Japanese classic The Seven Samurai or his Western remake The Magnificent Seven. It’s completely okay to bow to film history. But a nod doesn’t make a good plot.

Rebel Moon bombards its audience with locations, characters, scenes and twists that they have often seen elsewhere. Star Wars elements such as lightsabers or cloud cities may still be explained by the production history as a Disney pitch (via Empire ). But entire character developments and situations are taken from other examples:

The amoral mercenary with the sudden heart of gold. The drunken ex-war hero, who goes into battle again. The mysterious swordswoman whose compassionate heart mourns her enemies. The story of Child of Fire, and it really hurts to say it, simply offers nothing new.

Or just frustrating fragments: Some characters, such as Djimon Hounsou’s General Titus, end up on the sidelines immediately after their pompous introduction, as if they can still sleepwalk until the sequel Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scar Maker. In many places, Child of Fire feels like a very basic foundation for the sequel. That gives hope for the sequel, but doesn’t take away the frustration of part 1.

Reason 3: The fight scenes in Rebel Moon are just not engaging

However, I admit that the story was secondary for me. After all, Zack Snyder isn’t known for complex plots. But without impressive visuals, all I can do is cling to the story, and that too lets me down. The only thing that makes me could have saved at this point, were gripping action scenes.

By that I don’t mean CGI battles, but rather well-staged fight scenes. I want to feel physically carried away by a kick, a punch or a shot. It’s nice when choreography and camera work flow together like a kind of film ballet Bash body parts into each other in perfect proportion. I didn’t expect a Hong Kong cinema. But I had hope for Rebel Moon.

Unfortunately, the physical impact of the fight scenes fell victim to the editing. Shots, punches, kicks all seem to end in nothing, There are no really impressive highlights. After Kora decimated Noble’s captors in the first action scene, I took my breath away. Instead I just shrug my shoulders.

My action frustration is not a criticism of the stunt team around Damon Caro (300), whose decades of work are beyond any doubt. And I don’t blame Zack Snyder’s ideas for the production either. Rather, I assume that the Fight scenes toned down for a lower age rating became.

Despite the sci-fi disappointment: Zack Snyder’s first Rebel Moon film can still be saved

Zack Snyder has a version for the first two Rebel Moon films “for adults” announced (via Vanity Fair). It is aimed at a US R rating, which in Germany often corresponds to a rating of 16 years and over. In the Entertainment Weekly interview, the director described the alternative version as “sexy, brutal and crazy“.

It is not known when the second version of Rebel Moon Part 1 will be released. But I hope a lot from her. The flat story won’t save it, but if the action scenes are engaging, that entertains me enough. “It’s not just a longer version“Snyder told the Associated Press. “It’s almost a different film.“ I don’t want to be malicious. But yes. Please.