Earlier in April, Netflix finally dropped the anticipated second part to Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon saga. Like Part One: A Child of Fire, the second installment has a long-winded title – Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver. Undoubtedly, Snyder will deliver on plenty of explosions and slow-motion action scenes. If it’s on par with the first movie, The Scargiver should at least be nice to look at and it shouldn’t be boring. What the balance of action to convoluted and dense sci-fi politics we get this time around remains to be seen. Too bad the critical response looks to be the worst of Snyder’s career.
Synopsis
After surviving their battle with Admiral Atticus Noble, Kora and her recruited heroes return to Veldt. Believing she’s killed Admiral Noble, Kora celebrates with the villagers. But news that Noble somehow survived cuts the celebrations short. As the Motherworld’s massive dreadnought ship approaches, Kora and her heroes prepare the villagers to fight back.
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is Big, Loud, and Pretty Empty
When you watch a movie from Zack Snyder you know that you’re at least going to seem something that looks quite good. Not surprisingly then, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is a grand piece of cinema from just a purely visual perspective. This is big, muscular movie-making that would have looked amazing on the big screen. Why Snyder opted to put this story on Netflix as opposed to a wide theatrical release is something of a mystery. In addition to outstanding visuals, there’s a handful of thrilling action scenes that have all the grandeur you’d expect from a blockbuster movie. Snyder knows how to frame his action and make it look larger than life.
This is big, muscular movie-making that would have looked amazing on the big screen.
Yet at some point audiences will likely numb to all of Snyder’s spectacle. Though Snyder’s action scenes are more coherent than what you find in a Michael Bay Transformers movie, it still inevitably becomes a wall of sound and images. As a filmmaker, Snyder shows no restraint using slow-motion endlessly and throwing one montage out after another. Everything in Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is big and melodramatic. Nearly the entire last half of the movie is an endless action scene. It’s all very repetitive and, yes, a bit boring by the time Snyder teases a possible sequel.
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Is Just An Extended Climas
A big part of the problem with Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is that there’s no story. If Child of Fire was Seven Samurai meets Star Wars, The Scargiver is the climax dragged out to just over two hours. One scene just involves each hero explaining their backstory through flashbacks. Snyder even manages to make harvesting wheat look like grand opera. More than once. And the same convoluted politics about royalty, senates, and battle protocol accompanies the white noise. But there is no actual plot of which to speak. Nothing about Snyder’s story justified breaking it into two movies.
If Child of Fire was Seven Samurai meets Star Wars, The Scargiver is the climax dragged out to just over two hours.
Maybe the lack of story isn’t a big problem since there aren’t really any characters. After four hours and lots of expository dialogue and flashbacks, we still have no idea who any of these people are the movie. They area ideas more than actual characters and, as a result, it’s hard to muster up much interest in their fates. Whether it’s the stilted dialogue or the performances themselves, only Ed Skrein walks away relatively unscathed. Sofia Boutella is particularly wooden and Dijimon Hounsou just looks bored. Anthony Hopkins just provided his voice and cashes a paycheque leaving his legacy intact.
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Does Little To Justify Its Existence
With the first installment of Rebel Moon, A Child of Fire, Snyder gave fans half of a movie. What he delivers with Part Two: The Scargiver is just a long climax of a movie. In fact, if you put both parts together, you might still barely have an entire, cohesive movie. Apparently, Snyder has a bunch of unused footage for an extended, Director’s Cut. Who knows? Maybe he can craft an actual story with five hours of runtime that he couldn’t with the just over four hours now on Netflix. As expected The Scargiver is big and loud with lots of slow-motion. Characters say and do dramatic things even though none of it has emotional resonance. Bottom line, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is the perfect illustration of vapid, blockbuster movie-making.