Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire

This weekend, Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire, the newest film from Zach Snyder, was released on Netflix. This movie follows Kora, an outsider on a peaceful settlement on a distant moon. When her home becomes threatened by the tyrannical ruling government, she must search the galaxy to find others to help save her home. Zach Snyder delivers very mixed-level content but I have enjoyed most of his work and was curious to see what he was going to do with an original Sci-Fi story.

There were quite a few things to like about this movie. The world-building was very good here as the movie shows us all these different planets and establishes the rebellion that is going on. I also like how much it reminded me of Star Wars. Zach Snyder described this as his idea for a Star Wars film. When Lucasfilm turned him down, he decided to make an original Sci-fi story it says. I think using this as an original story was the much better option. I also thought the visuals were very well done in this movie. Zach Snyder has a signature style when it comes to his action sequences with how he uses slo-mo and this film is no exception. I also enjoy his style of action and think the slo-mo really adds to the sequences. I also really appreciate how this is an original story. With so much IP-related content these days, it is refreshing to see something different that is still epic in scale.

Unfortunately, this movie left a lot to be desired. The best way I can describe it is ambitions but flawed. It has great visuals, world-building, and action but from a plot and character standpoint, it feels extremely hollow. The characters don't have much in terms of personality or any character traits and the plot wanders quite a bit. Everything about the movie just feels a bit soulless. It looks great but on the inside, there really isn't anything there. While the movie is an original story which I like, it is still extremely derivative of the Magnificent Seven and Star Wars. The plot is almost beat for beat the same as the Magnificent Seven while the setting and some of the characters are pulled directly from Star Wars. It seems like Zach Snyder only changed the skin of the movie when he got his pitch turned down instead of any of the plot. If you change, the mother world to the Empire, the insurgents to the rebel alliance, the soldiers and ships to Stormtroopers and Tie Fighters, and the assassin lady with laser swords to a Jedi and you've got a Star Wars movie set between Episodes 3 and 4. Essentially, the movie is original but not original.

In the end, this was a movie that had some pretty high highs but also some pretty low lows. It was very ambitious but very flawed. However, I still enjoyed it and will see the next part when it comes out. I also read that there will be an R R-rated version of this movie which I think will clearly be the better version of this film.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: C+ Recommendation: Check it out if you are a Zach Snyder fan.