Netflix Rebel Moon, Zack Snyder's (Intended) Epic Space Opera Franchise

[Husky_Khan]

Rebel Moon has been an original space opera/science fiction idea that Zack Snyder has been trying to develop since 2012, inspired by Kurosawa films (like Star Wars) as well as the Star Wars films themselves as well as Heavy Metal magazine. His idea finally landed on Netflix and filming started in April of 2022... and ending in December of 2022 with over five months of principal photography to illustrate just how much time has been invested in the production of this film.

The first film (of two initial ones) is set to release on Netflix on December 21st combined with a limited theatrical release starting on December 15th and titled Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. The teaser trailer was released three months ago.



A shorter final trailer was released recently as well.



The sequel, titled Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, is set to be released in April of 2024 also on Netflix.

I'm probably not going to see it personally, not for a while anyways. Partly because I no longer have Netflix and partly because I don't care to much and will wait for word of mouth if it's good or not to see if I want to see it, unless it happens to show up in a nearby theater. I saw Zacl Snyders Army of the Dead and was rather profoundly disappointed. I like Epic Space Operas and I'm not opposed to what little I've heard but I'm taking a wait and see approach.

Still, regardless of my personal interest or lack thereof, it deserves a thread on the Sietch as it is a big film release in a genre that is right up our alley.

Everything You Need to Know About ‘Rebel Moon’

Zack Snyder’s epic space fantasy ‘Rebel Moon’ is coming to Netflix this year.

www.netflix.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

Reviews are pretty mid after the limited theatrical release, but the masses still won't be able to see it and judge it until December 21st.

Zack Snyder’s ‘Rebel Moon’ Gets Cut Down by Critics

The first film in Netflix's two-part sci-fi saga features Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam and Djimon Hounsou.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[gral]

Reviews are pretty mid after the limited theatrical release, but the masses still won't be able to see it and judge it until December 21st.

Zack Snyder’s ‘Rebel Moon’ Gets Cut Down by Critics

The first film in Netflix's two-part sci-fi saga features Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam and Djimon Hounsou.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Watching the teasers, I got the impression it would be pretty 'meh', so the reviews seem to be in agreement with it.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Yeah I was surprised at how ho-hum it seemed from the trailer for an expensive Space Opera original IP. I honestly agree with a lot of assessments that Zack Snyder doesn't seem to do very well with original concepts. Army of the Dead was pretty balls IMHO. It had a lot of neat world building in it but it wasn't a very good movie. This is probably going to be the same. Maybe it can redeem itself by releasing a tabletop game and sourcebooks packed with highly detailed nonsensical lore. 🙏

It being on Netflix, there isn't much Opportunity Cost for me not to watch it though, beyond the fact my not having Netflix anymore so I'd have to actually go to a relatives place to watch it. But I do that already with Apple TV and Disney Plus.

It's always possible of course that this is a case of critics shitting on it and audiences will end up loving it, but from what I've read of the reviews, it doesn't feel like Culture Wars is playing much of a part in this poor critical reception.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Going to give Rebel Moon a chance now that I still have access to Netflix for the coming days.

I yawned during the opening narration. Not sure if thats a good sign or not.

Apparently there's this Empire called the Motherworld that has conquered the vastness of space but after a succession crisis, a Senator named BALISARIUS (not sure if that's a reference to anyone, perhaps the Hindu island of Bali within Indonesia?) seized control and has sent his most ruthless General to crush the ones known as REBELS in the outermost reaches of the Motherworlds Empire.

Sofia Boutella, who we can assume is the titular protagonist of this story, lives on some quaint desolate planet where she's using animal driven plows for agriculture. You can even see the beautiful setting sun glowing brilliantly and large in the background of this quaint world on the Outer Edge of space hovering over said quaint small agricultural village known as THE VELDT!

Then suddenly a large star cruiser or whatever shows up of the Motherworld, intimidating the locals and demanding so much of their harvest that they'll starve. Very based. They even leave a squad of heavily armored troopers backed by emasculated humanoid robots provided by the MECHANICAS MILITARIUM. Looks like a prop from the Total Recall remake or that terrible Chappie movie.

The generic Empire soldiers wear some cool armor and their Energy Guns look like little Boltguns. The garrison they leave behind also begin to win over the locals, hurling verbal, physical and sexual abuse to the locals in response to their cowering kindness for nebulous reasons and even abusing their own underlings, including the poor robot because it can't fight back!

Thirty minutes in and I can tell this developing up to be a great and very original series.

 

[Husky_Khan]

So just finished watching it. It did feel more like a television series (or video game) as the main plot was gathering a bunch of colorful heroes to fight off the impending invasion of the Motherworld forces led by some high ranking officer named 'Noble' who has aspirations to rise to the Senate. So basically it's a travelogue where the ever increasing band of heroes visit all of these random planets and collect these characters for the hero squad and to build their insurgent army.

As for the quality of the show... ehhhh it was watchable and entertaining.

