Movies REBEL MOON: PART ONE - A CHILD OF FIRE (Dragonlord's Review)

[Fijeeto]

I thought it was decent mindless entertainment. Just shut your brain off and don't ask questions type of movie. Seemed 40K inspired, but there was a real lack of gore for it being a Snyder film.

 

[JadeOwl]

Arent the bad guys supposed to be space Nazis?

Generic Space Fascists.

There doesn't seem to be any ideological discernable ideological component to the Imperium other than wanting to conquer everyone.

 

[MDoza]

My review from the other thread:

This movie is 100% intended to be really cool to 10 year old boys.

It’s a shame because there is potential for it to be a good movie, had Zack Snyder made it for HBO (rated-R with a slightly bigger budget). The CGI is mostly very good, and the action scenes are executed well.

However, the script, the characters, the story, the acting, and cinematography are intentionally simple for a younger audience.

It’s hard to judge (the actors, Snyder, the film) because of this.

In terms of what it set out to be, I’d give it a 9.5 out of 10. If I was 10 years old and saw Rebel Moon, I would feel like it was profound, complex, edgy, violent, and I would be pumped to see the next half.

In reality, it is none of those things, 5.5/10.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: December 26, 2023

Official Teaser Trailer for REBEL MOON: PART TWO - THE SCARGIVER

 

[JadeOwl]

RATING: 3/10

Spoiler

I thought it was funny that Snyder killed off Ray Fisher's Bloodaxe character. Fisher basically willfully torpedoed his career by doing Snyder's bidding in getting revenge on those who he felt wronged him for the Justice League theatrical cut. Studios are reluctant to hire Fisher naturally since he likes to create dramas out of nothing. With that said, I thought Snyder would at least reward Fisher by letting him appear in the Rebel Moon sequel since the guy doesn't have a job anymore.

Update: December 26, 2023

Official Teaser Trailer for REBEL MOON: PART TWO - THE SCARGIVER

Spoiler: And it seems you have your answer

He is going to be appearing in Parts 2 and 3... in the flashbacks, which appear to make up like 60% of these movies.

 

[KOPPE]

yes yes, not the best Snyder movie but its still a Snyder movie.
just wait for the Snyder cut. It will be a completely different movie with a different vision for the franchise.

 

[Excelsior]

Zack Snyder is so obsessed with slow motion that even his slow motion has slow motion.

It's the only club he has in his bag.

 

[heavyarms21]

Update: December 25, 2023

Dragonlord’s Review of REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: Plagued by some God-awful dialogue, multiple inept exposition dump and just plain bad direction by Zack Snyder, Rebel Moon borrows a lot of elements from better films to mesh them all into the worst big-budgeted movie of 2023.

Rebel Moon was born out of Zack Snyder’s Star Wars movie pitch to Lucasfilm back in 2012. Feeling that they are more than capable of destroying the Star Wars franchise by themselves, Lucasfilm declined Snyder’s pitch. Many years later, Snyder found a streaming service who hates money and don’t care about quality – Netflix. And so here we are.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is a cross between Star Wars and Seven Samurai… and a gazillion other sci-fi movies/TV shows. Watching Rebel Moon is akin to watching James Cameron’s Avatar where you have an uneasy feeling that you’ve seen it all before from other movies. The difference is Cameron has the proficiency to mesh them together to create, at best, a highly-entertaining spectacle and at worst, a decent watchable film. Watching Rebel Moon just feels like it’s the highest-budgeted B-movie ever made.

The way Snyder sets up the dialogue is just awkward. There are times you feel like you’re watching a YouTube fan film because how amateurish it feels. Poor Sofia Boutella, who is the star of the film and has the unfortunate task of spewing a lot of these pretentious lines. She also does a terrible job of doing most of the exposition dump which is also ineptly executed by Snyder. Showing limited acting range and might better suited in supporting roles, Boutella is miscast as the lead Kora. Kora’s flashback childhood scenes also feels copied from Gamora’s background in Avengers: Infinity War.

Ed Skrein was very effective in playing the villain Admiral Atticus Noble. Though the character is pretty much one-dimensional, Skrein’s charisma and ruthlessness shines brightly making the villain very memorable and probably might be the best thing about the film. You can also see how Snyder tries to rip off Tarantino by setting up a Hans Landa moment for Noble when he first shows up. My second favorite part of the film is probably Harmada (played by Jena Malone), a menacing spider-like creature that’s clearly nerfed when she inexplicably fights mostly with two limbs at a time.

