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