Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child Of Fire
In the realm of pop culture, there are perhaps no two names stronger than Star Wars & Zack Snyder. Until now though these have been separate entities, but with the arrival of Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child Of Fire to Netflix that all changes... well kind of.
Rebel Moon is a new epic space opera, that comes from the mind of Zack Snyder - but is quite obviously inspired by Star Wars. Much like the world from which it takes inspiration in Rebel Moon, colonies on the outer reaches of the galaxy face a difficult decision when a ruling tyrannical empire arrives & demands that the colony make their contribution to the empire's ongoing war against a rebelling force.
While the similarities are obvious, where Rebel Moon deviates away from Star Wars is through the topics & themes explored within the film. As well as the way these elements are presented on screen as well. Throughout this world-building entry, viewers will witness depictions of fascism, sexual assault, & brutal violence.
Given these elements, Rebel Moon has a much darker & more sinister tone to it than any of the more family-friendly Star Wars films.
Visually Rebel Moon is stunning, with its hyper-stylised action sequences & jaw-dropping vistas that beg to be witnessed on a giant screen. Rebel Moon feels like a series of comic book panels come to life, with multiple still frames begging to be made into art prints.
That's not to say Rebel Moon is without flaws though, as there were several times where the CGI pulled me out of the moment. One moment in particular involved a writhing mass of CGI works/leeches which simply looked atrocious.
One other element which started as a striking effect but quickly became overbearing was Zack Snyder's instance on slow motion during the action. Initially, this adds greatly to the visceral nature of the action & elevates the impact of the violence. However, as the film wore on the slow-motion became grating to me. Honestly, the film probably would have been 30-40 minutes shorter if we cut much of this.
As a first entry into a new universe Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child Of Fire has a lot of heavy lifting to do. In an attempt to rapidly add meat to the bones of this story, Snyder has taken inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Along the journey with Kora, the viewer is taken to a raft of new planets, each drawing inspiration from a different film genre or pop culture franchise. Some of the more obvious examples include; graphic novels, Japanese horror, westerns, Game Of Thrones, Lord Of The Rings, Roman gladiators, & samurai films. While this provides a veneer of richness to the lore of Rebel Moon it remains to be seen if that only runs skin deep or if there will be more nuance in the deeper layers of Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver.
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