Rebel Moon Pt 1: A Child Of Fire is the latest film from divisive filmmaker Zack Snyder. He has made some of the best fan-friendly films over the last twenty or so years, such as 300, Watchmen, and Justice League the Snyder Cut. Then, he has made some not-so-good movies as well. Sucker Punch comes to mind. His latest film falls somewhere in between the best work of his career and mediocre at best. Whatever the verdict is in his movies, he always gives it his best and create a vision unlike any seen before.

This movie takes the premise of an evil galactic empire that tries to take all the food and supplies of a little village on a distant moon, Veldt, far away from the home world, known as Motherworld. As a last-ditch effort to save their village a couple of the village farmers Kora (Sofia Boutella) and Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) go to recruit a team from around the surrounding planets to help them defeat the leader of the ship that has threatened them Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) and his soldiers. Along the way, they have quite the adventure and find themselves in one proverbial pickle after another.

This film is based on an original story from Shay Hatton, Kurt Johnsted, and Snyder. It has an interesting premise that seems earily similar to Seventh Samurai and Star Wars: A New Hope to me. This tyrannical man tries to take the last vestige of hope these people have, and so they band together to try to defeat him. That’s pretty much those two I mentioned in a nutshell. The idea in and of itself is a new one with a whole new universe and characters, but it’s very similar to others that came before it. It’s hard to create new ideas these days without taking from here or there. Snyder makes the most of what he has, though.

Snyder has perfected the use of filming on soundstage’s with computer-rendered backdrops. He has done this multiple times in his career. This movie has beautiful camera work that accentuates the various worlds and skylines of the main location. The cinematography by Snyder himself is quite breathtaking even though it’s clear a lot of this was filmed on a soundstage. The look and feel of the movie are part of the reason I was drawn to it so much. Snyder sucked me in right away. This is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year.

With this story having Seventh Samurai vibes, the characters have to be filled out with actors we, as film fans know. Snyder recruited a good cast of actors to fill out this ragtag band of misfits. First, the leader of the village is played by Corey Stoll. He brings gravitas to this role. There is also Sir Anthony Hopkins as the narrator, and he plays an android known as Jimmy. Then the other members who fill out the seven members of the team are played by Charlie Hunam who plays Kai, a tough rebel, Djimon Hounsu who plays General Titus an alcoholic ex-military man with nothing to live for, Bae Doona who plays a Jedi-like assassin. She’s a complete badass. The others are played by Ray Fisher and Jenna Malone. They all have their various moments to shine within this movie, and there is a lot to do.

One of the things that drew me instantly to this story was the world-building by Snyder and company. With each subsequent world or cut away to a new character who hadn’t been introduced yet, he put the names of each world or location on screen so viewers know where the story goes. Each of the different planets is distinctly different from the other, and with each new world, a new character is introduced as well. That’s why world-building is so important. With the second film, filmgoers will already have an idea of what they are getting from watching part one of this story. 

With any new sci-fi film or series, the creators have to create a believable world or universe around the characters. This film does just that. I was completely on board with the plight of this little village and the mission the characters were on. Sofia Boutella has risen in popularity during her career. She has chosen her roles wisely and the role of Kora might be the best of her career. She has a mystery surrounding her and that is part of what makes her fascinating. Boutella plays her very aloofly.  She was a great choice to lead this new story by Snyder. I’ll be interested to see where her character goes in the future installment of this series.

Rebel Moon Pt 1: A Child of Fire is a good movie that leaves just enough to the imagination for viewers to look forward to the next part in this story. The performances were all fine with Boutella being the standout. And Hopkins was the surprise as Jimmy and the narrator. The villain played by Skrein was very sinister and menacing. The technical aspects such as the visual effects and cinematography are the main part of what brings this story so vividly to life.  This was a very good movie and fans can see it on Netflix. I feel this will do well on the streaming service starting December 22nd. This is just the beginning of this interesting premise from Snyder.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen