This film should be used as evidence in the court against Netflix's incessant greed and disregard for quality. The fact that they forced this bastardised cut on us is a crime they should be held accountable for. Anyway, Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire follows a mysterious villager who must gather a team of rebels to overthrow the oppressive Empire.
Written and directed by Zack Snyder, Rebel Moon is a film brimming with potential that ultimately stumbles, crashes and plummets as a result of Netflix's insistence on releasing a PG-13 (M in Australia) cut against the R-rated wishes of Snyder. Every minute that passes, it's clear as day that there's a longer, bloodier and more superior film lying on the cutting room floor. Snyder himself has been gloating about his upcoming Director's Cut being the complete version of this story, effectively making this a terribly watered down waste of time. Typically talk of a Director's Cut so soon after a release is merely a ploy to sell physical copies. However in this instance, with Snyder proving his cuts are immensely better with both Batman v Superman and Justice League, I have no doubt that the version he's sitting on will be the movie we were expecting. That's not a guarantee, but it's a safe bet, especially considering it's hard to get much worse than the narrative in here... or lack thereof. The film we're left with is a prime example of how studio meddling and mediocre execution can negate sky-high potential.
Going into this film, it was impossible to avoid seeing how critics had bombarded it with brutally negative reviews. As someone who is generally a fan of Snyder's films, I was still expecting to defy the masses and love it. For the first 30-40 minutes of the movie, that was true. The opening act takes place on one planet with a small band of characters, and it was awesome - I had next to no negative thoughts. Well, there's a distinct lack of violence in one big action scene, having been clearly edited out, but it's a small complaint. There were neat sci-fi elements and nearly every scene was filled with gripping tension. On top of that, they were setting up a few characters who I was beginning to get invested in. The villain introduction was exceptional and the hero's story was starting to take shape. Yes, there were plenty of parallels to other sci-fi films, like Star Wars and Dune, but it was fun and engaging so that wasn't an issue. It was all going well, which had me wondering how the critic scores had been so far into the negatives. Maybe they were just all wrong. Then the movie continued, and all its flaws began to reveal themselves.
From this point onwards, it's a grand ol' mess. There is the setup for a brilliant, epic story set in a thriving universe with unique planets aplenty, but it's all flushed down the toilet thanks to the awful editing of this "theatrical cut". It's been cut down so much that the story is virtually non-existent, the ensemble of characters receive next to no development, and the entire middle of the film is a choppy, jarring clusterfuck. It hasn't just been cut down, it's been slaughtered to an embarrassing level. There are entire scenes, conversations, establishing shots, character introductions and action sequences that have been obviously removed from the film. It completely fucks with the flow of the film, resulting in the audience needing to fill in the gaps or risk having no idea what's going on. Once the film leaves the opening planet, the narrative is nothing more than "go to planet - instantly and nonsensically recruit ally - go to next planet", rinsed and repeated multiple times. There's literally nothing else in between - no time to get acquainted with our new characters and no time to flesh out our existing crew. It's just a series of meaningless action and recruitment scenes with characters we don't know and will learn nothing about.
One of the biggest downfalls of this ridiculously cut-down version of the film is that it's impossible to connect with any character, aside from maybe our leading lady. Kora (Sofia Boutella) gets the first 30 minutes of the movie to let her character breathe and give us some worthwhile insight into who she is. She actually has somewhat of an arc, one that also suffers from the painfully rushed second and third acts. It's everyone else in our crew of rebels who are thrown to the sidelines, quite literally. Once they pick up a new character, with maybe 5 minutes spent on their planet, they move instantly on to the next. There's no dialogue scene to establish who they are, no moments with the crew to see how these misfits bond, they're basically just forgotten about. It's to the point where I would regularly forget who was on our crew because once they were recruited, they become nothing more than a glorified extra. And because we don't care about these characters, it strips the film of any stakes going into the final act. A few characters who are supposed to be quite important don't even get more than 2-3 minutes of dedicated screen time before we have to care whether they live or die. It's baffling to me how anyone could watch this cut and give it the green light.
