Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire (2023) Review
A DERIVATE SPACE OPERA BORE
The Star Wars universe is a massive and extensive sci-fi playground of heroes, soldiers, droids, gunslingers, mythical druid knights, and a great host of other alien races, creatures, and beings. Original created by George Lucas, the Star Wars series began as a film trilogy (i.e., the original trilogy) that was a “love letter” to the classic space opera of yesteryear, telling a narrative of courageous group of rebels that try to free the known galaxy from the tyranny of an oppressive empire. Since then, this science fiction universe has grown and expanded greatly, expanding into cinematic trilogies (i.e., the Prequel trilogy and the Sequel trilogy), spin-off films, live-action TV shows and animated cartoon series, novelizations, video games, and other merchandise mediums to help carry this juggernaut of a universe from one generation to the next. The lore and mythmaking of such imaginative and universe has yet to rivaled from other popular cinematic universe and / or large series from a collective body of work from so many different media facets and other forms of mediums. Now, Netflix and director Zack Synder prepare for new vision of a sci-fi space opera with the release of Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire. Does this movie soar to far reaches of sci-fi excellence or does it squander its own opportunity with bland cinematics and an uninspiring narrative?
THE STORY
In the far reaches of the universe, the King (Cary Elwes), the presiding ruler of a militaristic empire known to all as the Motherworld, has been slain as the ambitious senator Belisarius (Fra Fee) seizes control during the power vacuum, building a mighty army, led by Admiral Noble (Ed Skerin), to harvest resource from other planets and wipe out any type resistance opposition that would stay against them. On a routine expectation, Noble and his warship travel to the planet Veldt, coming to a small farming community to take control of their harvest, using violent means to shock the citizens into submission. However, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a recent newcomer to the farming community, refuses to follow Noble’s rule, setting out with Gunnar (Michael Huisman) to assemble a team of soldiers and rebels to start an insurgency against the Motherworld’s forces from stamping out her the passive farmers. With the aid of the mercenary Kai (Charlie Hunnam), the gang crosses the galaxy for people strong enough to face such a task, enlisting the help of empath fighter Tarak (Staz Nair), cyborg sword master Nemesis (Doona Bae), disgraced leader General Titus (Djimon Hounsou), and warrior cohort Darrian Bloodaxe (Ray Fisher). As the team forms, Noble hear rumors of such gathering of rebels, plotting to squash anyone who would dare oppose him and the authority of the Motherworld’s might.
THE GOOD / THE BAD
Expanded movie franchise are quite unique to behold and to view, but none is more famous (and widely popular) than the Star War universe. Indeed, I am quite a fan of this franchise. Well, not so much as some are out there (i.e. hardcore fans), but this expansive sci-fi universe of heroes, rogues, jedis, and great host of other alien creatures and beings has captivated millions of viewers and has across generations since it first appeared decades ago. The adventure, the excitement, the exploration, and the classic heroes journey between good and evil definitely goes with the fundamental tropes of an old school space opera epic. The greatest effect of the Star Wars universe (to me at least) is how it has capitalized on the established motion pictures (the original trilogy) and not much expanded into other movies projects (i.e. the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy, and spin-off films), but has branched out into other media facets to explore more aspects, avenues, and other storytelling nuances to further examine this fantastical galaxy. I’ve read a few novels (the “legend” ones before Disney took over the franchise), watched a few animated TV shows (Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels), played a few video games (Star Wars: Unleashed, Star Wars: Fallen Jedi, and Star Wars Battlefront), and viewed a several of its live-action TV series (Obi Wan, Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian) and each one brings something new to the table; providing a great deal of lore and mythology to this universe that goes beyond the tales of the Skywalker saga that the movies follow. In the end, while attempts have been made to expanding and generating the same type of caliber of scope in similar endeavors, there is no denying the fact that Star Wars franchise has indeed capitalize on the “space opera” mantra, producing memorable journeys, tales, and adventures an age long ago….in a galaxy….far, far away….and (by looks of it) will continue onward for many more years to come.
