Is there a term for world-building which consists of nothing but already existing particulars? I wouldn’t call it cinema; perhaps it is even a little more constructive than Lego. “Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scarier” directed by Zack Snyder, similar to “Rebel Moon Part One: A Child of Fire”, is a science fiction action fantasy so archetypal, so entwined and recycled from everything else, it is a mix of 1977’s Star Wars and Seven Samurai and The Lord of the Rings galaxy that it practically narrates itself. Still, unlike most of the media, I was, in fact, kind to “Rebel Moon Part One.” It does not have a credence because its release was only four months ago and it was an overly huge feast of machismo for fan boys and not a movie worth any contemplation and yet, maybe surprisingly, I found it to be very enjoyable, which puts me at odds with the many critics who appear to harbor the sentiment that Snyder has become The Greatest Blight To Ever Curse Humanity.
Still, I’ll give it to ‘Part one’ but even this part has a lot of things happening. No, it’s basically an elongated waiting for the final battle. Snyder simply has the characters or rather animated dolls do a few things to do some stuffing. There’s this painter voiced by Antoine Hopkins whom I guess no one has ever drawn called Jimmy the robot. What in the normal looking world is a normal man titled the voice of a robot? Most of these people have no special interest. Brian Michael Bendis Joel McHale as Gunnar, some weak but rather attractive lover, Diamon Honshu as Jerry the Amazing Hugger, Doon Bae as a Sword cyborg who is decked out with the most visually pleasing weapons a light saber, Michael Huisman as something half as gorgeous… neither of them poses a depth of a character that a mortar shell poses demolitions expert.
In the first half of the ‘Part Two’ which is set mostly on the medieval farming moon Veldt, the film is a little sluggish, treading grain to a New Age Jungian music score as the agrarians reap their harvest and prepare for war. There are memory recalls that support the heroes’ dignity and redeem them in the aspects that make them feel bad (likewise Kora who was once the commander Belisarius’s royal guard and a daughter in law of the commander was given orders to kill Princess Issa).
Still, the film has built up to the battle of the rebels fighting against the fascists. And right from the 45th minute onwards, Snyder is in his action genre, and at this point, for the last time, he is as good as a genre stylist as James Cameron was in the 80’s. There is almost the imagery of a potential trailer for ‘Rebel Moon – Part Two’, which starts with a narration that says, ‘In a world where every film goes kaboom, who goes kaboom the best? Zack Snyder.’ He can create a disaster, have a metal screen, and envision something wonderful and see it explode. But this time even the fanboys would probably have to convince themselves they care.
In ‘Part One’s’ conclusion, Kora is in the stands with the diverse team she has assembled for the battle against other world, fighting in a deathmatch against Atticus Noble, the villain who had the look of Ed Skein’s interpretation of a scary Roman Nazi type fade and wild-bangs, the Shakespearean sociopath; Freddie Mercury. But even so, she killed him, he was brought to life using the technology of the other world. At the beginning of Part 2, we see his body submerged in the gel substance with wires on him (very ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Dune’ all in one), however, he has alive, as usual. He quickly demonstrates that he’s already in full force by lifting up the black metal masked head of his henchman, like Atticus himself was the space overlord ‘Darth Vader’ (the henchman recommends waiting to do further medical examinations which for this advice Atticus beats his head in on the floor).
With its force of evil being revived and is messianic in dimension, “Part Two then begins.” Given Kora and the members of her team went back to Veldt, also the noble farm community is getting ready for battle, Part Two is Jiho then develops a plot that is hard to be basic. So do Atticus and his forceful war machine, Vis thick Andorra, who have other plans to return to peacefully crush the revolt with extreme violence towards the assignment of disposing of Kora.
Just like last time the huge Otherworld vessel arrives the same way over the Veldt in the middle of the day, but now Kora is ready. She and Gunnar sneak in during an aerial combat in a mini ship of their own. While inside, she detonates the predetermined explosives and goes for her opponent, then the shot cuts to the action in the area below, which alternates between ripping guitar and the sound of guns and tangible savage brawling and the hilarious wow what a great sight explosions of warships fired from the inside, all accompanied by those neo Hans Zimmer’s dreadful matrices.
Rebel Moon: Part Two: The Scar giver is quite mediocre in storytelling skills, although in terms of spectacle, it is loaded with some chaos and a sense of rhythm as well. It is needless to say that in the end, the good prevails. But what took me aback is that just as the dust settled in the first part with the revelation that Atticus Noble could still be brought back, this second part has ended on a note suggesting that an integral character is alive. This is quite obviously the lead up for Part III, so those who thought that there could be a closure to the saga created by Zack Snyder along with his totally unimaginative space battle fantasy series for Netflix, forget it. There is a question which now has kept me on the edge more than the teasers for most of these Marvel movies. And the question is: What films will he be copying next?
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