Snyder is pretty good at casting. So it’s perplexing how he chose Fra Fee to play the Imperium tyrant Belisarius. He just doesn’t have gravity or presence to play the big bad for this two-parter. He looks way too young also. And when they decide to age him up by giving him some beard, it just doesn’t look convincing.

With the exception of Doona Bae’s cool cyborg swordmaster and Charlie Hunnam’s Han Solo-like rogue, the rest of the “Seven Samurai” cast are just okay. People complaining about well-established fictional characters being race-swapped or gender-swapped have some legitimate grounds. You often hear the naysayers suggest that the filmmakers create original characters instead to showcase diversity. Rebel Moon is an original story with original characters and if the complainers still protest, then it’s high time to look inward and admit to themselves that they just do not want to see certain types of people onscreen.

This is just an observation but I thought it was interesting choice for Snyder that the rapey Imperium soliders were all white (not 100% sure but please don’t make me watch the movie again) except for that one minority-looking soldier who tried to defend the victim. It was interesting for me since Snyder has a substantial conservative fanbase online and curious how they would react to that scene. If that scene were in any other movie, that scene would get a lot of flak from the right. Or would the Snyder Cult ignore that part and continue praising their idol?

Snyder always had a talent for the visuals, so it was surprising to me that Rebel Moon’s graphics didn’t really wow me. Considered innovative back in 2006 when he did 300, Snyder tried to do the same visual style in some of the scenes here and it just comes off as cheap-looking. Some shots looked like it was filmed in a studio lot with a giant wallpaper in the backdrop. Two days after I saw Rebel Moon, I watched The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and my God, the cinematography was just sublimely beautiful. Even the interior shots of minor scenes set in an apartment was done so exquisitely well. I just can’t help compare the two films and be even more disappointed with Snyder since striking imagery is his forte.

Just like with some of his films, Snyder will release a director’s cut of Rebel Moon a few months from now, stating that it will be an R-rated extended version and that “it’s almost like a different movie.” It’s so mind-boggling why Snyder just didn’t release his ultimate version of Rebel Moon since he has carte blanche over the project. It’s like him saying, “Watch this inferior version of Rebel Moon first before I gaslight you into liking the same inferior movie but much longer a few months from now.” Clearly, Snyder and Netflix are just being manipulative and greedy into trying to recreate the Snyder Cut movement.

Overall, Rebel Moon borrowed a lot of components from other films but the hodgepodge sci-fi story was just told poorly. It didn’t help that the dialogue was atrocious and some of the scenes were so amateurishly staged. The pacing was not good and some scenes felt too abrupt. Sofia Boutella can’t carry the film and the other supporting heroes aren’t that compelling. Despite the sequel coming out in April 2024, this potential franchise might be already doomed from the get-go.

RATING: 3/10

Spoiler

I thought it was funny that Snyder killed off Ray Fisher's Bloodaxe character. Fisher basically willfully torpedoed his career by doing Snyder's bidding in getting revenge on those who he felt wronged him for the Justice League theatrical cut. Studios are reluctant to hire Fisher naturally since he likes to create dramas out of nothing. With that said, I thought Snyder would at least reward Fisher by letting him appear in the Rebel Moon sequel since the guy doesn't have a job anymore.

(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews. Thanks.)

Zack Snyder Presents : Generic Scifi Star Wars Wannabe , in slow motion .

Also fuck all Snyder Tards.

 

[M4rk]

You see the name Zack Snyder and you now know its gonna be shit, he should go back to making music videos.

 

[chrisdiaz]

Any news on the release of the directors cut of this film? If BvS ulitimate cut and ZSJL shows anything, his movies are much better when they arent cut to shit. To release this cut up mess on streaming when you have an unrated version makes no sense. At least release both at the same time.

Some blood and guts would have gone a long way in those fight scenes and you could almost tell they cut it out on purpose, im guessing for the theatrical release? Stupid move on netflix part, this wasnt making money at the box office.

 

[BisexualMMA]

You see the name Zack Snyder and you now know its gonna be shit, he should go back to making music videos.

