Destined to be expanded by a second part and another hour of material for a directors cut the first part of REBEL MOON is already too long.
The film is a derivative retelling of the SEVEN SAMURAI about a former Imperial soldier who long ago crashed on a distant moon having to go off world and round up people who will come back to help fight off the evil empire.
Leaning more into the characters the film does create people we like, at the expense of any forward momentum. There are long flashbacks and scenes of discussion. Events lurch forward simple because the film so wants to build character it has to jump to the next thing.
While there are some good action sequences, much too filled with slow motion, they almost seem like an after thought.
There are also some truly great moments in this that come from the characters, the old soldier robot saving the girl for example. These stray moments seem to have been brought in from a better version of this tale.
The absolute killer here is the villains suck rotten eggs. Instead of giving us something new, Zach Snyder leans way way too heavily into Nazi Germany with SS style haircuts and uniforms and cartoony creation. It's a move that made me disconnect because it's so damn lazy. I mean he created a whole new universe and he ends up using boo hiss stereotypical 1940's Hollywood evil Nazis as the bad guys? They are the least rounded and most under written characters in the film. Worse their motivations make zero real world sense. It kills the film outright with a huge stake through its heart.
While part of me never wants to bother with the sequel or the extended cuts, I insanely think there maybe more there and as much as I am disappointed with this film I am planning on try the longer cut whenever it surfaces.
As it stands now Snyder has made a great looking but largely dull film.
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