To sum up the editing travesty, there's one planet we go to in which we recruit an Asian woman whose name I literally couldn't tell you. In its entirety, this sequence consists of an establishing shot getting to the planet - a scene in which our characters have already met this new character - a battle against a giant spider lady for some reason... and that's it. Who is she? When did they meet? Why are we on a mission to fight a spider? When did she agree to being recruited? This 5-10 minute sequence felt like a 20-minute sequence that had been dissected. At that point, just get rid of it all together. Don't even get me started on the horrid 3-minute quest to recruit Djimon Hounsou's character. I was consistently left perplexed by the creative decisions that went into crafting the second act.
By the time you get to the third act and final confrontation, it's hard to be invested in what's going on despite the visuals being so incredible. The last 20 minutes or so is great from a visual and action standpoint, but in terms of the narrative it lacks all impact as there's no emotional buildup from the second act. If you switch your brain off and just enjoy the action spectacle that's occurring, it's entertaining, but the lingering stain of a terribly delivered story is hard to ignore. The universe this film is set in has a lot going for it - there's moments of intriguing world building and sparks of a vast history. The planets the characters visit all look awesome and make you want to spend time there. But the problem is the film acts like it doesn't want to be there, just brushing passed all the neat world building to fast-track towards the ending. It's disappointing in nearly every aspect, but not when it comes to Zack Snyder's visual touch.
There's no denying the film is a visual spectacle ripped straight from the mind of Snyder. From the opening shot, it's jam-packed with stunning visuals, epic backdrops and top-notch set design that work in unison to establish these thriving worlds. Snyder himself helms the cinematography and it shows - every scene is heavily stylised with his unique flair. If you're a fan of how his films look, you'll fall in love with the visuals, if not, you'll have some hurdles to overcome. Once again he exhibits an extensive use of slow-mo footage both in and out of action sequences. There are times where it can be overkill, but I appreciate the style and think it works in most instances. Then there's the action - even though much of the violence has been trimmed and thrown out, the choreography and scale of the action is something to marvel at. It feels like sci-fi action but also has a grittier war-like tone to it, which makes for a great pairing. These areas - the cinematography, visual effects and action - are without a doubt where the film excels.
It's hard to judge the majority of the performances because the ensemble barely have enough screen time or dialogue to make it count. I'll start with the best performance of the lot, and that is Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble, the main villain of the film. Right from the get-go he's the perfect embodiment of an evil space-Nazi general. He's intimidating, fearsome and easy to hate, but at the same time he exhibits a great amount of charisma that also makes him likeable. Skrein is so good in villainous roles, committing to the evil nature of the character and leaning into the unhinged nature of the man. Every time he's on screen just know you're in for something engaging and entertaining. Then there's Sofia Boutella, who's a great lead. Despite her character having somewhat of an arc, the poor story limits her ability to make an impact, but she makes do with what she has. She does well to showcase some of the character's vulnerabilities, but as I said her performance is muted by what I imagine is the edit not allowing her to go deeper.
Michiel Huisman is someone who I've only seen in The Haunting of Hill House, and I liked him in that. He plays Gunnar in here, one of the allies joining Kora on her mission, and it seems like he's been very miscast. I have nothing against Huisman specifically, I just don't think he worked for who the character is meant to be. It's hard to tell whether he's meant to be likeable or we should think he's a bit of a moron. The character also doesn't serve much of a purpose in the story outside of the first 20 minutes, especially since he's some sort of farmer, so it's like he has no reason to be on the mission.
In the end, Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire is a far cry from the movie it was meant to be... so we can thank Netflix for that. The elements of the film largely unaffected by the embarrassing edit - the cinematography, visual effects and some action - are all fantastic. Add the first 30 minutes and Ed Skrein's performance and you've got all your positives. Beyond that, the narrative is a choppy, jarring, incoherent mess with no stakes, no character development and no flow. It moves along so fast that there's no substance to what you're watching. The good thing is that a (hopefully and surely) better cut is coming that will see Zack Snyder's intended vision for the story and R rating fully realised. I'd say that if you can wait for the director's cut, then do that as this just isn't worth the pain. It's not the worst movie, but witnessing the untapped potential is too infuriating. Hopefully Netflix takes note of they almost single-handedly ruined this film and just let Snyder put out his version for Part Two. Spoiler alert - they won't.
4.7/10
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