This brings me back to talking about Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, a 2023 sci-fi action epic and the latest film to try present a vast space opera adventure in a way that is to be similar in the Star Wars veins. Given what happened after Warner Bros somewhat “squashed” the chance of continuing DCEU original plans, director Zack Snyder turned his directive filmmaking skills elsewhere, generating several films along the way. He has stated previously that he wanted to be a part of Star Wars universe, helming a story that speaks to his directorial ways, yet also adhering to the grandiose space adventure that the massive franchise is set within. However, he never got his chance to do so. Thus, Snyder, who has made a recent deal with Netflix, decided to create his own, drumming up Star Wars-esque influences and motifs into his own cinematic fictional world of sci-fi flights of fancy.
This, of course, comes in the form of Rebel Moon, Snyder’s own space opera that is heavily populated with aliens creatures and races and a ragtag team of rogues and warriors that are on a mission to stop an oppressive threat against an intergalactic empire. All of this I do remember hearing about sometime last year and how Netflix announced the project, with a large emphasis of a sci-fi space adventure that matches the director’s signature style of storytelling and making vast array of motifs from the Star Wars universe. For the most part, I’ve been a fan of Snyder’s work, so I was quite intrigued as to what the acclaimed director would produce with such high ambitions. After that, I heard a lot of talk on the internet about this movie and how it was going to be quite the “most anticipated film of the year”, with many forums, posts, and fellow bloggers displaying a great interest to see what Rebel Moon was all about. In time, the film’s movie trailers became to emerge online, with the project now being announced as a “two-part” movie endeavor, which caught me even more interested than before. This, of course, would allow the story to expand into two full-length feature films and (presumably) allow characters and story to be given the proper room to “breathe” rather than trying to cram everything into one single feature. So, it goes without saying that I was very keen on seeing Rebel Moon (or rather Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire) when it was set to be released on December 22nd, 2025, on Netflix. Due to my work schedule, I had to wait a little bit to actually get to see this highly anticipated film, but, after reading several advance reviews of the project (as well as my fellow blogger reviews for it), I feared that the ambitious project was going to be a letdown. Nevertheless, I decided to sit down and make the judgement call for myself. And what did I think of the movie? Well, sadly….I do have to agree with the majority about this film. Despite ambitious intent from Snyder and few cinematic stylish designs of presentation and camera workings, Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire is a disappointing sci-fi action epic that is too bland, too rushed, too crammed, and too derivate to make it stand on its own merits. It’s not for a lack of trying on Snyder’s part, but, as for the project as a whole, it’s an underwhelming endeavor, with the finish project not matching the anticipation that was placed on this feature.
As mentioned, Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire is directed by Zack Snyder, whose previous directorial works includes 300, Watchmen, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The well-known director has indeed been around the action-oriented films of late, utilizing his unique approach to comic book variety projects as well as stylistic choices to convey cinematic enticement throughout most of his endeavors. He’s definitely has had his “hits and misses” over the years, but Snyder does seem like quite component and skilled director to helm such a project like this. To be fair, the movie clearly states the type of “vision” that Synder had for this particular project, envisioning a massive sci-fi world that is rich with lore and background and plenty of conflict, which does sows the seeds of the classic mythmaking of storytelling. This, of course, gives the movie abundance of weight in its plotting and narrative construction, allowing heroes, villains, rogues to travel around within a very cinematic world that is teeming with life. This, of course, makes the movie have that familiar classic hero’s journey feeling all the more grandiose and epic within its scope and scale, with Snyder drumming up an imaginative world for its sci-fi yarn to spin. In addition, there is a sense of familiarity while viewing this project, with the director playing up to some well-known tropes that, while mostly cliched and / or borrowed from other projects, still can be viewed as mildly entertaining. An oppressive force, a call of heroes, a main character with a dark past. It’s all been down before and can be derivate if not handled properly (more on that below), but that sci-fi / fantasy trope does bring some excitement to the proceedings in a semi-comfort food type of way. Overall, A Child of Fire, while severely marred by many things, still has some redeeming qualities to make for semi-intrigue in Snyder’s sci-fi world of heroes, villains, and aliens.
