Late last December, Zack Snyder released the first part of his two-part space opera Rebel Moon. As shown in my review, I was decidedly not a fan. For what was supposed to be the launch of his new original franchise, I felt it was a boring Star Wars/Kurosawa pastiche that failed to get me to care for most of its central characters. Part Two is thankfully much more watchable than the first, but it’s not like it had a particularly high bar to clear.
Picking up immediately where Part One left, we find Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her partner/love interest Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) returning to their homeworld – the farming moon Veldt – alongside the surviving members of their band of warriors (Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Staz Nair and Elise Duffy) in celebration after seemingly killing the Motherworld’s Imperium general Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein).
The celebration is short-lived when they learn that not only has the Empire managed to resurrect Noble, but they’re already on their way back to the Veldt with a full-scale invasion in just five days. With no other option, the warriors have to teach their farming community how to defend themselves and prepare for a last stand, one many will not come back from.
One of my main criticisms of the first one was that there was very little characterization for almost any of the characters outside of Kora. Part two finally has a moment where it focuses on actually building up its supporting characters. If anything, it’s great to see the perennially underrated Djimon Hounsou given a role with substantial screen time and depth for the first time in ages, adding some much-needed gravitas to the movie as the tactical leader General Titus.
Most of the warriors’ backstories are delivered in a series of slow-motion montages, and some are more memorable than others, but at least it’s better than nothing, and that nothing is Anthony Hopkins as robot knight Jimmy. He’s a character who was implied to be much more important to the story and the movie’s universe as a whole in the first part, but even here, he’s so disconnected from the rest of the second part that you forget he exists until the few moments when he suddenly reappears.
“Part Two is thankfully much more watchable than the first, but it’s not like it had a particularly high bar to clear.“
It speaks to the same problem that severely hurts both halves of Rebel Moon: they were so clearly cut from much longer, R-rated versions. As I said in Part One, it’s a very transparent attempt on Netflix’s part to duplicate the Snyder cut, and it’s a decision that’s still equal parts frustrating and bafflingly stupid.
All that being said, what makes the second half of Rebel Moon much more bearable than the first is that final battle that takes up the entirety of the third act. Yes, it’s the big battle from Seven Samurai, but Snyder’s sci-fi spin manages to deliver on the massive spectacle promised, also effectively selling the desperate war this village has to face against an army with seemingly infinite weapons and troops at their disposal.
Sofia Boutella looks every bit the superstar and still delivers great physicality in her numerous action sequences, and Ed Skrein is a solid foil, revelling in being the smug, smarmy villain, and their fights are well choreographed and shot, especially a badass hand-to-hand fight in the middle of a falling spaceship. It’s really fun to watch.
By the time the credits roll, the film leaves itself open for more stories in this universe, which Snyder already plans on doing in the form of comics, video games, and a possible sequel film. But franchises like this live and die by having characters you connect with, and personally speaking, there are too few characters outside of Boutella and Hounsou for me to care if any of them survived to the end and where they end up in the future. It sure all looked cool, though.
