Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver

Upon ending my review of Rebel Moon: Part 1 - Child of Fire back in December, I stated: "And more than anything, this sci-fi "epic" should be glad that Dune Part 2 got delayed because it would live massively in that shadow (I'd bet money on that). Instead, I presume Rebel Moon Part Two will release in early 2024 with much less fanfare, and the total epic won't last long in our memories. "

Now, it wasn't exactly a reach to say that - I'm not claiming to be a prophet - but I will say that all aspects of it are true. Rebel Moon is dwarfed in comparison to something like Denis Villeneuve's utterly fantastic spectacle and this sequel on Netflix is debuting with what feels like 99% less hype than Part 1 did. 

I went long on Zach Snyder's history and tendency to have better versions of his films out there last time so I won't here. Suffice it to say, I stand by my point that an R-rated version of this would help (not save) it, and I'm confused why it wasn't the base version given that was the whole premise allegedly, right? Snyder went to Disney and asked to make an R-rated Star Wars, they said no, and he determined he'd do it himself? What's true or not, who knows, but the fact still remains that Rebel Moon is fairly forgettable. 

In a weekend where some life scheduling kept me from the theaters, with films like Ungentlemanly Warfare and Abigail needing to wait for a rental, Rebel Moon: Part 2 was an easy, if unexciting way to get a review up. I'm of the camp that these films are not awful...some would have you believe they are half-star or one-star endeavors. They're not. But across 4+ hours now, they've proven there's not much special here, including Snyder's direction. 

For starters, this being a Star Wars story originally is apparent as there's honestly not a whole lot of creativity in the general plot. Sure, there's some neat details of worlds we get to visit, mostly through flashbacks, but otherwise there's blasters, an Empire-equivalent, "lightsabers", droids, etc. That would have all been okay if the plot and story were special (see: Andor for an example), but this is all basic, as are our characters. I did feel the characters were more fleshed out this go around, albeit literal exposition dumps during a scene where they sit around a table, revealing their backstory 1-by-1. That particular scene is a dichotomy. One one hand, I was appreciating we were getting some understanding of these characters, and on the other hand...how lazy can your script writing be to just have characters go around a table all at once? What's more is that none of these characters are all that interesting, even if they look cool. It's probably the single biggest component with Rebel Moon is that I didn't care about a single character. Performances are what they can be - no one really stands out - but yeah...for a film this big, to care so little about human characters tells you something is off. 

I do think Part 2 is ever-so-slightly better than Part 1, however. Part 1 was messy, disjointed, and the finale was lackluster. Part 2 is strangely smaller in scope, but the stakes are straightforward: farmers defending their planet from the Empire...er sorry...bad guys. Half of the film is a battle which features some unusually-great-for-Netflix special effects (which seems to be getting better this year) and the battle has its high points among some more generic action. The finale within a falling massive starcruiser is awesome and feels unique too. I still can't help but question why Snyder's action has never matched the highs of 300 - there's plenty of slow-mo opportunities here - but alas, I've moved on, realizing that 300 was a flash-in-the-pan-action-brilliance moment for him. 

The tighter focus, some more character development, and a back half of all action helps Rebel Moon: Part 2 - The Scargiver be slightly better than its predecessor, but it remains shocking - and disappointing - how much these films didn't live up to the hype. I have to attribute almost all of that to the screenplay and writing because I think if we'd be looking at a better story with more compelling characters, while the direction, creative ideas, and action would have taken care of itself. 

Rapid Rath's Review Score | 6/10