For its presentation, A Child of Fire looks quite impressive in a lot of areas, displaying a vast galactic universe of dazzling colors, hewn, brightness, and shadows of Snyder’s space opera playground. While the narrative is kept relatively small, the tapestry that the director present is one of the large-scale in its background and setting, with the usage of depicting a variety of alien worlds that draw upon familiar tones of earthly realism as well as futuristic sci-fi aspects. The production is there and does make for some impressive shots and locales that the film showcases. Thus, the film’s main “behind the scenes” players, including Stefan Dechant and Stephen Swain (production design), Claudia Bonfe (set decorations), Stephanie Portnoy Porter (costume design), and the entire art direction team, should be commended for their efforts on A Child for Fire and certainly bring Synder’s vision to life with such usage of practical attire, set layouts, and grandiose imagery to help bolster a far off sci-fi galaxy that feels both otherworldly and (a few times) grounded in reality.
The cinematography work by Snyder himself is quite the atypical presentation for his films, which can be viewed as both a good and bad thing. For me, I really liked it as the feature is quite visually stunning (as mentioned above), with Snyder delivering some stylish cinematic throughout the entire project, especially with his usage of slow-motion techniques that have become quite customary on his films. Some will say such techniques feel oversaturated, but it definitely works for some of the more dynamic shots that the director wants to achieve. Lastly, the film’s score, which was composed by Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) and a frequent collaborator with Snyder, is pretty great and delivers a lot of those dramatic sequences in a fantastic way. The musical composition throughout the movie is very grandiose and large in symphonic scale and scope, offering a grandeur to expansive sci-fi journey. Whatever one might think of this movie, Holkenberg’s score is top notch and a fantastic listen to movie soundtrack scoring cinephiles out there. Definitely a recommended one.
Unfortunately, A Child of Fire is far from a stellar movie, with the project being marred with glaring and quite noticeable problematic areas, which drums up criticisms around every turn. What are they? Well, for starters, the movie (or rather Rebel Moon itself) is too derivate of its narrative prospects and within its world building. I do give credit that Snyder’s ambition for this particular project is indeed a great one and tries to make the film feel vast within its size and scope. However, despite that notion, the film borrows far too heavily from other narratives and storytelling of tales of this same caliber. Of course, the most obvious comparison could be the form of both Star Wars (for its sci-fi aspects and nuances), but also of Maginficent Seven (original and remake). Naturally, the sprawling and extensive richness that the Star Wars universe has cultivated over the years can be viewed as more the background elements on the project, especially since Snyder himself expressed interest in making a Star Wars movie and that the Star Wars franchise is to be considered the epitome of the classic space opera. Thus, the illusions, imagery, and other nuances that the movie alludes to throughout the entire project is blatantly clear right from the get-go, yet it all feels hallow. The Star Wars universe has had dozens upon dozens upon dozens of narratives told within its grand tapestry of storytelling, weaving a multitude of variety threads of characters and their tales into a cohesive web within a universe that has its own mythmaking, rules, and laws to follow. That is quite known to all. Snyder, however, tries a bit too much to make A Child of Fire breathe the same type of life and energy that the Star Wars franchise, yet that caliber of theatrical boldness and such interlacing details are not present and just end up rather bland and lifeless, with the director trying to replicate a universe quality that isn’t there.
As for the Magnificent Seven aspects, that (like the Star Wars parallelism) is abundantly crystal clear in how the main narrative is set up in A Child of Fire and (presumably) in its second half film (The Scargiver) plays out, utilizing that particular angle to be the main plot that pits heroes and against villains. Again, it’s all familiar with an evil oppression force closing around a humble village that doesn’t know how to defend itself, while a group of villagers go out to recruit warriors to help defend their home from an evil that is coming back within reinforcements. However, while it may pay homage to the classic western movie, it comes off as a bit too cliched and too humdrum to be exciting. It definitely something of a proven narrative to hone it on, yet, while it may work somewhat in Rebel Moon’s case, the truth of the matter is that it comes off as a too shallow and too derivate for its own good; squandering such ambitions with a generic plot that has been down many times before and brings nothing new to the table beyond some visual effect cu
In additional, I saw other influences (or rather rip off ideas) come from other projects, including Dark City, Blade Runner, Excalibur, The Matrix, Conan the Barbarian, and (if one closely exams the movie in some of the backstory flashbacks) a little bit of The Legend of Zelda mythos. So, it’s quite easy to see that Snyder pulled a lot of material and storytelling plot pointing to make up the vast space opera come alive with the main narrative rooted in such threads. However, this patchwork job from the concept stage is immediately confronted with such a derivate nature of it all….that it becomes a bit laughable and cringeworthy at times. Yes, it’s perfectly fine to take ideas, themes, and material from other material, but the trick is to make it your own and add new additions / changes to make the “new project” feel different. Basically, the classic saying “something old, something new”. It’s a proven and tested tactic and has benefited from being utilized in lots of project across various medium outlets. However, A Child of Fire doesn’t really do much with the material it wants to tell, struggling to find its own ”voice” and instead relies way too heavy on storytelling elements of sci-fi and other narratives strings of gathering heroes and oppressive forces.
