Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child Of Fire

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child Of Fire is a sci-fi epic in which a former general in hiding must recruit a band of misfits to protect the village she calls home from an Imperial force. What I think this film really nailed down early on was the village introduction in Act 1. There is a sense of community here, we learn about the villages and the relationships as they stand; it's a place that gets the opportunity to be defined. As such we also care about the possibility of love here, the friendships that exist and we get a sense of some secrets within the village. It also hits extremely hard when Admiral Noble's forces come along and devastate the status quo of the village, the tension is seriously ramped up by the village falling to subjugation. It's an opener that really shows off the potential of Rebel Moon, a potential that is shortly dropped upon moving from this location.

One thing I will always say for Zack Snyder's films is that they look sharp, the cinematography was by far one of the best leading factors. I liked that there was such majesty given to how locations and new sets were capture; more than this I think action was really shot in a way that leaves you somewhat in awe. The score for the film was also pretty beautiful, the chorus pieces especially lend this somber sense of gravity to the events of the feature.

 

Ray Fisher and Cleopatra Coleman, who played Bloodaxe and Devra respectively, were an incredible duo that really felt like battle-hardened leaders of a resistance; Fisher was particularly impressive as a figure who was strongly motivated to the side of justice. Anthony hopkins, who voiced Jimmy, is an example of a performer who can shine despite being underutilised; I could listen to Hopkins spin trascendent sounding exposition for days on end. Corey Stoll, who played Sindri, is entirely brilliant as the gruff leader of the village we are first introduced to; Stoll presents a tough shrewd man who seems at once imposing and wise. Greg Kriek and Brandon Auret, who played Marcus and Faunus respectively, were some of the most hateable characters of the film and as such served as great minor antagonists; Kriek in particular came out swinging and crafted an individual who was entirely rotten.

However, the best performance came from Ed Skrein, who played Atticus Noble. This was one of Skrein's best performances I've seen to date, he appeared to be really enjoying it and making it his own. From his first moment onscreen it was clear there was something quite off-kilter with Noble, his long embrace upon greeting a village leader and almost overly amiable attitude in the face of a militaristic backdrop was telling. Yet when we see the moment in which he tries to pull apart the fabric of the village and then lashes out his own will you get a chance to see how ruthless and cunning this antagonist is. Skrein brings forth an individual with a cruel sense of justice, and hammers out the will of his masters as he sees fit. I enjoyed how relentless this adversary was throughout Rebel Moon, he was after our protagonists doggedly and it worked well. Yet what I most admired about Skrein's performance was his final scene, a moment in which he had just effectively perished, was brought back within an inch of his life and had to show incredible strength and decorum to his commander.

 

This is a film that sets itself up very strongly and then proceeds to deliver the most exposition crammed, dull and poorly paced hour and a half I've watched all year. The film has a tendency to dump its worldbuilding on you with very little prompting; two characters would barely start talking before one gives a heavy-handed monologue that is falt-toned and paired with an uninspired flashback scene. This constant need to tell the audience everything and deliver worldbuilding like a lecture made this a remarkably tired movie in terms of pace. A major bigger problem with this movie was the lack of connection; as an audience it became hard to connect with any of these characters because there were all so stoic and two-dimensional. Every figure seemed to have a brooding chip on their shoulder or we as an audience weren't given enough time to actually learn about these roles. A massive bloated part of this feature is watching the main protagonist hop around collecting side characters like they were Funko Pops, yet we never come to actually learn much of these side characters beyond their introductory scene. When all was said and done the movie just stumbles to a conclusion; enacting a rather obvious plot twist that can be called from a mile away and placing the final confrontation in a rather underwhelming setting. The whole thing is pushed as a 'Part One' but that doesn't really excuse the weak-footed ending provided here in relation to the main story. I also cannot begin to describe how uninteresting Kora is as a protagonist, be it her background or the way she is presented as a leader of this ragtag group is a massive part of what makes the plot of this feature so difficult to engage with.

 

The visual effects were quite jigsaw puzzle to navigate; in a controlled set the visuals were impressive for the most part. But the moments in which effects moved against CGI backdrops looked abhorrent and showed how thin the budget for this project was stretched, kind of laughable in the same year we got The Creator.

 

Sofia Boutella, who played Kora, doesn't really lend herself well to a protagonist role; Boutella is very secure in the same form of expression and delivery for the entire piece which came off as very limited. Djimon Housou, who played Titus, is a real wasted use of a decent performer; Housou gets to groan and feign a frustrated indivudal but we never get enough time to connect with that role. Michiel Huisman, who played Gunnar, feels like the odd man out in the main cast and struggles to belong; Huisman is so meek and forgettable in this to his detriment. Bae Doona, who played Nemesis, is really just in this feature for an aesthetic role; this character is interesting in a fight scene but barely gets to act otherwise. Charlie Hunnam, who played Kai, is another example of great talent inside this film entirely squandered; Hunnam barely gets a moment where he isn't right smack bang in the background. Staz Nair, who played Tarak, is a character who seems very stark and bold but then falls into the background very swiftly after his intro; they kept trying to have Nair throw in a bit of presence with some quips but these rarely land or define him. Fra Fee, who played Balisarius, is quite disappointing as the main antagonist in the shadows; Fee just doesn't hold the gravitas to present a man who feels like a conqueror wielding tremdnous power. Ingvar Sigurdsson, who played Hagen, was a forgettable mentor type figure to Boutella early in the film; their relationship was very poorly defined and they didn't share the screen well with one another. Sky Yang, who played Aris, was a bit generic as the young soldier with sympathies for the people his platoon was oppressing; Yang did absolutely nothing to avail himself of one of the most stereotypical roles in the feature. Charlotte Maggi, who played Sam, has very little presence and is one of the more underwhelming villager performances; Maggi is placed here to wail and be a plot device and is rarely utilised as a genuine character.

A disappointing career low for Zack Snyder. I would give Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child Of Fire a 3/10.