Flawed but Entertaining
Summary
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is far from perfect with Zack Snyder still over using slow-motion to a frustrating degree, but I love Sofia Boutella as Kora and Ed Skrein as the villainous Noble. There are perhaps too many characters, so it’s hard to get emotionally invested in any of them but hopefully they will get fleshed out in the next film.
Plot: When a colony on the edge of the galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, they dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighbouring planets to help them take a stand.
Review: The trailers for Zack Snyder’s latest didn’t exactly grab me, but I was still intrigued by Rebel Moon and tonight I got to see it in 70MM at the TIFF Lightbox in downtown Toronto. Critics haven’t been too kind top the film but they usually aren’t fans of his style which I admittedly understand.
You are never in any doubt that this is a Snyder film with its almost irritating overuse of slow motion which has really become his biggest trademark. If you aren’t a fan of his previous movies then this likely won’t win you over either.
Despite the trailers hardly blowing me away I still went into Rebel Moon with an open mind and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it; everyone keeps telling us to hate it, but I always like to judge movies for myself and seeing this in 70MM was the only way to see big budget sci-fi. The sound was amazing and the film is for the most part visually stunning; there are several moments where you can tell they are on a set which is a little distracting especially considering the film’s massive budget. It still never lacks scale and as my brother said after it “Zack Snyder doesn’t make quiet films”. It’s loud with Junkie XL’s epic score nearly blowing the speakers out with the massive choral music.
As many have said, Rebel Moon is essentially a mish mash of Star Wars meets Seven Samurai but there are enough imaginative ideas for it stand on its own two feet and I personally look forward to seeing the sequel and any potential spin-offs.
Sofia Boutella plays our lead Kora and she is immediately appealing showing vulnerability as well as fighting skills, so we know she can handle herself. She has had the training, so there isn’t anything that pushes credibility when she’s beating up her adversaries. She is the main focus of the story with most of the other characters not really getting fleshed out, but this is world building so perhaps we’ll get to know everyone a little better in the next film. I do think a movie should just work on its own however, without needing to watch future entries in order to care about characters. The first Star Wars film did that and we remembered all the character’s names by the end credits, but I had to look at IMDb to see what several were called in Rebel Moon.
Despite my nit-picks I still enjoyed Rebel Moon for the sheer spectacle as I love seeing movies like this on the big screen; I think it’s a strange move to put this on Netflix without a proper theatrical release first as our cinema was full with people wanting to see something new and they all seemed to enjoy it.
Ed Skrein almost steals the show as the villain Admiral Atticus Noble who is hateful and intimidating from the very start; he’s one of the better antagonists I’ve seen in a film for some time as he is just a ruthless monster.
I liked Charlie Hunnam as Kai despite sporting a somewhat dodgy Irish accent, but I’ve heard worse and he’s well cast as the roguish scoundrel who may not be what he seems.
Rebel Moon does take a little while to get going but once the action kicks in Snyder shoots it well (aside from the overuse of the aforementioned slow-motion) and it’s not short of violence considering the PG-13 rating; you can tell a lot was edited out and of course a Snyder Cut of the movie will no doubt be released later with all the blood and guts restored. The final fight scene is brutal and the film has a rather sleazy atmosphere at times which is more Blade Runner than Star Wars.
Overall, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is derivative of several other stories we’ve seen before, but Sofia Boutella is an awesome lead with Ed Skrein making for a wonderfully mean villain. The rest of the cast are under developed, but I hope that they will get moments to shine in later entries in the series. Plenty of you will hate this movie and I do understand as Snyder’s style is an acquired taste but I had fun with it and just enjoyed the visuals and action scenes which were a welcome escape from reality for a few hours.