Julien Neaves, Sci Fi Head Writer
Plot: A group of warriors from across the galaxy defend the farming planet Veldt from the might of the Imperium.
Review: I have seen numerous posts celebrating how many people have watched Zack Snyder's epic space opera Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver. And to that I would say, a whole lot of people watched the Transformers and Fast and Furious films, and only a few of the entries of either franchise could objectively be called "good". So yeah, there is not always a direct correlation between the number of eyeballs and the quality of a film. And calling The Scargiver a "good film" would be something of a stretch. With a Dreadnought-sized SPOILER ALERT let's break it down.
Kora's got a gun. Two actually
Now there are a few things to like here. Like the original, A Child of Fire, the visual effects are top notch. And the action is vastly improved over the original in execution, quantity and variety. It's not the best Sci Fi action ever put to screen, but it is moderately entertaining. I also appreciated that Snyder showed more restraint here with his slow-motion fetish than in previous projects. There are also a couple of characters that I enjoyed here, namely Doona Bae's super cool cyborg swordmaster Nemesis (now that is a spinoff I would watch) and Anthony Hopkins' quirky mechanical knight JC-1435 aka "Jimmy". And the death scenes of Nemesis and farmer-turned-rebel Gunnar did produce some genuine emotion.
And that's about it. Nothing else really works here. The story is a clunky pastiche of Star Wars, The Magnificent Seven (itself inspired by Seven Samurai), Lord of the Rings and a bunch of other vastly superior projects. One would think that since Snyder has so much grand plans for his Rebel Moon universe, he would make some effort to make it somewhat unique. No such luck here. And it appears Snyder's idea of character development is excessive backstory and the excessively ham-fisted scene of the heroes going around a table just telling each other their backstories. And other than Nemesis and Jimmy the characters are extremely bland, even when played by fantastic actors like Djimon Hounsou.
Look into my eyes. You're getting sleepy...
Remember Tarak, nobleman-turned-blacksmith with the ability to bond with animals of nature? If you were expecting him to use his animal connection in the sequel, you are crap out of luck. Instead, he runs through blaster fire wielding axes and survives via plot armour. It is the chainsaw in Army of the Dead all over again. And Tarak in action is only one of several plot holes big enough to fly a Dreadnought through. Another would be rebel Kora believing the threat was gone because they destroyed one ship. Does the Imperium not have communications? And while I liked the character of Jimmy, I suspected he would just show up in one scene near the climax to save the day and I was right on the money. What a waste.
The entire film feels like a massively wasted opportunity. Snyder clearly had a lot of money and creative freedom to craft his own Sci Fi universe, but the end result is supremely uninspired and annoyingly derivative. And I have very little hope that his announced director's cuts of both A Child of Fire or The Scargiver are going to be much better. But as I mentioned, I would be on board for a Nemesis prequel film or series. Sign me up for that.
Editor Jules' Score: 5.5 out of 10
How would you rate The Scargiver? And you can check out more from space opera reviews from Robot Mango Reviews below:
REBEL MOON - PART ONE IS A DREADNOUGHT OF DISAPPOINTMENT
THE COSMIC CAMPINESS OF STAR WARS RIPOFF STARCRASH
SPACE SWEEPERS IS A WICKEDLY FUN SPACE OPERA
Julien "Editor Jules" Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by the Cryptkeeper, 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 aspiring author. I say things like "13 flavours of awesome sauce". Read more.
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