USA. 2023.
Crew
Director/Story/Photography – Zack Snyder, Screenplay – Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad & Zack Snyder, Producers – Wesley Coller, Eric Newman, Deborah Snyder & Zack Snyder, Music – Tom Holkenborg, Visual Effects Supervisors – John “DJ” Desjardin & Marcus Taormina, Visual Effects – Day for Nite, Framestore (Supervisors – Bryan Litson & Robert Winter), Luma Pictures (Senior Supervisor – Vince Cirelli, Supervisor – Farhad Mohasseb), Mammal Studios (Supervisor – Gregory D. Liegey), Rodeo FX Inc (Supervisors – Mai-Ling Dydo & Sebstien Francoeur), Scanline (Supervisor – Justin Mitchell) & Weta FX Limited (Supervisors – Robin Hollander & Ken McGaugh), Special Effects Supervisor – Michael Gaspar, Makeup Effects – Fractured FX (Designer – Justin Raleigh), Production Design – Stefan Dechant & Stephen Swain. Production Company – Grand Electric/Stone Quarry.
Cast
Sofia Boutella (Kora), Micheil Huisman (Gunnar), Ed Skrein (Admiral Atticus Noble), Charlie Hunnam (Kai), Djimon Hounsou (General Titus), Doona Bae (Nemesis), Ray Fisher (Darrian Bloodaxe), Staz Nair (Tarak), Anthony Hopkins (Voice of Jimmy), Ingvar Sigurdsson (Hagen), Corey Stoll (Sindri), Jena Malone (Harmada), Cleopatra Coleman (Devra), Greg Kriek (Marcus), Brandon Auret (Faunus), Ray Porter (Hickman), Fra Fee (Balisarius), Sky Yang (Aris), Stella Grace Fitzgerald (Princess Issa), Charlotte Maggi (Sam), Tony Amendola (King Levitica), Stuart Martin (Den), Cary Elwes (The King)
Plot
A group of villagers eke out a simple life on the planet Veldt. They are interrupted as a battlecruiser from The Imperium arrives in orbit. Its commanding admiral Atticus Noble demands that the villagers provide them with food while they hunt for rebels. When the village leader tries to say they don’t have enough, Noble kills him. Soldiers are left behind while the villagers gather supplies. When she comes across the soldiers trying to force their way with a girl, Kora goes into action and kills all of them. Knowing that Noble will return and eliminate the entire village, Kora, joined by the farmer Gunnar, sets out to find the Bloodaxe rebels and seek their aid in defending the village. Throughout their journey, they gather a group of assorted fighters and rebels who agree to join their cause. Pursuing them is Noble who regards Kora as the most wanted fugitive in the galaxy.
Zack Snyder probably needs no introduction. Snyder first appeared on screens with his remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004). He quickly ascended to an A-list director and went on to the likes of 300 (2007), Watchmen (2009), Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010), Sucker Punch (2011) and Army of the Dead (2021). In more recent years, Snyder has been prominently associated with a trilogy of DC Comics adaptations that have polarised audiences – Man of Steel (2013), Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017) and the re-edited version of the latter with Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
Snyder apparently pitched Rebel Moon – A Child of Fire: Part One to Lucasfilm as a Star Wars film sometime in the 1990s. It was probably the wrong time to do so – if it has been during the Disney era as opposed to the time when Lucas still held tight control over everything that went out under the Star Wars banner he might have had a chance. This was also before Snyder had actually made his directorial debut, which probably did not help.
Nevertheless, Star Wars is essential part of the lifeblood of Rebel Moon – A Child of Fire: Part One. It is there in obvious influences where Snyder and co have not been too particular about disguising their copies – from the start on the farming community on the desert planet to the visit to a barroom of alien ugly mugs where they get the assist of a cocky space pilot to the evil general and his army of stormtroopers, the assorted shootouts and Doona Bae wielding a lightsabre lookalike.
When it comes to the plot, Snyder and co have just borrowed the essentials of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai (1954), which was most famously remade as the Western The Magnificent Seven (1960). Though the settings differ, both films have the same plot where a small village comes under threat by a tyrannical warlord and a villager sets forth on a quest to recruit seven people who will come and fight to defend them. It is worth noting that The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven has been adapted into a science-fiction scenario setting twice before with the Japanese Message from Space (1978) and the Roger Corman-produced Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). The basics have been incorporated in other works ranging from the peplum film The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1985) to Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998) and the Wu Xia Seven Swords (2005).
Zack Snyder seems to have a liking for ensemble films. Seven out of his ten films to date – Watchmen, Legend of the Guardians, Sucker Punch, Batman vs Superman, Justice League, Army of the Dead and arguably 300 – feature a group of people of differing abilities coming together to form a team acting towards a common goal or against an enemy. So it is probably natural that this type of The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven plot appeals to him. At times it almost feels as though Snyder and his co-writers have written the exercise to import characters from their favourite genres – Djimon Hounsou’s general comes from a gladiator film; the scene where Staz Nair tames the bennu creature essentially makes him an Indian brave horse whisperer from a Western; Doona Bae in gat hat feels like an importation from the ninja film; while the Bloodaxes give the impression they have been modelled on the Celts.
I didn’t hate Rebel Moon – A Child of Fire: Part One. It entertained me, it was strictly okay but I felt that The Mandalorian (2019- ) did everything here much better. Snyder has a general competence with the action scenes – watching Sofia Boutella wipe out a unit of Imperium troops, Doona Bae vs the Queen, and the climactic shootout that takes place on Gondival prove entertaining, although you suspect that a Star Wars film would have aimed for something more epical. The visual effects are generally competent for this type of film but nothing that wows you in your seat.
In everything I’ve seen her in before, Sofia Boutella has a screen persona that looks like a scruffy street urchin; the role here is the first I can say is the first film that gives her some presence, largely due to Snyder putting her into a series of kick-ass poses. The majority of the supporting fighters don’t get too much distinction – the robot that comes with Anthony Hopkins’ distinctive voice seems to be set up but then just disappears off-screen apart from a final shot cameo – although more of their turn will likely come in Part 2. The one who seems to be having the most fun is Ed Skrein who relishes the bad guy role and has clear fun whenever he turns up on screen.
Zack Snyder and all of the surviving cast and characters returned with the sequel Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024).
Trailer here