Movie Review: Rebel Moon Part II: The Scargiver
Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon Part II: The Scargiver displays lackluster action with unoriginal influences, leaving a lot of unrealized potential despite an interesting concept.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2zsSBc0DgYndIeGc3hbCpi
On the one hand, Zack Snyder should be commended for not being deterred after being told no by Lucasfilm when he pitched his R-rated Star Wars film and instead reworking it into an original script. That said, after seeing both parts of Rebel Moon and the looming threat of four more of these derivative pieces of shit on the horizon, it is clear that Lucasfilm was 100% correct in saying no to this film.
Saying that Rebel Moon Part II: The Scargiver wears its influences on its sleeve is generous because it does not outright accuse the movie of plagiarism from things like Star Wars and Dune and Seven Samurai. Sure these things have influenced a lot (and in the case of Star Wars, it was inspired by the latter two itself) but other things (The Dark Tower and The Magnificent Seven immediately come to mind) have done things to set them apart from the source and make it their own.
A good amount of the first hour of the movie should have been cut, the action continues to be lackluster (but the third act is an improvement over last time) and there is still a ton of clunky exposition and enough B-roll of grain harvesting to fill multiple General Mills ads. If you're really interested in Rebel Moon, it would probably be best to wait for the Snyder Cut of these two movies because, unlike Justice League the final results will definitely be closer between one cut and the other here.
That said, this is one of those disappointing "good bones" movies where there is an interesting concept and the potential for a good film under the surface but in execution, it falters. Had this and part one been combined into one film (narratively there is no reason they need to fight Atticus twice, they could just fight him once) and come out as a prequel to an established story, this film would have worked a lot better. Considering Zack plans to subject us to six of these in total, had this come last and it was the origin story for the key parts of the narrative of the later four (like Rogue One for Star Wars or Furiosa for Mad Max: Fury Road) it would have been a less frustrating watch. I can only dread to think about what was cut from this film to give enough content for a Snyder Cut.
On a final note, maybe I just missed it, but they never really explain why Kora has the nickname "The Scargiver" or its significance, which is an odd choice considering the name is the subtitle of the film.
★
