Knock on Wood

The way that Zack Snyder makes movies now is incredibly frustrating. The “Snyder Cut” online movement that resulted in his director’s cut of Justice League finally being released on HBO Max seems to have permanently changed his outlook on filmmaking – now he seems obsessed with dual versions of the films he’s even moderately unhappy with, claiming that he could “fix” Sucker Punch if he got a chance to go back to it.

A blank check from Netflix didn’t necessarily help. His Star Wars ripoff Rebel Moon is the pinnacle of his new philosophy and the very proof of its insanity.

I was originally going to wait for the release of his R-rated director’s cuts (which he claims are the “definitive” versions of both films), which I’m almost certain will be much better, but my interest was piqued by the overwhelmingly negative response to the first film, and I caved. That first film, subtitled A Child of Fire, was not surprising in the slightest – derivative to the extreme, with lazily-defined characters, and too many ideas than it knows what to do with. On one hand, it’s very clear where its Star Wars roots stem – the film partly acts as a remake of A New Hope – but even if you put the Star Wars similarities aside, there was nothing there you haven’t seen somewhere else before. In fact, some tropes are so overdone that it’s downright disappointing to see them employed in such a high-budget feature.

But despite all that, I had a moderately fun time. I could see A Child of Fire becoming a guilty pleasure at some point in the future.

Snyder’s follow-up, The Scargiver, produced concurrently with Part One, is nothing more than the last act of what A Child of Fire set up. It instantly resurrects the main antagonist, Admiral Noble (Ed Skrien), invalidating the entire finale of the previous film, and brings our protagonists back to the farm they were charged with defending for a final confrontation. There, exposition abounds, and the central characters we barely know tell each other their life stories for no reason other than to give the audience a reason to care. Here I am, two hours later, and I’m sad to say I care even less now.

I’ll give credit where credit’s due – I’m interested in Snyder’s world. On paper, it’s different enough, and the designs are admittedly spectacular. The visual effects can back that up. But its ultimate downfall is the same as its predecessor – it’s desperately trying to emulate the bombastic success of Star Wars, but it lacks the luster and originality to do so. The fact that this story was split into two films is damning, as apparently even Snyder doubts his ability to tell a concise story in one film, so the natural three-act structure is unnecessarily broken up, and the momentum between films dissipates, leaving The Scargiver with little steam to sustain itself on.

Apparently, Snyder has massive plans for the world of Rebel Moon. These two films aren’t the greatest start, but there’s so much potential that it still feels like a massive waste. Still, it doesn’t take a lot to draw me into a fantasy world, and A Child of Fire did a good job of enticing me into it, but The Scargiver, despite ostensibly wrapping up the story, grinds to a halt, more interested in slow-motion shots of grain harvesting than providing us with characters we care about. On top of that, in a world of so much potential, Snyder seems intent on sidelining his most interesting ideas – the sentient turncoat robot Jimmy (voiced by a dozing Anthony Hopkins) is fascinating but has less than ten minutes of screentime over both films – in favor of bland characters, played by stilted performers who are not quite sure what tone they’re supposed to be conveying. A Child of Fire was tolerable, but even the explosions and energy of The Scargiver couldn’t save it. Maybe further Rebel Moon entries will be sharper and have a clearer vision, but I won’t hold my breath.

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is streaming on Netflix now.