The thing is he was perhaps surprisingly not that good at music videos. The stuff he made his name on in the 90s were pretty bad videos compared to a master like David Fincher and what he did.

The "visually gifted" Snyder thing really only became his reputation after he worked off graphic novels for Watchmen and 300.

 

[SwamiLeoni]

I thought it was decent mindless entertainment. Just shut your brain off and don't ask questions type of movie. Seemed 40K inspired, but there was a real lack of gore for it being a Snyder film.

There were several references to 40k.

1. The Imperium (serving a dead king)
2. Their uniforms
3. The Mechanicum Militarum
4. Tech Priests
5. Knockoff Bolters
6. Taking over a resource planet

There’s probably a ton more if you dove deep and looked for them. But I definitely caught these. Seems like it’s more inspired by 40k than it is SW.

 

[The Clinch]

Wasn't planning on watching the movie, but was curious what people would think and well..

Army of the Dead was terrible. Why any company bankrolls Snyder's shit is silly.. Netflix hoping Snyder's cult eat the garbage.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Hmm, very subtle.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Any news on the release of the directors cut of this film? If BvS ulitimate cut and ZSJL shows anything, his movies are much better when they arent cut to shit. To release this cut up mess on streaming when you have an unrated version makes no sense. At least release both at the same time.

Some blood and guts would have gone a long way in those fight scenes and you could almost tell they cut it out on purpose, im guessing for the theatrical release? Stupid move on netflix part, this wasnt making money at the box office.

Not to be a complete dick, but the Justice League movie was not a "directors cut". Snyder came back after the movie sucked, got to spend 10s of millions more on it, do reshoots, and even then it was only average to above average.

And this is not a movie where just the direction is bad. Everything is bad, from the acting to the wriitng. And Zack Snyder did fucking everything on this movie. He wrote, directed, came up with the story, even did the cinematography. And it was a mess. IF anything, Snyder needs more interference for his films (not from a studio per se, but someone) because he has all these big ideas, and no skill at getting them across.

 

[chrisdiaz]

Not to be a complete dick, but the Justice League movie was not a "directors cut". Snyder came back after the movie sucked, got to spend 10s of millions more on it, do reshoots, and even then it was only average to above average.

And this is not a movie where just the direction is bad. Everything is bad, from the acting to the wriitng. And Zack Snyder did fucking everything on this movie. He wrote, directed, came up with the story, even did the cinematography. And it was a mess. IF anything, Snyder needs more interference for his films (not from a studio per se, but someone) because he has all these big ideas, and no skill at getting them across.

I know Im one of the few who likes his DCEU movies but thats ok. His movies are clearly better when he gets to do what he wants (watchmen is another example) but I do agree hes like a george lucas, he needs another person to filter and shape his ideas. I have a feeling they will release the two movies butcherd then let him work on directors cuts, which is dumb. The whole advantage of streaming is not needing ratings or worrying about runtime. I enjoyed rebel moon enough to look forward to the sequel.

 

[LilMountain]

I know Im one of the few who likes his DCEU movies but thats ok. His movies are clearly better when he gets to do what he wants (watchmen is another example) but I do agree hes like a george lucas, he needs another person to filter and shape his ideas. I have a feeling they will release the two movies butcherd then let him work on directors cuts, which is dumb. The whole advantage of streaming is not needing ratings or worrying about runtime. I enjoyed rebel moon enough to look forward to the sequel.

Didn't they go to great pains to recreate the comic as exact as possible (slightly plot change aside)? I remember some of the hype about showing shots from the film matching the comic panels to a T. I feel like that was a form of guardrails for him

 

[GergreG]

I mean it was okay but a very forgettable movie. By the time part 2 is released I'll have forgotten what happened because nothing really happened. Not sure how they wrap it all up ... I suspect they won't.

 

[KaNesDeath]

I thought it was decent mindless entertainment. Just shut your brain off and don't ask questions type of movie. Seemed 40K inspired, but there was a real lack of gore for it being a Snyder film.

There were several references to 40k.

Everything i hear points to them stealing mainly from 40K : /


For anyone interested heres the most popular short film involving 40K lore;

 

[fungi]

For anyone interested heres the most popular short film involving 40K lore;

Dis was geewd!!!