Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Shay Hatten
Stars: Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Anthony Hopkins, Dijmon Hounsou
Synopsis: When a peaceful settlement on the edge of a distant moon finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, a mysterious stranger living among its villagers becomes their best hope for survival.
Zack Snyder is a singular filmmaker. This is not necessarily a compliment or an insult, a Snyder movie is its own beast. It is also legitimately impossible to walk into a Snyder movie without any preconceived notions. His film, and his ardent fans, precede him. But that’s not completely his fault. He has a style all his own and if that’s the kind of thing you want, you will be mostly pleased every time you see a Snyder flick. And the opposite is true, as well. If you have not enjoyed his work in the past, that is not likely to change. And that brings us to Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, and it is exactly what you might expect for better or worse.
The plot, such as it is, follows Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her adopted people, who tend to be peaceful farmers. But this is a Star Wars story– wait, no, not officially. But there is an evil empire at work called The Motherworld and the Imperium soldiers have arrived in order to stop a, you guessed it, burgeoning rebellion on the smaller worlds in the realm. Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) leads this violent away party, which leads to Kora and her compatriot, Gunnar (Michael Huisman) on a quest to gather a small army to defend their land.
This all may sound familiar, and it very much is. A bit of Star Wars, a lot of Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven, but really, do we watch a Zack Snyder film for big ideas? Maybe I’m grading on a curve here, but despite slow moments and a vast amount of unoriginality, it was still mostly fun. As expected, there is fun action (with too much slow-motion), simplistic but archetypal ideas and characters, and nearly winking villainy. Depth is not here at all, but big screen moments (sad this had almost no release) abound.
I won’t go into massive detail about more plot points, but rest assured, a small army will be gathered and the movie will end before anything major gets accomplished, it is a Part One in every conceivable way. Most of the time in this film is spent providing an insane amount of plot and world exposition, as well as much needed background on Kora. Sofia Boutella, an underused actress, is given the majority of this exposition, and does an admirable job. It can be tough, especially within the realm of science fiction and fantasy, to do this and remain a likable character. This is even more true given her convoluted and difficult to like backstory.
But don’t worry, it is not all talking, as Snyder continues to know where his bread is buttered. He knows he has a secret weapon in Boutella, with the ability to perform physically (as in Atomic Blonde), paired with the ability to pull off haunted and torn between defending the weak and just leaving to save her own skin. The physicality is well performed and helps us make sense out of who to root for as she defends her people against cartoonish evil. As a note, Ed Skrein is having an absolute blast playing his hideous character. It is always a pleasure when an actor knows exactly what kind of movie he is in.
The problems with this film come, when slowly, and I do mean slowly gathering the team of warriors to eventually fight back in the sequel. Many actors are gathered, including a very game Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Ray Fisher, and Staz Nair. Nair may have the biggest moment in the film featuring a ton of very enjoyable CGI and a solid revenge beat the actually work. I’m not sure the rest of the revenge angle works (especially with Hounsou), but again, this is a simple movie with simple beats. There is a great deal of hand waving and “just go along with it” that the audience must get past and, as always, your mileage may vary.
In the end, Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire is ridiculous, unoriginal, and stereotypical. But also? There is a lot of fun to be had, especially if someone can Jedi mindtrick you into forgetting you knew anything about Star Wars. But hey, this movie features a fight sequence in which Jena Malone’s head is superimposed on a spider’s body. If you can’t have any fun with that, I’m honestly not sure what to tell you.