Next, the overall direction of the movie is quite wonky and awkward at times, with not a whole lot of time to fully digest everything that is going on. While the script’s derivate nature can’t be partly blamed for this, Snyder himself holds the reins on the project and it shows that he may not be up for the task with such lofty ambitions and cinematic aims that don’t exactly hit or come across the way he probably intended them to be. Yes, the project can be viewed as a somewhat “straight forward” narrative, but Snyder makes A Child of Fire bogged down with too many expositional dumps and lackluster moments that take away the excitement and enticement that the director would most likely want to convey properly. In addition, the film’s pacing is a bit off several times; creating an uneven movie that doesn’t really have a good follow. This in particular feels a bit relevant towards middle and ending portion of the feature, with the story gets too convoluted with introduction with characters (multiple ones) with very little time devoted to them and in the terms of the overall ending point of the movie, which offers up atypical “part one” close out point on a rather wonky point, which doesn’t leave a satisfaction taste in a viewer’s mouth. Snyder himself (to me, at least) can be a good director, but his work on A Child of Fire seems a bit rough around the edges, which causes the movie’s viewing experience to diminish greatly.
For the film’s script, which was penned by Snyder along with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten, A Child of Fire (again) feels quite derivate from other greater narrative pieces out there and lacks its own personal identity. The script tries to place just ideas into its own making, but ends up just feeling generic as they come, which doesn’t help the film’s tiresome tropes that have little to no creative ingenuity in it. This, of course, makes the movie feel a bit hollow and underwhelming, recycling a lot of ideas and nuances with nothing feeling really its own identity. Plus, the world building aspect, while trying to bring its own mythology and understanding to the story, feels underwhelming and not really drawn out, which does add to the whole derivate nature of the film. Additionally, the dialogue itself is a bit undercooked and is clunkily handled in its writing, which results in a rather flat and boring character dialogue moments and storytelling beats.
Lastly, the film’s visual effects are a bit of a mixed bag at times, which does come off as a distraction while viewing the movie as a whole. With a large production budget implemented, one would expect a high caliber of CGI effects to be heavily utilized to help present such an extravagant sci-fi universe that is filled with other worlds, new creatures, and individuals with unique profiles / characteristics. However, while the concept designs of such people / places in the movie are solid, the actual computer generated renderings is a “meh”. Some parts look really good, while other times it looks quite bad. Thus, the inconsistency of the visual effects for the movie is called into question and sort of takes us (the viewer) out of the sci-fi experience with such wishy-washy visual effects.
