Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “A good conscience is a constant birthday.” So, with a heavy heart and a free spirit, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend Netflix’s new space fantasy film, “Rebel Moon: Part 1 – Child of Fire,” to anyone but the most die-hard Zack Snyder acolytes.
This hurts me as a serious fan of Snyder’s previous works in sci-fi and fantasy films like “Dawn of the Dead,” “300,” “Watchmen,” “Man of Steel,” and “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” ,” and “Justice League.” However, “Rebel Moon,” with its DNA firmly buried in the universe of “Star Wars,” Western clichés, and Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai,” is a sadistic, cruel, and shockingly sordid tale that consumes all Its energy. Welcome to 10 minutes.
Overwhelmed by dreary exposition and abundant slow-motion sequences (one even shows particles of falling grain), the first half of the two-part epic was released to $166 million in a limited theatrical run before hitting the streaming giant on December 21. A series of harsh early reviews. Unfortunately, even the most optimistic fans and journalists are powerless to shift the balance of truth in this bleak and disappointing project.
Related: Everything we know about ‘Rebel Moon – Part 1: Child of Fire’
The film stars Sofia Boutella as Korra, Staz Nair as Tarak, Charlie Hunnam as Kai, Michiel Huisman as Gunnar, Donna Bee as Nemesis, Djimon Hounsou as Titus, Ray Fisher as Darian Bloodaxe, and Cleopatra Coleman as His sister Devra, and Fra Frei as Regent Balisarius. And Ed Skrein as the mad Admiral Noble and Anthony Hopkins voicing the ancient Imperial droid named Jimmy.
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery. But in Snyder’s lenient hands, it becomes a poison pill that infects every minute of the film’s 135 minutes. “Rebel Hands” is pieced together with disparate plot conventions that borrow liberally from much better Hollywood productions and stock characters straight from the central cast.
The shows are unlikely to win any statues, and are mostly 2D originals at best. Boutella portrays her role as a “freedom fighter with a destiny” with enough energy, especially in the time-spanning fight scenes. But it’s all superficial feelings that never ignite. Hunnam’s tough space pilot is strictly a generic spin on Han Solo, though it does provide some entertaining moments.
Even the great Hounsou seems to be walking through his birth amid the sadness of lifeless dialogue. At least Boutella seems to be having some fun in her role as a mysterious farmer who rallies a group of mercenaries and assassins to help the moon of her peaceful homeworld repel a fascist leader from the greedy reach of the mother world and its vaudevillian villains.
Netflix was hoping that Rebel Moon would be its answer to the Star Wars empire, which has fallen into disrepair as of late, and the genesis of that endeavor was actually Zack Snyder’s long-neglected Lucasfilm trailer. It has been retooled as an original screenplay purged of all references to the galaxy far, far away, but with its bare derivative bones still starkly exposed.
It remains to be seen whether it will develop into a cross-media success with comic books, animated specials and tie-in novels, given the film’s cool reception. The film’s humorless, self-serious screenplay was written by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Shay Hatten, and its cake-cutting plot feels as overstuffed as a Christmas goose devoid of any old-fashioned charm or abundance of nostalgia. Snyder’s uninspired cinematography aims for an ugly, color-drained palette, which only serves to amplify the film’s hollow attempt at a samurai space Western.
There’s nothing here that viewers haven’t seen in countless Hollywood films and TV series over the decades, from “Star Wars,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” to “Firefly.” Avatar,” vintage spaghetti westerns and several Kurosawa samurai epics. If you’re a card-carrying Snyder fan, you’ll be nearly visually satiated, but those of a more discriminating nature may want to rethink their viewing options.
“Rebel Moon” isn’t a completely unwatchable film, but this isn’t a sexy, family-friendly space opera designed to entertain audiences while Christmas logs crackle in the fireplace — not with its disturbing scenes of rape and skull-bashing brutality.
The film’s final image — of Jimmy, the robot voiced by Anthony Hopkins, in a field wearing a set of antlers — and the short teaser for Part Two perhaps hint at a brighter tonal approach for “Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver,” which will be released in April. But you may not be too keen to see it after watching the first part.
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