It just wasn't very good. It was extremely unoriginal and derivative. So it's good like the last two Indiana Jones movies were good. They're watchable. They're entertaining but it's all really just a high budget ride through various scenes and set pieces.

This movie is very pretty, but the characters are all cardboard cutouts. The encounters and dilemmas are generic. You get constantly reminded of far better films and franchises that this movie ripped from. The Motherworld Imperium gets a strong inspiration from the Roman Empire, and most of the names are somewhat Roman/Latin sounding as is a lot of the iconography and uniforms, so you might be constantly reminded of Warhammer 40K. But yeah the Star Wars is strong in this as well. As is the desolate, dirt or desert planet with small communities or settlements things as well. There's even a hive of scum and villainy in this movie that has far more degeneracy then Star Wars would show.

This does scifi opera better then Army of Dead did zombie apocalypse I suppose.

For an example of creativity, check out these names. The main character is Kora, no relation to Korra I think. Then you have the occupants of the VELDT, named Sindri and Gunnar. And the various other characters encounter with names like Atticus Noble, General Titus, Tarak (no relation to Turok but they both hunt dinosaurs I kid you not), Darrian and Devra BLOODAXE and of course the mysterious vigilante swordswoman Nemesis. Oh there's also a King named Levitica and the aforementioned BALISARIUS whose the real Big Bad it seems.

Is it a bad movie? Ehhh... it's put together kinda poorly. Poor pacing. Disjointed. A weird non-ending since it's a Part One of Two. But it's watchable. It's entertaining in parts. The special effects are fine. It's very pretty. I didn't like much of the world building, it seemed about as creative as my standard Versus thread. Characters are bland and I don't care about any of them. Some are cool... but in the generic cool manner. They aren't particularly interesting. So... yeah... give it a watch if your interested. It's basically distilled Zack Snyder, except without the source material that he can usually adapt to the big screen as a crutch.

 

[Wolf of Arrakis]

I saw review videos for Rebel Moon since its release and this movie had received much criticism for being generic and for Snyder going overboard with his bad habits. Let's hope this is just growing pains and not a sign of things to come.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Well part two is coming out in a few months, Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. Hopefully it builds on the premise the first film established. We have many major characters and the setting established now. There's a lot of potential in the series, even with the lackluster opening film. Just leaves to see if Zack Snyder can just make a good original film.

 

[Skallagrim]

THE FOLLOWING WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.



Having given it some thought:

-- As previously discussed, this film has a style-over-substance problem.

-- There is, in fact, roughly 0.5% of a plot present. That's it.

-- It feels like a video game, but not a good one. This film is a series of incoherent side quests.

-- There are too many characters, and all of them are two-dimensional.

-- None of the characters are very likable. (The robot voiced by mr. Hopkins was okay, but he was barely there. The girl on the farming planet who kind of bonded with the robot a bit was... at least not agressively unlikable? And they young soldier who was not a dick was also okay. The film should've been about the three of them.)

-- There's zero character development thoughout. Nobody has anything resembling an arc.

-- There's no meaningful world-building. Nothing about this universe is immersive.

-- The writing is terrible. It's all tell and no show.

-- The villains are shit. The admiral guy is mediocre, but his evil boss is just a laughable clown. Also, that guy is visibly younger than the lead actress, and he's supposed to be her adoptive father who's at least a decade older than she is. It's never convincing.

-- Far too much slow-mo.

-- Far too much lens flare.

-- Far too much colour filter.



Solutions:

-- Opening monologue can be scrapped or heavily condensed, since Robot Hopkins gives us the same info later anyway.

-- Every time a character states something we can also see or reasonably infer... scrap that line entirely.

-- Get some actual visual design guys to come up with coherent aesthetics for each faction and each planet.

-- Remove all flashbacks and "main character reveals her past" monologues. All of them. Only hint at her past, never say anything outright.

-- Loads of characters can be removed entirely. Village trader / love interest played by Daario #2 can go. Hippogriff tamer can go. Main character's fuck buddy in the village serves no purpose and can go. Rebel siblings can go.

-- Rebellion should be led by the old General. Sword lady can be a prominent member of his army. (Not main cast, but a supporting figure.)

-- The evil Regent villain must not be shown at all. Only mentioned.

-- The above cuts out several side quests and multiple planets. Keep only the most visually disinct planets. All runtime thus saved must be used to allow the characters to interact and develop. We must see their disrinct personalities, and how they interact.

-- Probably best to tell the film from the perspective of young village girl and young soldier boy. Orginal main character is more like their mysterious saviour/guide, "woman with no name" type. She can find the old General who defected, and his rebel army can save their village. Robot Hopkins offers widom and kindness to the group, and is also the most powerful... but is a pacifist and only defends, never attacks.

-- Robot Hopkins can reveal more (although little directly) about how the King and Queen were betrayed, and the Princess murdered. And it's implied that (no-longer) main character (a.k.a. Gruff Warrior Lady) had something to do with that, or knows more about it.

