Rebel Moon

Rebel Moon is Zack Snyder’s personal take on a Star Wars space opera film coming to fruition with the help of Netflix after his pitch was rejected by Disney. Unfortunately, it took me only 30 minutes into the film to realize “Ah, I see why Disney passed on this garbage.”

I like giving these original sci-fi films a chance because I enjoy watching the process of world-building in front of my very eyes, as well as admiring the imaginative minds of film directors/writers unfurl into an almost real, tangible world. However, Rebel Moon offered me no such joy. The world of Rebel Moon is not built from scratch, but rather borrowed from more storied universes such as Star Wars or Warhammer 40K. Like a cheap reproduction, the architectural and costume design of the Rebel Moon world is painfully banal. How can you tell me this is an intergalactic world where the main villain wears a plain suit from H&M? How can you tell me these are farmers of a distant moon when their farmhouses look like the ones from Saskatchewan?

Sometimes I can look past the design flaws if a good story can offset the balance Instead, I found myself scoffing multiple times at the cheesy, simplistic dialogue and the non-existent character development. The characters are so shallow that even the actors seem bored by their own work. Case-in-point, Charlie Hunnam gave off such monotone expressions like he was just reading off the script half-asleep. I’m not sure if he even believed in his own character. Another example, when the team travel the galaxy to recruit the once-great General Titus who is reduced to prize fighting, all it took was “Hey, don’t you want revenge?” and Titus miraculously transitioned from abject shame to “I’m in, bitches. Let’s fight.”. Rebel Moon is rife with these kinds of incredulous nonsense. Half of the film is spent on recruiting a lineup of characters for an insurgency squad without providing any sufficient lore or background of their past. Everything is telling instead of showing. Instead, it felt like they were just there to look cool for the final battle, which in fact applies to all characters in this film.

In conclusion, Rebel Moon is a dollarstore version of Star Wars without the interesting characters, epic music, and immersive world. The only positive thing going for this film is cinematography, which is indeed Zack Snyder’s specialty. And though I have to say the cinematography is legitimately impressive, I think films nowadays have to offer much more than just visuals when state-of-the-art CGI is so commonplace.

Zack Snyder may be a visual art virtuoso but he is not a good screenplay writer like Quentin Tarantino or Christopher Nolan. I feel the cult success of Justice League Snyder Cut massively overrated his writing capabilities, bestowing him with a license of carte blanche in film production and a zealous fan base. Of course, there is always a hidden gem of a script that just deserves a platform, similar to how Squid Game was rejected by numerous studios before becoming a global success. Though Snyder’s track record as a writer has not been fruitful, he is still one of the most visually creative directors in the industry. I hope Snyder gains back momentum and finds success like he did with 300 and Man of Steel. As far as Rebel Moon goes, however, it will always live behind the shadows of numerous better space themed films. I don’t need to hear about another Snyder’s cut of this film to explain "the suppression of his artistic expression by big corporations". If it sucks, it sucks. No more second chances.