Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon | Netflix

[DA_Champion]

VyceVictus, a brilliant film critic and an independent thinkers, seems to have liked but not loved Rebel Moon.

https://x.com/VyceVictus/status/1737722294481604853

(I don't know why the first tweet doesn't preview).



I used to argue with VV when he was just an online poster about movies, bit ultimately, he was far wiser and far more knowledgeable about movies than me.

I liked but didn't love the first one. It was in the ballpark of movies like Chronicles of Riddick and John Carter. When I saw the way people beat up ob it, it reminded me that Snyder has been an internet punching bag since Man of Steel came out, so people critique him just to get likes, upvotes, retweets and that leads to exaggerated hate.

As pointed out in the tweets, Snyder s politics are hardly those of a right wing troll. Separately from being known for treating his staff well, this movie (for example) is genuinely diverse. Not in a tokenist sense like the Disney Star Wars movies, but in that actors of different ethnicities, etc are given meaningful roles. The theme of the two movies is also strongly anti colonialist.

 

[DA_Champion]

I watched Part 2 last night, and I enjoyed it more than Part 1. I thought the cinematography looked a lot better (might just be my streaming settings), the actual shots ended up looking better, the story was tight and coherent, there were more character moments, I liked the action better. I did think the movie lacked in drama.

I do think that Snyder has learned from some of his criticism. For example, unlike MoS, the action was easy to follow. I knew who was doing what and when and why. I also think that the geography of the action made more sense than BvS, I wasn't caught off guard by people being in a strange place where they shouldn't be but the plot demands. The climax was simple enough with two locations, the village and the dreadnought, and both felt like places. I appreciate settings that feel like settings as that's lacking in much of modern scifi.

Another area of growth is representation. Somebody from a film meetup I used to attend once remarked at a group dinner "300 is the most racist film ever made". Might be an exaggeration, but there's a valid point there. In contrast, Rebel Moon dies exceedingly well on representation. It has an exceptionally diverse cast in terms of each of ethnicity, sex, geography, there's even a gender non binary character (Millius), who is played by a non binary thespian (Elise Duffy).

I dug the anti imperialism, which is timely but will not register with most people. It shows up in a lot of parts of the movie, for example the king cannot shut down military expansionism, the empire is strapped for natural resources (see the craving for wheat), and Admiral Noble's motivation is basic: ambition. He wants to be on the Senate. That works and is poignant. No deeper reverence for broader mother world. It's all about Noble, as it is in real declining empires, like the late Soviet Union.

One place where Snyder hasn't changed is in one of his central themes as a filmmaker, the inevitable tragic nature of heroism. Kora becomes a hero in this movie ... And she loses her lover. As he dies she says "can I just have one thing?!" But she can't. There's always a tragic cost to heroism in Snyder's films. Leonidas loses his life. Clark loses Pa Kent, and all of Krypton. The guy in Army of the Dead ends up infected. Etc.

All that says though, I felt the movie lacked in drama. I didn't care much when Kora's lover died. I'm not even sure why they're in love. I cared more about some characters, like the Anthony Hopkins robot with antlers, then about others. I would have liked to see that awesome big black eagle from the first movie, and I didn't care at all for Belisarius. As far as I can tell he is an empty jon reference to the Byzantine military leader of Belisarius, who served under Emperor Justinian. There's a random line about Kora being ethnically impure, I'm not sure if that ties into anything else.

My wife dug the wigs in the movie.

Grade: B

PS The "I forgive you" line worked really well, it landed.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Dude, Dan Murell called this movie a "cinematic pyramid scheme" and that might be my new favorite phrase, lol! Every review I have watched for this have been overwhelmingly negative.

 

[-Arya-]

Dan Murell is one of nicest movie critics and he hated it, he even frequently curses throughout his review. That’s saying something.

 

[dark_b]

 

[Mindreaper21]

I seriously don’t give a damn about “popular opinion” nor internet critics. Rebel Moon is good to me. I love the character building, cinematography, Zack’s attention to detail and where the story is going so far. The slow-mo scenes don’t bother me. All of the heroes get their moment to shine. I really enjoyed it.

Rebel Moon is a hell of a lot better than the Star Wars ST. Specifically episodes 8&9, because those are just absolutely unwatchable.

8/10 and ready for chapter 3.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that in this movie the hero uses a red laser-weapon whilst the bad guys use blue laser-weapons, an inversion to the Star Wars franchise. This is a subtle hint to the audience that these movies are ****ing bull****.

 

[DA_Champion]

Missing John Carter though !

 

[Filmfreak]

Besides Valerian I also like all Riddick movies.

I think Rebel Moon is a new category of bad.

 

[Mani-Man]

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that in this movie the hero uses a red laser-weapon whilst the bad guys use blue laser-weapons, an inversion to the Star Wars franchise. This is a subtle hint to the audience that these movies are ****ing bull****.

Subtle is nothing Snyder ever does.
Their big "F*** Star Wars" and the whole marketing about "We make star wars for adults" etc is the most obvious of that.

You know, listening to Snyder most recent comments and all...im surprised the usual right wing dudes dont praise Snyder more.
Like the dudes who cry over Warhammer currently etc, you would think a guy who makes Edgy wannabe smart movies with sex, blood etc with his style and all...would be glorious to these people.

Or the whole "Star Wars for Adults" thing, why did that not take off more on that weird side of Social Media? Its crazy.

 

[DA_Champion]

Subtle is nothing Snyder ever does.
Their big "F*** Star Wars" and the whole marketing about "We make star wars for adults" etc is the most obvious of that.

You know, listening to Snyder most recent comments and all...im surprised the usual right wing dudes dont praise Snyder more.
Like the dudes who cry over Warhammer currently etc, you would think a guy who makes Edgy wannabe smart movies with sex, blood etc with his style and all...would be glorious to these people.

