Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire
December 20th, 2023
MOVIE: REBEL MOON- PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE
STARRING: SOFIA BOUTELLA, CHARLIE HUNNAM, ED SKREIN, MICHIEL HUISMAN, DJIMON HOUNSOU
DIRECTED BY: ZACK SNYDER
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 1 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
One of the worst things a movie can be is boring. The boredom can be heightened when the genre has a typical energy to it, mainly science fiction or horror, two genres that often naturally have a zest that captures my attention. Rebel Moon-Part One: A Child of Fire is a shocking kind of boring. The newest film from embattled director Zack Snyder is a rejected Star Wars project, adding in some of his standard signature tropes, but failing to elevate beyond something rote and derivative. Rebel Moon- Part One delivers little reason to look forward to Part Two.
The film opens with a long-winded monologue by Anthony Hopkins, talking about a place called the Motherworld, where the ruler was killed and a group of space Nazis is in power, looking to control all the planets in the galaxy. The first setting is the farming planet of Veldt. We meet Kora (Sofia Boutella), a one-time soldier of the Motherworld, looking for peace in the simple village. When admiral Atticus Nobel (Ed Skrein) and his goons arrive, things become volatile, with Kora revealing her assassin skills, and escaping with grain manager Gunnar (Michiel Huisman). They go in search of a team to fight against the fascist regime. It’s The Seven Samurai in outer space or any other science fiction-western combo you have seen before.
Going forward, the narrative is a redundant sequence of introducing us to new characters to join Kora’s team, including Han Solo replica Kai (played by Charlie Hunnam), a griffin tamer named Tarak (Staz Nair), a lightsaber-wielding swordsman named Nemesis (Bae Doona), and a once-beloved war general Titus (Djimon Hounsou in a role far beneath him). By the time the entire team is gathered, it’s hard not to be tuned out, as Snyder, along with co-writers Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten think character mugging for the camera, odd-looking space creatures, and little bursts of action are enough to engage us. Sadly, it’s dull and mundane by all science fiction standards.
Even as Zach Snyder has had his fair share of highs and lows, Rebel Moon may be his lowest, both from a story and action angle. There is not a single set piece to praise nor a character to appreciate. Boutella is not charismatic enough to lead and her dialogue reading is stiffer than a board. The blame isn’t solely on her, as from a visual aspect, the CGI is distracting, and there is not a single setting outside a studio lot. The highest marks I can give are to Skrien, who has a hideous haircut and performs for the back row, and a lone sequence where Jena Malone plays a venomous spider who is gnarly enough to be amused by. That’s about all I have.
Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire is a misfire of epic proportions. Where Army of the Dead was a fresh riff on zombies and Snyder’s Justice League showed his complete vision, Rebel Moon is none of that. It’s not hindered by Snyder’s style, which tends to be dragged down by his joy of slow-motion, but instead is ruined by an unoriginal and unimaginative production. It’s boring and cliched. It can’t be saved by a SnyderCut version because this is Netflix and an excuse like that just won’t work. Rebel Moon is completely lost in space.
REBEL MOON- PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE IS PLAYING ON NETFLIX FRIDAY DECEMBER 22ND, 2023.
1 ½ STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
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