Dir: Zack Snyder
Cast: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Staz Nair, Fra Fee, E. Duffy, Anthony Hopkins
Zack Snyder’s stylistic visuals are not enough to save his derivative space opera franchise from stumbling to a far from satisfactory conclusion
Check out my review of Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire here:
It was only back in December 2023 when critics and audiences alike panned the first part of Zack Snyder‘s science fiction passion project. Now only a few months later, the American director is back with the Part Two of his uninspired B-tech Star Wars franchise. I have not been a fan of Snyder for a long time, having only liked one of his cinematic releases, his highly entertaining and energetic revamp of George A. Romero‘s Dawn of the Dead back in 2004. Since then the 58 year-old has become somewhat of an acquired taste, with his overtly stylistic visual style detracting the majority of critics but garnering him a large and rather cultish fanbase.
Despite their surprisingly large quantity, you would do well to find many of even the most loyal Snyder devotees that were happy with Rebel Moon: Part One, with its painstakingly thin characters and unpleasant visuals only further cementing as to why Disney and LucasFilm rejected Snyder’s Star Wars pitch in the first place.
I went into this second instalment rather hesitantly but had the slightest hope with all the legwork done in the first outing, that ‘Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver’ would have the room to breathe and develop its characters and narrative more organically – boy was I wrong.
Following on immediately from the first film, Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her posse of intergalactic rebels, return to her adoptive planet of Veldt, believing the villainous Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein) to be dead. However, their celebrations are short lived when they are informed that Noble is very much a live and his dreadnaught ship will be arriving in five days to claim the grain supply they are owed. It is down to Kora, the rebels and the villagers to utilise the five days they have to complete their harvest and train for the oncoming onslaught from the Motherworld.
There is not a great deal to be said here that I did not touch upon five months ago, the problems I had with the first movie are still very prevalent here. Our Magnificent Seven inspired gang of rebels continue to be given no depth what-so-ever, with the only scene of character development involving those still alive sitting in a circle, telling us their life story as if they are reading from a Dungeons & Dragon‘s character sheet. Our lead heroine, Kora, is the only character with any real depth but Boutella, who I do believe is a talented physical actor, remains emotionally flat throughout both movies, detaching the viewer from the high stakes action unfolding for the majority of the screentime. One positive however, is that Djimon Hounsou gets considerably more screentime this time round as Titus. Hounsou has been in the industry for 30 years by this point, and despite being nominated for a couple Academy Awards in the past continues to be handed bit-part, underwritten roles, so it it is good to see him get the screentime he deserves. Hounsou and Skrein, as the scene chewing villain, are the only two members of the ensemble who appear to understand the brief, fully embracing the camp but serious tone of the space opera genre.
There is talk of these initial two movies being extended into a trilogy, with a total of six feature films planned for the franchise. I for one will struggle to put myself view this ordeal again, let alone four more times, as for Snyder himself, I appreciate this is his passion project and if Netflix are willing to fund his vision so be it, but serious improvements must be made for this franchise to gain any form of legacy.
Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver is available to stream on Netflix
Dan Loves Film 