Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child on Fire
At this point, most people basically know where they land when it comes to Zack Snyder. It’s no secret I’ve never really connected with his over reliance on slow-motion, even if I’ve enjoyed a good portion of his films. With “Rebel Moon,” Snyder is swinging for the stars with his own space opera. After one half of his story (“Part Two” comes out in April), I think it’s safe to say that any chance of Snyder’s work landing with me is gone.
This is a story that Snyder allegedly pitched to Lucasfilm shortly after their acquirement from Disney in 2012. I can see how it would fit into the “Star Wars” universe, but I can also see why Lucasfilm passed. The story is essentially “Seven Samurai” as space opera, but it’s not the cripping from Kurosawa that I think caused Lucasfilm to say no; after all, “A New Hope” has “The Hidden Fortress” fully in its DNA, and “Seven Samurai” is a story shape that inspired at least one episode from the TV series’s. Its story of a woman with a mysterious past who must face that past to help villagers fend off an imperial galactic force is basically the arc Rey would go on in the sequel trilogy, with some distinguishing changes, of course.
Left to his own devices, I think Snyder has shown himself to be a striking visual filmmaker but a rudimentary storyteller. “Army of the Dead” is an entertaining film, but it’s fairly basic in its narrative and visual storytelling. I’m not sure why he began to work as his own cinematographer, but I feel like he’s someone who needs to be focused on the bigger picture, and him centering in on the images, without someone else to create them on-screen for him, is a detriment to his craft. Regardless of what I think of his work, I’ve always been able to appreciate the singular style he has had, even if his use of slow-motion in particular- which seems more geared towards creating screensavers than emotional connections with the story- is one of the most obnoxious things about his films. With “Rebel Moon,” this might be the blandest movie he’s ever made visually; I don’t think there’s a single image I will take away from this film.
As I said, Snyder is basically making “Seven Samurai” in space. As the harvest occurs on a planet of hardworking farmers, a dangerous officer of the ruling government comes, and looks to take a higher share of their harvest. There is some pushback, and some violence, and the officer (Balisarius, played by Ed Skrein) demands all of their harvest. Some are content to just try hard, but a few people- Gunnar (a foreman played by Michiel Huisman) and Kora (a mysterious young woman played by Sofia Boutella)- set out to find fighters who might teach them to battle the government and its oppressive figurehead.
I could take the time to look up the names of all the details about Snyder’s world, but honestly, it’s hard to keep track of them- or hold them in our memories- when they feel like bargain basement versions of what “Star Wars” has made iconic. One movie that other critics have brought up with regards to “Rebel Moon” is “Jupiter Ascending,” but while I can understand why, this film lacks the singular inventiveness and tone the Wachowskis brought to that maddening space opera. I feel like, in a weird way, Snyder is trying to thread the needle between “Star Wars” and “The Fifth Element” with the world he is trying to create, but “Rebel Moon” lacks the sincerity of the former to dive into its mythic ideas and the sincerity of the latter to be just askew in tone from its obvious inspiration. “Rebel Moon” just feels…bland and forgettable, right down to Tom Holkenborg’s score. There are some decent performances- Skrein is enjoying himself, Doona Bae is cool, and I like the potential in Djimon Hounsou’s general- but bland and forgettable is the last thing I ever expected to say about a Snyder film.
