Julien Neaves, Sci Fi Head Writer
Plot: A fugitive soldier and a farmer scour the galaxy for allies to defend their peaceful village from the forces of a militaristic empire known as the Motherworld.
Review: Zack Snyder's space opera Rebel Moon began life as a pitched Star Wars film but "with blackjack and hookers". When the House of Mouse passed on it, he went to the Big Red N of Netflix. And after watching A Child of Fire, the first of two parts, I wish he delivered on the initial promise of an edgy sci fi action/adventure. What we got instead was a very tame film and one of the most generic I have ever seen.
Kora's got a gun. And she's always on the run. What did her daddy do? What did her daddy do-ooh?
I usually like to start off my reviews with the positives, but there is not much here to talk about. The epic music by Tom Holkenborg is very well done, the visual effects are solid, a few of the characters are cool looking, and the action is passable. And that is about it.
Nothing really works here. None of the characters feel fleshed out and that includes lead Sofia Boutella as former Imperium soldier Kora. Boutella (The Mummy, Star Trek Beyond) is a talented actress, but Snyder and company's milquetoast script gives her very little to do other than look haunted. Ed Skrein, who plays evil admiral Atticus Noble, gets little to chew on as well, so he just bites down hard on the scenery and comes off as cartoonish. The only two characters I found interesting were a robot voiced by the legendary Anthony Hopkins and cyborg swordswoman Nemesis played by Doona Bae (Sense8, Cloud Atlas, Kingdom) though she feels like she escaped from a better film. And there was an alien creature controlling a guy in a bar. He was cool.
A Nemesis prequel film might not be that bad. Think about it ZS
The story feels like a clumsy blend of Star Wars fan fiction (and not very good fan fiction at that), Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven and other, better Sci Fi films. The action is hampered by Snyder gorging himself on slow motion, which is out of control here even for him. And despite multiple planets, species and a lot of historical exposition there is nothing here that feels innovative. By the time the films limps to its conclusion I found it hard to keep caring. I didn't hate the film, but it left me wanting.
Snyder is strong on visuals but has never been the best writer, and this is clearly on show here. Maybe if he had given us a mature, bloody Sci Fi film that would have made it stand out from its all too obvious source material. As it is, A Child of Fire is a one and done for me and I have very little enthusiasm for part two, The Scargiver, which drops April next year.
Editor Jules' Score: 5 out of 10
Have you seen Rebel Moon - Part One? What did you think of it? And you can check out more RMR content below:
ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE: ONE MASSIVE MOVIE, FOUR MINI(-ISH) REVIEWS
ELEVEN BEST STAR WARS FILMS RANKED
SNYDER'S 'ARMY OF THE DEAD' IS STYLISH AND GORE-FILLED BUT IS NO 'DAWN'
Julien "Editor Jules" Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an award-winning author. I say things like "13 flavours of awesome sauce". Read more.
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