Time: 135 Minutes
Age Rating: R13 – Sexual violence, violence
Cast:
Sofia Boutella as Kora
Djimon Hounsou as Titus
Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble
Michiel Huisman as Gunnar
Doona Bae as Nemesis
Ray Fisher as Darrian Bloodaxe
Charlie Hunnam as Kai
Anthony Hopkins as the voice of Jimmy
Director: Zack Snyder

Rebel Moon was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. As a big fan of Zack Snyder, I’m naturally interested in whatever he works on next. One of his few movies not based off an existing IP, this two-parter project was initially conceived as a Star Wars spin off before being made into its own thing. I was really looking forward to it, but became concerned when I heard that there would be two separate cuts: one a shorter PG-13 cut, and the other a longer R rated cut and the definitive cut of the movie, with the former being released first. Even at Netflix, Snyder just can’t seem to get his full vision out without having to compromise with more than one cut. My anticipation lowered when much of the early negative reactions pointed towards the cutting down as a notable issue. Perhaps those concerns helped keep my expectations in check, but in spite of my issues, I really liked Rebel Moon.

The first act is slower paced but well done, as it establishes the characters, the universe and the main conflict. It focuses on a farmer planet, and when an Empire arriving to colonise them, the main characters leave to find warriors to fight the invaders, Seven Samurai style. The second act focussing on protagonist Kora assembling a team is where you really notice the main issues of the movie. The pacing is all over the page, as it speeds through the recruitment scenes as if it was on fast forward, and it’s especially jarring after following the relatively calm and steady first act. There’s enough about these new characters to make them intriguing, but while there’s no doubt some backstory that would be explored more in the second film, we still don’t know enough about them in this movie. Knowing that the director’s cut is an hour longer makes the flaws of the middle section make a lot of sense; no doubt there were moments of character development and world building which were left out of this cut for the shorter runtime. It is a similar situation to the theatrical cut of Snyder’s Batman v Superman, where you can still clearly see the skeleton of what the movie is but lacks some important scenes to make it work as well as it should’ve.  

Considering the origins of the project, it’s no surprise that Rebel Moon takes a lot from Star Wars, and some people have called the movie derivative. While the influences are pretty evident, it takes so much inspiration from so many things (not just from Star Wars) and Snyder does his own thing with these concepts that the movie comes around to being creative again. It is also pretty dark and brutal, as to be expected, and the tone definitely makes this movie stand out from other similar sci-fi stories. There are plenty of sci-fi films that depict an evil empire doing evil things, but Rebel Moon does a great job at showing an adult representation of genocide and oppression, even within this PG-13 cut. While the universe is definitely inspired by the likes of Star Wars, I do think it does enough to not just feel like a cheap knock off, and is genuinely interesting. There’s a lot of myth and world building, much of it is communicated through exposition, but that (and the visual worldbuilding) generally worked for me. The worlds shown are very interesting and I wished that we got to spend more time in them. In spite of the heavy cuts to the movie, there’s something genuine and passionate about the writing and handling of the story that it goes some way to make me buy into this world and these characters. As shown in the title, A Child of Fire is a part 1 of a two part story. However, compared to some other two-parters, the third act does leave things off on a good enough note that the movie can stand on its own, while setting up the second part nicely.

There is a really good cast involved. Sofia Boutella is a great and capable lead as the protagonist Kora, who has an interesting backstory which we get to see a part of. Many of the other actors don’t get as much chance to shine with their characters, largely due to how they were cut down in this version of the film. You do get some standouts like Charlie Hunnam, and some of them at least get one or two moments to shine, but they definitely needed more attention and screentime here. I also really liked the robot voiced by Anthony Hopkins, who has small role in this movie, but will hopefully play a larger role in the second part. The villains are refreshingly just straightforward evil, and I thought that was represented well in the movie. While the Empire is the overarching villain, the main human antagonist is Ed Skrein’s Admiral Noble. Skrein has played multiple villains before, notably in Deadpool to Alita: Battle Angel, but this is by far his best turn as a villain. He has so much presence in his scenes, and is definitely one of the standouts in the movie.  

This is a Zack Snyder movie, and if you’ve seen a few of his movies by now, you’ve probably got an idea of his style and direction and whether you like it or not. As a fan of his, I like his direction a lot, and in one of his most ambitious projects, you could call this the most Snyder movie ever. It’s visually stunning, I love the look of the movie. The production designs, costumes and makeup work are impressive, and the alien and creature designs are especially creative. The visual effects are also top notch; some CGI shots are a bit dodgy, but for a Netflix blockbuster it looks great. The action scenes are well choreographed and captured and are enjoyable to watch. The ever-expected slow motion is also utilised to great effect. The fight scenes are brutal and hard hitting, in spite of the PG-13 rating. As it’s a PG-13 movie though, you can tell that the intense action and violence was intended to have blood, and it’s a little out of place when there isn’t any there (the first fight scene of the movie being an example). The score from Junkie XL is great, helping to generate this epic feeling and add to the action sequences.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire has pacing and second act issues, and it was clearly cut down for the worse. Overall though, it’s an entertaining sci-fi epic, with stunning visuals, great action, and an intriguing world with potential. I think it’s safe to say that if you really can’t vibe with any of Zack Snyder’s movies, then this one won’t work for you either. I’ve seen people deciding to hold off watching till they can watch the undoubtedly better director’s cut. I understand that, but even with the cut down version, I really liked it, and am looking forward to the second part coming next year.