On a recent flight, I'd read in a magazine that writer and director
Zack Snyder (Justice League) had pitched the idea of his Rebel Moon movies as “Game
of Thrones in Space”. Now, I quite liked Game of Thrones, but the idea of
investing so much time into another franchise didn’t appeal, but I’ve liked his
other work and wanted to give this new Sci-Fi adventure a go. The script for the movie was co-written by Snyder with Kurt Johnstad ("300") and Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead, John Wick 3) and directed by Snyder.
As it’s a relatively new movie so I will try not to be
too spoiler-ific.
Our story opens with a narration explaining how there is a Motherworld, and when it’s King and Queen are assassinated, a prince regent steals the
throne while everyone else is bickering. A revolution begins, and the empire
(oops!) tries to stamp it out. Our story then moves to a small farming village
on the planet Veldt. It is visited by a group from the Empire in their Dreadnaught
ship The Kings Gaze, under the command of General Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein from Deadpool and
Tau) wanting grain to feed their army as they hunt the revolutionaries. One
thing leads to another and our hero, Kora (Sofia Boutella from Kingsman The
Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) who is secretly an ex-member of the empire,
sets off to create an army capable of protecting the village from the Empire.
It's very much a space saga, but Game of Thrones it is not.
In fact, plot wise, it’s less Star Wars and more Battle Beyond The Stars. I
fail to understand why a Dreadnaught ship arrives and threatens a simple village,
when there is a whole city called Providence on Veldt which would make more sense.
Despite all the tech on show in the movie, everyone and everything is dirty.
There are no bright whites and sleek lines in this universe. Even Star Wars had
a mixture of the two, but by the end of this one, I’m fed up of the dirt and
grime.
Much must be said of the universe building in this movie.
Great strides are made with diversity and a mix of accents giving real credence
to different cultures, although the less said of Charlie Hunnam’s (as Kai)
dreadful Northern Irish accent. I can't understand why he didn’t just use his
natural Geordie accent.
Kora's ragtag bunch of revolutionaries are gathered together
much too quickly and with little backstory provided to any, it’s hard to feel
anything for them. The only characters that feel developed with genuine motivation
are Kora and Noble, and bizarrely, Kora’s fellow villager Gunnar (Michiel
Huisman from World War Z and the Haunting of Hill House). The others just feel
like they’re along for the ride and each are introduced in various little
scenarios. Some of these don’t even make a lot of sense, particularly Tarak (Staz
Nair from Game of Thrones and Supergirl), he has a special ability, but I had to go
online to understand why this was a thing in the movie. Maybe it’ll be apparent
in part two. Given the clear drive to be a new Star Wars type saga, the lack of
a robot crewmember is apparent, especially as a prime candidate “Jimmy” is
introduced early on, voice by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins. Other unanswered
questions include why they think a small army can take on the dreadnaught ship? Even if they did win, they’re fighting an empire who would just send another.
Unfortunately, it’s so formulaic that it feels like there is
nothing new here. Yes, it’s nice to see a new Sci Fi big budget movie, but it just makes me want to watch Star Wars. Maybe things will change in Part 2, but this
leads to another disappointment. We know from the outset that this is part one,
so we expect a cliffhanger and plots not to be resolved by the end. This robs
the viewer of any sense of peril for our band of heroes.
Further reading indicates there will be more sequels. While
the name Rebel Moon sounds cool, what happens after the moon is “liberated”?
Will there be more moons to liberate? I think the beginnings of something good
are here, but I wonder if it will become something more, with its own identity.
Snyder has also commented that there is a more adult
orientated “R” rated extended version to come out later. This could be the road
forward for this franchise. Even in its Netflix edited form, its hard to tell
who the movie is aimed at. It’s too formulaic for discerning sci-fi fans and
too adult for children (there is one particular scene where the
baddies discussing deflowering a young woman which is unpleasant but definitely
shows us how bad the baddies are, and there are moments of bad language).
Overall, the movie is not a bad watch and enjoyable enough
as a yarn. I certainly want to see part two.
Year: 2023
Availability: Streaming on Netflix at the time of writing
Rating 7/10
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