Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire Review

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is a space opera Zack Snyder and Netflix plan to use as a launching pad for a franchise. It is already a film that has stirred a lot of debate.

Kora (Sofia Boutella) is a woman who lives in a simple farming community on the moon of Veldt. When the forces of The Imperium arrive at the community, they demand the farmers give them their whole harvest in ten weeks. Kora, along with a fellow farmer, Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) travels across the universe to recruit a team of warriors to help defend the community.

Zack Snyder is a director who has a divisive reputation. Some people love him, others hate him, and he does have a vocal fanbase. Snyder has made some films I have enjoyed. His remake of Dawn of the Dead is a great example of how a remake should be done, 300 is bloody entertainment, his version of Watchmen is as faithful as an adaptation could be, and my controversial opinion is Man of Steel is my favourite Superman film. But he has also made some trash. Sucker Punch is a collection of music videos strung together, and Army of the Dead is a hotchpotch of ideas.

Snyder can be compared to a director like Michael Bay. Both are filmmakers who divide opinion and have visual flair but are given too much creative freedom when they need to be reined in. Warner Brothers gave Snyder a lot of freedom since he was one of their golden directors and now Netflix has done the same.

Zack Snyder did pitch an R-rated Star Wars film to Lucasfilm back in 2012 but was rejected, so he repurposed his idea into an ‘original’ film. This wasn’t anything new, Robocop was originally envisioned as a Judge Dredd film, and Die Hard with a Vengeance was based on a script intended to be a Lethal Weapon sequel. However, Rebel Moon had the same problem as another film released at the same time, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, by being incredibly derivative.

Rebel Moon was a mix of ideas. The setup and world were the same as the first Star Wars where a person from a farming backwater ends up having to do battle with an evil Empire. The plot of recruiting warriors to help defend a small village was the same as Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. Charitably Rebel Moon could be seen as following the template of the Hero’s Journey. Many stories have a setup of a character from a small community who ends up going on a quest to save their home and loved ones, i.e. Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, and Hunger Games. But Snyder doesn’t put any unique spin on this.

Rebel Moon borrows from ideas and imagery from other properties. The Star Wars parallels were obvious due to the presence of an empire with the main villain in this film being a henchman for the big bad guy. Kora and Gunnar go to a bar full of rogues like the canteen scene from Star Wars and they meet a Han Solo-like figure in the form of Charlie Hunnam’s Kai, who inexplicably performed the character with an Irish accent. The character of Nemesis (Bae Doona) was essentially a Jedi Knight who wielded energy swords. Snyder’s dark and grim visuals made Rebel Moon seem like it looked like a Star Wars film made during the dark and gritty era of cinema. This made Rebel Moon into a dour movie.

The backstory involving the regicide and dynastic politics made Rebel Moon into a mix of Jupiter Ascending and Dune and the imperial military uniforms looked like House Atreides. Kora’s origins were the same as Gamora in Marvel Comics. A scene involving one of the recruits who needed to tame and ride a hippogriff was a mix of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Avatar.

The film is aiming to be the start of a franchise and this led to a lot of world-building, even if it wasn’t relevant to the main story. An example of this involved the recruitment of Nemesis who was fighting a spider-creature called Harmada (Jena Malone) who had abducted some children. Harmada stated that she did this because the planet was so polluted that it meant her eggs couldn’t hatch. This seems like a story that’s going to be in a spin-off comic. There is already a comic book about the Bloodaxes being released in early 2024.

Rebel Moon is the first part of a film. This meant that it was only telling half a story and part of a trend of other 2023 films being split into two parts, like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Fast X. Rebel Moon’s conclusion was Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One because the final action scene was fairly small scale and acting as a prologue to the action in the second half.

There was also a cynicism involving the release of Rebel Moon. Snyder and Netflix have promised to release an extended, R-rated cut of the film in 2024. It leads to the question, why not release that version to begin with? One of the draws of Netflix is its creative freedom, that’s why directors like Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro made films for the company. It seems like Snyder and Netflix made this announcement to gain more attention for the film, not because of artistic vision.

Where Rebel Moon did succeed was the action. Snyder almost always deliveries with action sequences and Rebel Moon had some good ones. His unique style of slo-mo was on display, even if it was a little overused. Some of the best sequences were when Kora had to use her military training, the fight between Nemesis and Harmada, and finally between the Rebels and the Imperium. It was great to see Sofia Boutella in an action role again. The action made sure the film could offer some entertainment value.

Rebel Moon had some decent action and a cool cast, but couldn’t overcome that it had no originality.