When a colony on the edge of the galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, they dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighbouring planets to help them take a stand. As a young filmmaker, Zack Snyder is one of my biggest inspirations and in my opinion, a sorely misunderstood and mistreated director. There is no shortage of obstacles and roadblocks that have plagued the man’s career, whether it be studios botching his complete visions or the tragic suicide of his daughter Autumn during the filming of Justice League. Now having left Warner Bros (which treated him like shit) to work for Netflix, Snyder brings us what is essentially his version of Star Wars. Keep in mind that Snyder has publicly stated that this PG-13 cut isn’t the full version and that a 3 hour R rated director’s cut will be released sometime in February of 2024. He has also said that there is in fact a huge difference between this and the extended version in regards to added story context along with blood and gore missing from this cut.
Having said all of that, there’s plenty to like and even love about Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, especially when it comes to the insanely far out galaxy and lived in sci-fi world in which we’re introduced to. The opening sequence is a massive exposition dump from Anthony Hopkins explaining the lore and mythology of this universe. It’s quite a lot of information to digest in a short amount of time, but the point of an imperialist force from the “Motherworld” subjugating the civilizations of poor planets does get across. Sofia Boutella plays Kora, a former member of the Imperium who is now living life peacefully as a farmer on the planet Veidt. When Imperium forces led by high ranking admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) visit the planet in an attempt to pressure the villagers into submission, there is a rift between village leaders on how to deal with the situation. Ultimately, Kora chooses to resist and goes on a mission to recruit warriors from all over the galaxy to help fight the evil Imperium.
First off, Sofia Boutella totally rocks it as Kora. She is a very strong, badass, and fully capable female lead protagonist who has a super dark and messed up backstory with her upbringing as an Imperium member. Not all of Bouttela’s line delivery is flawless, but she plays Kora with enough confidence and hardened conviction to sell her character as a fierce leader. The supporting cast is rather impressive, with Anthony Hopkins, Charlie Hunnam, Ray Fisher, and Ed Skrein along with several others. Ed Skrein’s Atticus Noble is a really entertaining villain. Skrein is clearly having a lot of fun playing this Gestapo-like character with a sarcasm complex, which allows him to appear “friendly” while in reality he’s making these horribly violent threats to people. Anthony Hopkins voices a robot named Jimmy and has an intriguing backstory revolving around his former servitude to the fallen king. As stated before, his character is very much the exposition dumping machine here, but it was nice to see that there’s more depth and personality to Jimmy than it would seem. Other notable standouts are Bae Donna as badass swordsmaster Nemesis, Ray Fisher as warrior Darrian Bloodaxe, and Digimon Hounsou as Titus, a brilliant yet washed up battlefield commander.
The action sequences are visually breathtaking, with exhilarating fight choreography melded with Snyder’s signature slo-mo effects. Boutella kicks all kinds of ass during these fight scenes and I can only imagine how much more awesome they’ll be with the added blood and gore in the extended cut. Most of the VFX are solid, particularly the shots of outer space and spaceships, although there are a few occasions where Snyder over utilizes that orangish brownish filter he uses in many of his films. Tom Holkenborg’s score rings a familiar tune that’s fairly reminiscent of his ZSJL soundtrack, but the use of drums and vocals effectively complement the action, vibe, and sci-fi world aesthetic. Influences from Star Wars, Dune, Japanese Samurai movies, and spaghetti westerns are very obvious and will most certainly not be to everyone’s liking, but I personally dug this hodgepodge of different sub genres and how they were blended together here. I mean, there is literally a scene that beat for beat resembles the Mos Eisley cantina sequence from the original Star Wars film, complete with funky looking alien creatures and our main characters being confronted with a rude customer.
As I mentioned earlier in this review, the movie is very neutered and chopped down by design, so my main issues stem from it being overstuffed with too many underdeveloped supporting characters who don’t get a more comprehensive introduction. Naturally, the pacing suffers from this lack of story context in spots and it oftentimes feels as if we as viewers are being thrusted from location to location with little to no breathing room. Those flaws aside, I have to commend Snyder for going all out in crafting his bonkers vision with the only real restraint being that this is the watered down version. It starts a bit wonky, but once it found its rhythm, I personally found myself fully invested in this universe and the high stakes these characters had to deal with. Enjoyment will mostly vary from person to person depending on their tastes and opinions of Snyder’s style and previous works. Overall, despite Rebel Moon being held back by missing story elements and disjointed pacing, Zack Snyder’s space opera is a thrilling sci-fi passion project with stunning visuals, hard hitting action sequences, interesting supporting characters, and a badass, fully capable female protagonist in Sofia Boutella’s Kora. I greatly look forward to both the definitive R rated director’s cut of this film and its sequel next year.
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