REBEL MOON boasts a decent cast. Sofia Boutella (KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE, ATOMIC BLONDE) is Kora, a mysterious outsider living in a farming village on the moon of Veldt. Corey Stoll (ANT-MAN, HOUSE OF CARDS) plays the leader of Kora’s village, and both actors who portrayed Daarhio Naharis on GAME OF THRONES, Ed Skrein and Michael Hussman, portray a villain and an ally to Kora respectively. Plus, Djimon Hounsou (BLOOD DIAMOND, SHAZAM!), Charlie Hunnam (SONS OF ANARCHY, PACIFIC RIM), RAY FISHER (JUSTIC LEAGUE), and other talented actors can’t save this dead-on-arrival flick.
Have you ever imagined how a film might turn out if you threw a bunch of Zack Snyder unproduced ideas into a ChatGPT type bot, plus some Star Wars fan fiction written in the 90s by then teens, and asked it to spit out a sci-fi script? The first part of Snyder’s latest, REBEL MOON: PART 1, is actually far worse than that. If you have any enemies, you should perhaps recommend this film to them.
I’ve written about my thirst for original science-fiction films not based on previous IPs. REBEL MOON pulls heavily from the Star Wars universe, a classic tale of a rebellion against a fascist empire. In fact, Snyder originally pitched it to Lucasfilm and Disney to be a more mature saga within the saga, but the project never came to be. REBEL MOON is worse than even my least favorite Star Wars stories. The plot is tedious, the characters are shallow, and the villains are such cartoonish Nazis that General Hux (STAR WARS EP VIIIX) will suddenly feel like a multi-layered, complicated anti-hero. Action comes and goes, and while it’s the strongest part of the movie, it’s not enough to save the lifeless script.
Snyder is an immensely popular and capable director. Perhaps he would be best to leave the writing to others. The actors give their best, and the film’s style effortlessly blends practical and CGI effects with top-notch costuming and production design to create a visually appealing look from start to finish. Yet here, the beauty is barely skin deep, and I wanted to turn it off less than 30 minutes in. While the end teases a Part 2 coming in April 2024, I won’t be lining up to catch it in theatre or rushing to stream it on Netflix a few days later.
REBEL MOON PART 1 is streaming on Netflix, but don’t waste your time.
