PLOT: Kora (Sofia Boutella) and the rebels she recruited prepare to battle with the full force of Atticus Noble’s (Ed Skrein) Imperium.
REVIEW: I took a bit of heat for my positive review of Rebel Moon Part One a few months ago, but I make no apologies for the fact that I found it an immersive, entertaining epic. I liked it a lot more than the last few Star Wars movies (particularly The Rise of Skywalker). So, I was eager to see the story reach its conclusion with Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. While an entertaining, action-packed end to the saga, it’s also a clear-cut case of why Snyder’s longer director’s cuts should have been the only ones hitting Netflix. Even more than in the first film, this feels awkwardly fast-paced and anti-climactic at times due to the story having no room to breathe.
Indeed, many of the more intriguing plot points hinted at in the first film, such as the robot Jimmy’s resistance to the Motherworld, are only given a half-baked examination here. Rather, the film plunges you right back into the action without taking much time to breathe. It’s also worth noting that Snyder’s Seven Samurai/ Magnificent Seven inspirations are even more on the nose here, with whole sequences seeming lifted out of those movies, especially as our rebel heroes make themselves known on The Veldt.
In my interview with Snyder, he mentioned that each director’s cut runs an hour longer, meaning you’re essentially getting a new film tacked on, and I have no doubt the longer cuts of the films will work better. Especially in this case, you feel like you’re watching a tease for a much better, longer movie.
That said, a lot of it still worked for me on a basic level, with Sofia Boutella again an action heroine you can root for as the self-sacrificing, haunted Kora, whose past transgressions make her a more tortured heroine this time. The burgeoning romance between her and Michiel Huisman’s Gunnar comes to a fitting conclusion, with him emerging as one of the most heroic of the rebels, even if he’s not really a warrior on par with any of them. Dijmon Hounsou finally gets his due, with Titus’s backstory filled out, and he more-or-less emerges as the second lead. Yet, some of the other rebels, particularly Staz Nair’s Tarak, are given little to do, with it feeling like the movie is overstuffed with plot lines. Of everyone, only Boutella, Huisman, Hounsou and Doona Bae’s Nemesis are allowed to make much of an impact.
As the returning villain, Ed Skrein plays Noble a bit differently this time, with him somewhat more desperate and humbled since his defeat in the first film. This is a nice added layer for a baddie who initially came off as two-dimensional. Again, though, we needed a lot more time with the forces of the Motherworld, particularly Fra Fee’s Belisarius, who only gets one big scene to show off his menacing side.
As far as the action goes, this is very much in the vein expected from a Zack Snyder epic, with tons of slow motion and self-sacrifice. Some may find this cheesy, but if you jump into this expecting anything else, you must not really know what Snyder’s all about, so why bother?
While I enjoyed Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver overall, I’ll admit that, taken together, the movies feel like a tease for something bigger and better. No doubt, the director’s cuts will be the true judge of whether or not the franchise has worked for Snyder and Netflix. If you felt the first part of the movie felt compromised, this won’t feel any more complete. As much as I had a decent time watching the two movies, it’s maybe not the worst idea to wait for the director’s cuts to come out this summer and watch the full, proper version of these movies.