Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire (Netflix) 2023

Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire is Zack Snyder’s loving tribute to Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. It is the classic tale of oppressed people seeking out champions to help defend them against a powerful foe. It is a tried and true type of story remade umpteen times over and this time it is done in a grand operatic visually stunning science fiction form in Rebel Moon. 

 In terms of story beats, Rebel Moon part 1 starts off slavishly similar to Seven Samurai: a massive dreadnaut from the Motherworld Imperium turns up at the farming colony on the planet Veldt, demanding grain and supplies to feed their armies. After a tense, prolonged exchange with the Dreadnaught’s Admiral Atticus Nobel, the farmers are oppressed into meeting the Motherworld’s demands under threat of destruction when their forces return in 10 weeks. Meanwhile, a small garrison of Motherworld soldiers are left to oversee the colony. During this time, one of the farmers named Kora reveals herself to be an ex-soldier of the Motherworld and fights back against the corrupt garrison. With her rebellious actions all but dooming the colony, Kora sets off with her partner Gunnar to recruit legendary heroes who opposed the Imperium in order to help defend the colony. The duo trace rumors and myths to various worlds, eventually meeting the heroes such as a exiled prince with an affinity toward animals, an assassin seeking vengeance, a legendary general, and the leaders of a fledging rebellion against the Motherworld imperium. But Admiral Nobel and the dreadnaught forces continue to dog them across the galaxy and a direct confrontation becomes the only possible eventuality. 

 From the get go I was really impressed by the cast. Particular standouts were Ray Fisher as Darrian Bloodaxe bringing both gravitas and grit to the role of rebel leader, Djimon Hounsou’s striking intensity in playing the disgraced general Titus, and of course Ed Skrein as the deliciously smug and sadistic Atticus Nobel. The rest of the cast are no slouch either as they all disappear into their roles, bringing a sense of authenticity to the characters. There also seems to be a bit of a subversion angle going on which I am not too sure is deliberate or not. There seems to be this theme that the myth surrounding each of the warriors that Kora is seeking out is much larger than the individuals themselves. That expectations perpetuated by hearsay, rumours and exaggeration lead to an idealized impression of a person which ends up rarely matching the reality. A character that is supposed to be a cunning strategist and leader shows little strategy or leadership in a battle, another supposedly a skilled cybernetic enhanced martial artist is easily subdued and shows combat acumen that is no more impressive than any of the other warriors. Are these legendary champions truly who the stories say they are? If this subversion angle is indeed deliberate and to be fleshed out in part 2 then I am I here for it! 

 The next thing I love was the overall production design. This is how I’ve wanted Star Wars to look for the longest time. Everything is dirty and covered in grime and machine oil, stuff has pockmarks, dents and scratches, but it’s not just the hard sci fi used future of Alien or Solaris as it still retains some of stylings of dark fantasy with runes etched into weapons, abilities that border on sorcery and costumes inspired by the dark Ages, Norse, ancient Roman and feudal Japanese clothing. Alien worlds look alien with differently lit skies and environments, alien species look gruesome and scary instead of cute. A seedy bar of scum and villain actually feels scummy and villainous. The worlds of rebel moon are not pretty and that seems to be the clear intent. They are dangerous terrible unwelcoming places inhabited by equally dangerous individuals. 

 A pity that we do not spend much time to soak in the atmosphere as the plot breezes along from one world to the next. And this brings me to my main complaint in that the movie feels “setty”. The events that happen on each planet seems to take place within the confines of a single set which robs the movie of a sense of scale. At times it does not feel like we are going from one location to the next, instead feeling like going from one movie soundstage set to the next. You know how you’d usually have a wide establishing shot of the location then bring it in slowly to show a closer up view of the location, get a feel of what the place is, then zoom in again to where the characters are and then some background going one to establish the look and feel of the place before continuing their story? (Eg: see Kenobi and Luke’s entry into Mos Eisley and then the cantina in Star Wars: A New Hope). Such establishing sequences give a sense that a fully fleshed out world exists beyond what you see.  Rebel moon goes for establishing shot and then bam! You’re following the characters at street level as if you were plonked down into the middle of an ongoing adventure which has led up to where we catch up with them as they meet one of the legendary heroes they are seeking.

 Battles also feel small as they all take place within fixed sets. The climactic showdown with Admiral Nobel for example could have been a high flying sequence with combat on multiple fronts, ground and air, but instead it all takes place within a couple of platforms with a hyper fixation on tight close ups. 

 And that brings me to my next big negative which is that director Zack Snyder no longer seems to be pushing the envelope. There was no “wow” to Rebel Moon part 1; it feels like he is just repeating styles and techniques that he had used before. Like in 300 with the speed ramping, it was wow. Watchmen with the slow mo used to mimic the experience of reading comic panels, it was wow. Man of Steel with the high speed ground shattering kryptonian combat, Batman’s agile brutality and Wonder woman’s graceful and powerful fighting style in BVS, that was wow. There is no wow here. There is nothing that feels new in terms of filmmaking.

 The story definitely feels like something was cut or trimmed for time. I get that it is part 1 of a single movie that was cut in two and it shows. It is very clearly a “first half” but even knowing that, I feel it tries to do a lot yet feels like it has not done enough. Perhaps those establishing sequences were what was cut? Or actually showing our characters seeking clues, exploring the worlds and searching for the warriors instead of conveniently landing right in front of them? or maybe more scenes of interaction among the motley crew of heroes? There is confirmation of a director’s cut with nearly an hour extra of footage and it baffles me why Netflix would not release that from the get go.

At very least what Rebel Moon succeeds in is hooking me. It gives just enough tastings of adventures yet to be told with characters that I want to know more about. I want to see more about this world. I want to see how Bloodaxe started his rebellion, I want to see how Nemesis lost her children and assassinated 16 generals, I want to see more of Tarak the fallen prince. And maybe that’s what it was meant to do? Just be a taster to hook people and then turn this into a franchise with multiple spinoffs? For as much as Rebel Moon is grand, operatic, and intense, giving me a lot of what I always looked for in science fiction, it feels like merely a sampling of things to come and leaves me wanting more.