Rebel Moon Is a Sci-Fi Greatest Hits Album, Fun but Empty

Do you like Star Wars? How about Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Dune? What about The Matrix? Would you like to see elements of all of those and more in the skeleton of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai? If the answer to any of that is yes, Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is the movie for you.

Rebel Moon is a cacophony of sci-fi tropes. Pieces are clipped from every inch of sci-fi history and put back together into one big package. Which, admittedly, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Every film you’ve ever seen has been inspired by, or in some cases directly derivative of, something else. There’s a noteworthy pleasure in seeing something familiar spun ever-so-slightly in a new context, and Rebel Moon provides lots and lots of that.

The problem with the way Rebel Moon does it though is it’s not really about anything. All of the movies and franchises named above are about something grander than themselves. Rebel Moon has long speeches about loyalty, family, honor, purpose, all kinds of things. But presented as such, those themes feel like a big hodgepodge too, with few if any of them landing. The result is a film that’s undeniably beautiful, expertly designed, and enjoyable enough to watch, but leaves little lasting impression.

Snyder, who directs and co-wrote the movie with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten, centers his story on Kora, played by Sofia Boutella. Kora is a mysterious woman living a humble life in a remote farming village on the planet Veldt. Things change though when a ship from the villainous Motherworld arrives and threatens to take everything from her and the village. Quickly we learn Kora isn’t so simple after all and she’s going to have to travel the galaxy to find help so Veldt can stand up to Motherworld.

While Snyder packs his story, and each frame, with all manner of detail begging to be explored further, the basic throughline is rather easy to follow. Kora teams up with a fellow farmer named Gunnar (Michiel Huisman); together they find a scoundrel named Kai (Charlie Hunnam), in a bar filled with aliens of course. The pair then hire Kai to fly them to find General Titus (Djimon Hounsou) who they hope will help them. Along the way, Kai has a few ideas of other warriors they can pick up, which they do, in rather rapid succession.

Each character who joins Kora and her friends creates a new pocket of the movie. New planet, new creatures, quick action scene, and we’re off to the next thing. Some of these scenes, such as one featuring Sucker Punch star Jena Malone as a massive, Shelob-like killer spider, are fun in a “This is bonkers” way. Others, such as the freeing of a slave named Tarak (Staz Nair) by allowing him to recreate a film scene from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, are too easy and on the nose. In every case though, just as you begin to get interested in this new character, they join the group, fade into the background, and it’s on to the next one.

In between, there are multiple flashbacks to Kora’s past, stuffed with all sorts of interesting reveals—reveals that, unfortunately for the film, are frequently more intriguing than the story at hand. We also spend a good chunk of time with the evil Admiral Noble played by Ed Skrein. He’s basically a Darth Vader-like disciple to the universe’s current leader, Regent Balisarius (Fra Fee), and Skrein’s performance is Rebel Moon’s big standout. Noble is ruthless and captivating. Plus, because he’s the primary face of evil in the film, we spend lots of time with him, learn more about him, and come to appreciate the character quite a bit. The problem with that is his characterization, in contrast to the film’s band of heroes, illustrates a major flaw in Snyder’s work. With the exception of Kora, the film’s heroes are paper-thin. Each is discovered, looked at, and then filed into the background. Noble, by contrast, is a fuller, more complex character, which doesn’t necessarily serve the story that well, at least in this movie.

Oh, right. Missed in all this discussion is the fact that this Rebel Moon is, in fact, “Part One” as Snyder and Netflix have a part two and maybe more coming in the future. Watching this film, that’s a fact that’s both slightly encouraging but also restrictive. At the beginning of the film, if you were to guess where this seemingly familiar story would end, you would be wrong. There’s lots of plot and character left to explore, and one or two unexpected twists along the way. In addition, Snyder wraps this up in a more satisfying way than some other recent films that have been split like this. But to do so, the climax feels forced, rushed, and not in line with the implied trajectory of the film. The final action scene is as if Snyder had a full movie in mind, decided to break it in two, and wedged in a whole new sequence to complicate things for the sake of complication.

That means, as Rebel Moon – Part One ends, you’re left scratching your head a bit. Snyder’s visuals, design, and creature effects are all second to none. Those things absolutely make what you’re watching entertaining. But when the film ends, you don’t feel like you’ve learned much beyond what’s unfolded on screen. Who are these characters? Why should we care? What’s this all been about? I’ll definitely watch Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver when it debuts next year, just to see how Kora’s story plays out, but I’d imagine not everyone will continue for the ride.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire opens in select theaters Friday. It debuts on Netflix December 22 (7 p.m. PT December 21, to be exact).

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