-- Han Solo stand-in who is secretly evil can still show up, and should get more screen-time, to build up the suggestion that he is the roguish love interest for Gruff Warrior Lady With Mysterious Past. But then he betrays them.

-- Admiral guy played by Daario #1 can still be the lead villain I guess, but he must not be defeated by the heroes. That undercuts him as a threat. They must escape him, with heavy losses on their side. Evil Han Solo stand-in in the baddie they get to kill, and that's pretty much it.

-- The General guy dies in the final battle, so Gruff Warrior Lady has to take over the leadership role of the rebel forces.

-- Maximum of three lens flares in the entire film.

-- Maximum of three slow-mo shots in the entire film.

-- No colour filters. Fuck off with that shit.

-- Anyway, the reveal in part two can be that Gruff Warrior Lady killed the royal family on her adoptive dad's orders, and only defected and fled afterwards. (I mean... I'm guessing that's gonna be the reveal anyway!) Of course, in reality, she didn't kill the Princess, who is still in hiding somewhere, and can return to bring peace and judtic to the galaxy, or whatever.



It's still a fairly crappy SW rip-off, but it might be improved slightly if you did the above. But in fact, writing this out was far more effort than this film deserved.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The trailer for Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, has been released!



Looks like this trailer has conveniently told us most of the story, so that's appreciated. It's literally a montage of 300 style individual action scenes from each of the cast members. How delightful.

WOW! Look at that lightsaber laser sword! That looks NEAT! It can block bullets!

Also I saw a giant white bird 45 seconds in. That too is pretty cool!

Looks like Sofia Boutella... I forgot her name and I guess I didn't post it previously, is going to fight the guy she beat already last time... but this time it'll be on an exploding starship in the midst of falling... with LASER SWORDS.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Oh boy it looks like Rebel Moon Part II: The Scargiver is out?

Or at least reviews of it are out...



"It's one thing to be comically inept, it's another thing to be boring and tedious, and it's another thing to be completely derivative, cliched and unoriginal, but it takes a special kind of cinematic anti-genius to bring all of these things together in one movie!"

I'll be honest, I only had to watch the first thirty seconds of his video to get excited about watching this film only once just to see... uhhh what happens.

I'm guessing Zack Snyder didn't do too much post-production work in response to some of the criticism that might've been leveled at part one of his glorious space opera franchise.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Time to Watch Part II: The Scargiver!!!1

After a narration by Anthony Hopkins or whatever of the first film, which was helpful cuz I kinda forgot the names of everyone, the first scene is Atticus Noble being brought back to life aboard his Dreadnought the Kings Gaze. Atticus Noble states to his second, Cassius, that the SCARGIVER has gone to the Veldt and they should go there.

SCARGIVER, whose name I actually forgot already even though it was just mentioned in the narration, returns to THE VELDT, the small farming village. It is soon after revealed... THEY HAVE FIVE DAYS TO PREPARE for the arrival of Atticus Noble and his warship.

"In time, we will teach you how to fight."

Bruh you got five days.

But wait.. there's more..

"How long does it take to bring in your crop?"

"Half a cycle..."

"No! It must be done in three days time. We need every man and woman who's able. The grain is our most powerful weapon. Without it, they are liable to blow us out of existence from orbit. If we bring it in fast, we can use it, both as a bartering tool and shield."

If you are one of those nerds who worries about scifi scaling and somehow still watching this series, this is not the movie sequel for you.

I wonder if there will be a grain harvesting montage?

First flashback starts at 13:45 in!

The ship would be named Peacemaker and bear her royal seal!

I love the violin music playing right now.

Wait a minute... there's an actual group of violinists playing for the Monarchs during a Ship Dedication Ceremony... Surely they won't be still playing during the assassination attempt for musical effect... Oh my gosh... nothing has improved with Snyder's filmmaking. 😭

Quote of the Day!

"A CANCER OF ETHNIC IMPURITIES!"

Wow that flashback might've been one of the dumbest scenes that ever took place in fiction. I don't know how-

OH HELL YES! GRAIN HARVESTING MONTAGE!!!!!!!1

There is even slow motion grain harvesting scenes!!!!!1 It's so beautiful. It's mostly slow motion actually.

Twenty minutes in and I can tell this is developing up to be a great and very original sequel.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Huh... I think the second movie is worse than the first, which is tragically unfortunate since more than half of the second film is basically a battle. One would potentially assume Snyder could direct action scenes semi-competently from his body of work but while it was mildly entertaining and pretty enough to look at, the whole Battle just wasn't particularly interesting or notable to watch. Also the movie was short, under two hours.

Still though, perfectly watchable entertainment even if low quality as a film.

Also that grain harvesting montage... it lasted a LOT longer then I thought it would. Like well after I posted about it. All of those slow motion action shots helped it along of course. Wow...