Warning: This review contains mild spoilers.
Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire concludes with a battle sequence in which a certain character valiantly faces down impossible odds in an attempt to save their fellow space-warriors. The score swells, intensity builds, and said individual's crew-mates look on in awe as this brave soul prepares to risk everything in the name of freedom and the struggle against tyranny.
There's just one problem: We literally met this person five minutes ago.
The first part of Zack Snyder's Netflix sci-fi saga doesn't really bring anything new to the table, and "borrows" liberally from any number of better films. This alone wouldn't necessarily be a major problem (there are plenty of great films, particularly in the sci-fi genre, that owe a debt to what's come before), but a story we've seen play out so many times needs to give us a reason to care by allowing us to get invested in its characters.
Unfortunately, Snyder seems more concerned with the look of the universe he's created than the people who inhabit it.
Rebel Moon does get off to a solid start, as we're introduced to Kora, a former enforcer for the evil Motherworld (think The Empire, but even less subtly fascist) who has turned over a new leaf and settled on the peaceful moon of Veldt. Kora's previous misdeeds haunt her and prevent her from fully settling down , and we don't have long to wait before her past catches up with her in the form of Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) and his forces.
Noble, a cartoonishly ruthless POS who has evidently twirled his moustache right off his face, wastes no time at all cracking heads and laying down the law, ordering the locals to harvest enough grain to feed an entire army while leaving hardly anything for themselves. Fearing for their lives, the community agrees, but when Kora witnesses a group of soldiers sexually assaulting a young water-bearer, she fights back with the help of a rogue Imperium robot named Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins).
Kora, along with fellow farmer Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), sets off to find the legendary General Titus (Djimon Hounsou) to enlist his gladiators to their cause. Their first stop is a cantina (a real wretched hive of scum and villainy), where they meet a pilot named Kai (Charlie Hunnam), who suggests a few stops along the way.
This sets up the Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven-inspired "get the gang together" portion of the story, which really should have been the high point of the film. Instead, this is where Rebel Moon begins to crash and burn.
We are introduced to the rest of the team via a series of action sequences, which are impressively orchestrated, but don't allow us to learn much about the characters beyond their skill sets (the Tarzan dude with an aversion to t-shirts has a way with animals, the chick with the lightsabers can take down giant spider-women, etc).
The gang just shows up at the next location, and not a single moment is spent with the entire crew bonding/arguing/getting to know one another. To make matters worse, Snyder inexplicably chooses to include multiple scenes of Noble tracking down our heroes, which serve no purpose (there's some throwaway exposition) aside from hammering home the fact that he's a horrible bastard - which was already well established during his introductory scenes.
Yes, A Child of Fire is the first part of a two-part story, and yes, there is an extended cut on the way, but any movie - whether there are sequels, prequels, or spin-offs planned - still needs to stand on its own merits.
Rebel Moon boasts some stunning visuals, impressive action scenes and strong performances (Boutella deserves so much better), but it really feels like Snyder directed his original three-hour cut and then decided to remove a bunch of scenes from the final act instead of actually re-editing and crafting a cohesive, satisfying narrative for the 2 hour, 20 minute Netflix version.
Rebel Moon is not a complete disaster, and Snyder diehards will no doubt forgive its (glaring) issues, but it's only going to give more ammunition to his detractors. At the end of the day, if a movie doesn't care about its own characters, why should we?