The Reel Review
Set in a galaxy far, far away, a woman with a mysterious past assembles a ragtag group of rebels to fight against tyrannical rulers trying to oppress them. Sofia Boutella, Michiel Huisman, Charlie Hunnam and Ed Skrein star in this sci-fi action/adventure from director Zack Snyder.
Rebel Moon is what you get when you toss Seven Samurai, Star Wars, Dune, 300, Alien and Game of Thrones into a blender expecting something incredible, but instead getting one icky, undrinkable hot mess. The ripoffs are everywhere – a Star Wars-type cantina, a Game of Thrones-type dragon, a Dune-type rebel planet and Anthony Hopkins voicing a cheap knockoff of C-3PO. Zack Snyder’s screenplay-by-committee is listless, led by a horribly miscast Boutella (Atomic Blonde, The Mummy) who is way out of her depth as Kora, the Luke Skywalker/Rey character. Huisman (The Haunting of Hill House, Game of Thrones) is drippy as the sidekick and Hunnam’s impersonation of an Irish Han Solo is painful. Even Skrein’s scene-chewing villain looks more like an extra in a bad Nazi war parody.
With its fake-looking CGI sets, corny dialogue and totally undeveloped characters and story, this is one wretchedly bad, big budget Netflix movie. (It had a budget of $90 million.) What’s worse is that there will be a sequel next April. This bomb and Snyder’s 2021 flop Army of the Dead are quickly diminishing Snyder’s prior successes in Man of Steel and his recut version of Justice League.
REEL FACTS
• Zack Snyder first pitched Rebel Moon as a Star Wars movie in 2012, just after Disney bought LucasFilm, but it never got off the ground.
• Anthony Hopkins beat out Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman and the original Star Wars C-3PO himself -Anthony Daniels – for the voice role of Jimmy the Robot.
• Both Ed Skrein and Michiel Huisman played the role of Daario Naharis, one of the three leaders of the ‘Second Sons’ mercenary force in Game of Thrones. Huisman replaced Skrein in season four of the series.
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