Or the whole "Star Wars for Adults" thing, why did that not take off more on that weird side of Social Media? Its crazy.

Rebel Moon is a movie about anti-imperialism with an exceptionally diverse cast. It's not for right-wingers.

And by the way I don't recall any sex in it ... but what's wrong with sex in movies? IMO sex in movies is not necessarily a bad thing.

[There is a couple lying down together, clothed, near the end. It's implied that they just had sex. I don't see anything wrong with that.]

 

[Deck Rickard]

Missing John Carter though !

I guess “bad” is its own genre. As an MST3K fan, I can say there’s nothing wrong with loving terrible movies!

 

[-Arya-]

I guess “bad” is its own genre. As an MST3K fan, I can say there’s nothing wrong with loving terrible movies!

RLM’s Best of the Worst episodes have introduced me to so much joyous schlock, but also some outright headache inducing nightmares. Rebel Moon would be included in the headache inducing category.

 

[Daywalker89]

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that in this movie the hero uses a red laser-weapon whilst the bad guys use blue laser-weapons, an inversion to the Star Wars franchise. This is a subtle hint to the audience that these movies are ****ing bull****.

 

[obredaan]

Rebel Moon is a movie about anti-imperialism with an exceptionally diverse cast. It's not for right-wingers.

And by the way I don't recall any sex in it ... but what's wrong with sex in movies? IMO sex in movies is not necessarily a bad thing.

[There is a couple lying down together, clothed, near the end. It's implied that they just had sex. I don't see anything wrong with that.]

Nothing wrong with a good sex scene.

I also saw Watchmen and Snyder sucks at sex scenes.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Finally watched this for myself, and to be fair the middle third of the movie I struggled with. That scene where they all just randomly started telling their backstories was bad (though the flashback to the Princes world dying was cool, Griffins Vs space ships!) and then the early parts of the end battle underwhelmed for me and I was ready to say I was disappointed in this movie.

But then finale happened, and that set piece final battle with Kora Vs Noble whilst the Dreadnaught ship was crashing into the planet was epic stuff on a big scale. Topped off by a fighter ship battle which I am a sucker for. And that sequence pulled me back on the movie as the beginning third was quite good and the final third I really enjoyed.

I still had problems with the movie of course, like the scene I mentioned above, and Kora/Boutella's complete lack of reaction to finding out a huge revelation at the end.

But the acting was solid throughout, and to be fair to Zach he never wimps out on killing characters you really want to live. The SFX was all damn good also, I think Snyder definitely has an eye for sci-fi.

These movies are probably the closest thing we have to a love action Warhammer movie, and for that they get points as well. If Snyder wants to make more, I will watch them for sure. 6.5/10.

 

[Comicbookguy339]

RLM’s Best of the Worst episodes have introduced me to so much joyous schlock, but also some outright headache inducing nightmares. Rebel Moon would be included in the headache inducing category.

Very curious if they'll do a Half in the Bag episode for Rebel Moon. Maybe when the director's cut is out? Then again they might feel that everything worth saying has already been said about the movie.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I watched pt2...

I already forgot most of what happened but I recall a lot of fighting.

I did manage to finish it unlike pt.1 so baby steps I guess?

 

[-Arya-]

Very curious if they'll do a Half in the Bag episode for Rebel Moon. Maybe when the director's cut is out? Then again they might feel that everything worth saying has already been said about the movie.

I hope they don’t. Their videos this year have been mostly lackluster, so I prefer if they cover *good* movies for once.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Finally watched this for myself, and to be fair the middle third of the movie I struggled with. That scene where they all just randomly started telling their backstories was bad (though the flashback to the Princes world dying was cool, Griffins Vs space ships!) and then the early parts of the end battle underwhelmed for me and I was ready to say I was disappointed in this movie.

But then finale happened, and that set piece final battle with Kora Vs Noble whilst the Dreadnaught ship was crashing into the planet was epic stuff on a big scale. Topped off by a fighter ship battle which I am a sucker for. And that sequence pulled me back on the movie as the beginning third was quite good and the final third I really enjoyed.

I still had problems with the movie of course, like the scene I mentioned above, and Kora/Boutella's complete lack of reaction to finding out a huge revelation at the end.

But the acting was solid throughout, and to be fair to Zach he never wimps out on killing characters you really want to live. The SFX was all damn good also, I think Snyder definitely has an eye for sci-fi.

These movies are probably the closest thing we have to a love action Warhammer movie, and for that they get points as well. If Snyder wants to make more, I will watch them for sure. 6.5/10.

Can you spoil me the revelation ? I watched the movie but I wasn't focused...

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Can you spoil me the revelation ? I watched the movie but I wasn't focused...

That

Spoiler

Princess Issa us alive

. Kora had like no reaction to it at all.

 

[Lily Adler]

That

Spoiler

Princess Issa us alive

. Kora had like no reaction to it at all.

Quick tip the crossed out eye gives you a spoiler box, but the mask next to it gives you a blurred text.

 

[DA_Champion]

That

Spoiler

Princess Issa us alive

. Kora had like no reaction to it at all.

Isn't it obvious who it is?

When I watched NoS I knew that General Swanwick was Martian Manhunter. Same thing

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Quick tip the crossed out eye gives you a spoiler box, but the mask next to it gives you a blurred text.

Will remember that, thanks.

Isn't it obvious who it is?

When I watched NoS I knew that General Swanwick was Martian Manhunter. Same thing

The Princess you mean?

 

[emielaen]

That

Spoiler

Princess Issa us alive

. Kora had like no reaction to it at all.

How did the character who dispelled that information even know that and why did no one wonder why he knew. It's such a strangely crafted film. The script is so bananas.