Rebel Mooned... part I

REBEL MOON: WAS IT GOOD?

Alright, I finally did it, I watched "Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire" on Netflix. I actually wanted to see this one- I was looking forward to it in fact. I saw the previews and they got me curious about the concept, usually I don't get any "feels" from trailers. This one was different, it made me nostalgic. 

When I heard the story behind how "Rebel Moon" actually came to be I was more intrigued, and less hopeful. As the story goes, it was supposed to be a star wars entry. The great a powerful mouse demi-god that now owns that franchise didn't like it so much and turned the pitchman, Zach Snyder, down. So Zach changed a lot of the elements, said F-you to the mouse-man and made it anyway. That, however, made it seem like he redid the paint on the car and was claiming it was brand new. This rarely works out for anyone trying to sell something, except in this case Netflix was buying, so it got made.

So, was it any good? 

Well, that depends on a couple of things. The first is your appreciation of "Tribute material" and what you consider to be a rip-off of existing works.  The second is how much you like Zach Snyder's work- because this movie is Zach Snydery as it gets. Like, more Zach than most people can handle. This was the hard part for me because I am NOT a super-fan of his work. The short answer to this long question is I liked it way more than I thought I would, but also not enough at the same time. My cognitive dissonance is strong on this one.

I've only really liked a couple movies Zach Snyder has directed. "300" was good, but those were different times, and the style wasn't overdone yet. I liked "Watchmen", but the graphic novel was infinitely better. "Dawn of the dead" was a nice and solid remix of a classic oldie', a very solid contender. Zach Snyder has done a lot of good work, but he has also sucked the donkey boner on a couple of movies too, ("Sucker Punch", I am talking about you). You know what they say, "a man can build a 1000 bridges in his or his life, but hump one goat and your title will never be master builder". But is there redemption for the failures of the past, well yes, absolutely? Unless you're M. Knight Shyamalan. Okay, "Split" and "Glass" were good, but well all have goats in our past. "The happening" is your goat M. Knight.

So, is "Rebel Moon" a goat, or another piece of cinema magic, is it somewhere in-between? Let's break down the elements, as per usual, I will not reveal any of the plot points or spoilers. This is strictly a look at quality, not a break down of content.

The writing in this show is good, but it's not great. I think largely this has to do with the content and the way things are sold in todays modern age. Writing is never the most important part to the execs who green light shit. And that's a huge problem, just look at "Rings of Power", actually don't look at that show, it's garbage, but it's a good example of god awful, contrived, pandering, bull-crap. It seems modern writing is all about "diversity", "inclusion" and "trophy titles", none of which make for strong conflict. Writers conform the modern works to meet the modern narrative, which is not why I watch movies. This writing behavior, without context, kills the authenticity of any work. However, "Rebel Moon" did a good job of avoiding this trap. There was a little of this in it, but not enough to sour the wine. I didn't "audibly" role my eyes at any part in the show.  Lets move on to acting.

The acting was okay, the actors did a good job with the material they had, at least for the most part. There was some flat acting a couple of places, but thankfully it wasn't any of the main characters and it wasn't too jarring. Most of the screen time with the main characters was really good. One of the things done well in Rebel Moon was that the cast was selected with a very specific type in mind. Especially the bad guys. I loved the bad guys in this show. The were clearly modeled off Nazis and corporate America. There is a clear separation of them from the rest of the Rebel Moon universe, they are a stark contrast with their button up shirts and ties, their polished bone-club canes, and their machinations of war. Yet at the same time, they are clean and orderly, discipline and strong. Everything about the "mother world" in this show reminds of the old soviet propaganda posters, or the Nazis from "Indiana Jones and the last Crusade". Something burrowed- but I'll get to that part in a minute. 

The action is great in this show. This is one area where Zach Snyder shines, at least in some of his movies. 300 is a great example of this. There are some very intense scenes in this show, with great choreography, but there is also another kind of action that plays out in this show. There is an underlaying conflict, the tension between the characters on both sides- no one likes anyone else in this movie, at least not in the first part of the show. It generates a real "us vs them" vibe through out the movie. Every planet, environment, and location  is a bubble of uniqueness in it's own right and each is a tight community that "doesn't take kindly to the other kind round here". This leads to a very tense show down in every single place visited, even if the end result isn't an all out gun battle, it is strong conflict and descent resolution through either violence or diplomacy. 

The cinematography was good, again not great. The thing is, I have seen all this before. Which is fine, but if I am honest, it would be so much better if the other parts of the movie were spectacular. I think there were shots that were great, the slow motion was a little over the top in every other scene. The non-action shots in this movie is where the camera work shines. The opening shot in this show sets the pace. Good use of color, good use of shadow, good use of tone and atmosphere. There are a number of slow panning shots that work out really well in this movie, there are also some that do not. They offset each other, and leave the audience feeling very middle of the road. 

The science fiction is alright in this. It could be better, but it's more of a science fiction fantasy than it is science fiction proper, (it's heavy on the fantasy- I mean there's a fuckin' griffon in this movie). This didn't ruin it for me, but it created some abrupt transitions. In actuality this added to the compartmentalization of the different scenes. That being said, it does have a lot of science fiction elements in it- especially when the main bad guy communicates with the bad guy above him. It was very "Dune"-like, again there was a lot borrowed in this movie, but I will get to that. If you want to watch this movie for technical science-fiction-ey things, you will be disappointed. It's just assumed without explanation that it's the future. I make the comparison to Dune because like Asimov, Frank Herbert tried to explain the science part of his creations, granted, the later Dune novels lean away from that aspect, still the first one is heavy on it. Rebel Moon does not care about your "um actually's... (shoves glasses up the bridge of the nose)". It tries to tell the story around that.

The material is where a lot of people get hung up. There is a fine line between ripping something off and paying it tribute. Rebel Moon walks between worlds on this one. It takes imagery, content, themes, atmosphere, etc. from a ton of places. To be honest I am not even sure if the entire movie is a tribute, a rip-off or something in-between. It can be said that you can't write something without taking from someone else's work, this is not that. It's very obvious that things were taken from a lot of peoples work, it's not even sugar coated. There are so many things borrowed in this, I will list the obvious ones as follows excluding the Starwars references because this was supposed to be a Starwars movie, here goes, in alphabetical order (but not limited to): Avatar, Altered Carbon, Chronicles of Riddick, Dune, Firefly, Mad Max Fury Road, Gladiator, Indiana Jones, Jupiter Ascending, Seventh Samurai, The magnificent seven, wizard of Oz... you get the idea. The real question remains, is it a tribute, or a rip-off? I still can't answer that one.

When all is said and done, the second part will tell me if the movie was good. I liked the first part, but I didn't love it. Not in my top ten, maybe in my top fifty in the category of science fiction. I wouldn't have been bitchy and disappointed if I had seen it in the theatre, I have paid good money to see far worse movies. Despite all the things I've said, there is still something to be said for the way it all came together. It took all those completely different elements and blended them well, which is no small feat. I wish this had been a 10 part series on Netflix instead. I wish that the world building, characters, and story got the development they deserved. As for now, I would give this show a solid 80% for it's efforts, I hope the second part ties some stuff up, because if it doesn't, that 80% will nose dive.

Cheers!