Since departing from Warner Bros. and taking his talents over to Netflix, Zack Snyder has been very, very busy with not one but 2 new universes. Starting off with the solid zombie heist flick Army of the Dead, the polarizing director has decided to aim higher by creating an ambitious, massive two-part space opera in Rebel Moon, a film he originally pitched to Lucasfilm as a Star Wars spin-off. Unfortunately, this would-be franchise starter stumbles badly at the starting gate.
After a long monologue from Anthony Hopkins’ robotic character Jimmy explaining the history of the Motherworld—the galaxy’s ruling planet that becomes a brutal imperialist military force after its ruling monarchs were killed—we’re introduced to our main heroine, Kora (Sofia Boutella): a woman with a mysterious past who now lives in a small farming community on the moon Veldt. That peace is soon interrupted by the arrival of a Motherworld warship led by the brutal Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein), who demands the village to supply their troops with food, giving them 10 weeks to do so and killing the village chief.
Rather than face subjugation, Kora and her friend Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) travel the galaxy to recruit a group of warriors in hopes of protecting their village from the Motherworld’s eventual return. Those warriors include former Motherworld general-turned-gladiator Titus (Djimon Hounsou); beast-tamer Tarak(Staz Nair); Nemesis(Doona Bae), an assassin who wields a pair of lightsab–I mean glowing swords; Kai (Charlie Hunnam), a smuggler so blatantly ripped from Han Solo they may as well just to avoid copyright infringement; and finally, the hilariously-named insurgent leader Darrian Bloodaxe (Ray Fisher).
“By the time the climax hits, the characterization of each member is so thin outside of their one cool trait that it’s hard to care if they survive or not.”
If all of that sounds familiar, it’s because Rebel Moon cribs its plot wholesale from Akira Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai alongside its heaping helping of Star Wars. Although taking elements from classics isn’t all bad if done creatively—Star Wars is famously a pastiche of Lucas’ influences from Flash Gordon to another of Kurosawa’s works, The Hidden Fortress—Rebel Moon doesn’t feel inspired as much as it feels like a blatant copycat. Veldt may as well be Tattooine with grass, the Motherworld military is just the Empire in a more obvious Nazi-inspired wardrobe, and even Hunnam’s introduction may be in the same cantina as A New Hope.
In a recent interview with AP, Snyder discussed that although Netflix wanted Rebel Moon to be PG-13, he wanted the film to be R-rated, and convinced them to release director’s cuts of both halves at a later date, both of which are going to be an hour longer than their original releases. With that knowledge in mind, it’s very telling that this version is truncated to an almost comedic level. There’s barely any time for character development throughout its already long 132-minute runtime, jumping from planet to planet and barely getting a chance to know anyone. Most of the dialogue that is there is relegated to mountains of exposition.
“This version of Rebel Moon is a boring, undercooked mess.”
Each new character introduced gets a cool action beat, joins the team, is immediately relegated to the background, rinse and repeat. By the time the climax hits, the characterization of each member is so thin outside of their one cool trait that it’s hard to care if they survive or not.
The same goes for the action sequences in Rebel Moon, which admittedly do look cool thanks to Snyder’s signature speed-ramping technique. However, it’s so clearly edited down that it loses any kind of real visceral impact. Not to mention, in a year where a lot of blockbusters have been ending halfway through the story, this one has the least exciting ending of the bunch. Even though Part Two is in April, Part One’s ending point fell so flat I’m not even excited to see what will happen next.
I’m sure that the director’s cut will address several of my issues and will end up being much more enjoyable. As it stands, this version of Rebel Moon is a boring, undercooked mess. In Netflix trying to force a double “Snyder Cut” phenomenon, they’ve created the first half of a blockbuster that’s hard to recommend to anybody. The hardcore Snyder fans aren’t going to take to it like his previous works because it isn’t his true, uncompromised vision, and I don’t see casual Netflix viewers flocking to rewatch it because it’s mostly just a bore.