The cast in A Child of Fire has plenty of recognizable acting talent that’s attached to this anticipated sci-fi project, which definitely got a lot excited about. The result, however, is somewhat of a mixed bag, with familiar names and faces bringing a decent level of quality to the feature, yet still feel a bit misguided underneath such bland and stock-like characters that are too derivate and cliched to make a lasting memorable impression. Leading the charge in the movie is actress Sofia Boutella, who plays the main protagonist character of Kora, a former Imperium soldier who is haunted by her past and looking to save the farming village who took her in. Known for her roles in Star Trek Beyond, The Mummy, and Kingsman: The Secret Service, Boutella is one of those acting talents that has appeared in a lot of high profile projects throughout her career, but never gets the “stardom” recognition that is awarded to others around her age and caliber range. She’s sort of like an “unsung” actress, who does a film and then disappears after, only to remerge a few years later with another project to do. Thus, her involvement in Rebel Moon is indeed a welcome one and that believe that she has the acting chops to pull off the character of Kora. While that might be true, Boutella (sadly) does struggle to make a lasting impression in the role and just comes off as a standard hero-like character with a dark past; a scenario that has been done before many times. Boutella, while capable of handling herself, just seems lost in the movie and can’t make the character her own. In truth, the character of Kora is quite the recycled heroine archetype, which (again) can be seeing in a multitude of project endeavors. Thus, despite her attempts, Boutella does seem like bland portrayal of an otherwise bland main character that has little to no character growth beyond a few fleeting snippets here and there.
Behind Boutella, actors Michael Huisman (Game of Thrones and Age of Adaline) and Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim and Sons of Anarchy) make for some cliched sidekick characters in the movie as Gunnar, a farmer from Kora’s village and who is secretly in love with her, and Kai, a roughish mercenary and starship pilot that Kora hires in her quest. While I do like Huisman and Hunnam as capable actors from their previous projects and character roles, their performances in this are just “okay”, with not a whole lot of time to develop them beyond their classic character archetypes as both the concerned companion to the main character and the swashbuckler gunslinger. The character themselves are pretty much that in a nutshell as the script doesn’t give much beyond their surface level. Huisman and Hunnam have charisma, but that can only do so much with the material given them, which is paltry and vanilla as they come. Thus, Gunnar and Kai are just walking trope characters that are boring and generic as they come.
The other characters that Kora, Gunnar, and Kai recruit on their mission are another side-effect of the feature’s “hurried” narrative progression, with very little time to make a very lasting impact on us (as the viewers) to be memorable. This includes such talents like actor Staz Nair (Game of Thrones and Supergirl) as Tarak, a nobleman-turned blacksmith who has the ability to bond with animals of nature, actress Bae Donna (Stranger and Sense8) as Nemesis, a skilled cyborg swordmaster, actor Ray Fisher (True Detective and Zack Snyder’s Justice League) as Darrian Bloodaxe, a deadly warrior part of the Bloodaxe rebel insurgence, actor Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator and Blood Diamond) as Titus, a former general of the Imperium, and actor Anthon Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs and The Father) as the voice of Jimmy, the last member of a race of mechanical knights. All of these acting talents are rather good from their past work and do certainly make for an interesting team of collective ragtag of band of rogue characters. Unfortunately, the character themselves are rather generic, which is mostly due to the narrative script (and overall direction for them) doesn’t really go anywhere as the movie doesn’t allow much screen time for their characters to develop beyond their initial setup / introduction moment. Perhaps the only one who make a lasting impact (at least to me, that is) is in Hopkins’s Jimmy, which is mostly due to the actor’s voice in how he delivers his line, providing plot important context / exposition in his sage-like mystifying sound vocals. Everyone else, however, sort of blends together and are incredibly (and woefully) underdeveloped by the time the film reaches its ending. Hopefully, they will be further developed in the next movie. Hopefully….
As for the villains in Rebel Moon, actor Ed Skrein gives a somewhat decent performance in the role of Atticus Noble, an admiral of the Motherworld Imperium and Balisarius’s right-hand man. Known for his roles in Deadpool, Midway, and The Transporter Refueled, Skrein is quite the skilled actor and, given how his physical appearances and vocal talents are utilized, can easily be stereotyped into playing a bad guy role in any project on both the small and big screen. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Skrein would play one of the main antagonist in Rebel Moon, with the actor easily sliding into the role of Noble with relishing glee and taking on the classic “bad guy” persona with energy and charisma. While Skrein’s acting talents are perfect fine in the role, the character of Noble, however, is a bit too cliché at times, with the movie showcasing his ruthless villainy in almost every scene he’s in, yet still lacks a personality beyond those stereotypical nuances of a bad guy. Thus, Noble, despite Skrein fully embracing (and committing) that campy bad guy tone and persona, is a rather generic and bland antagonist.
As more of a secondary villain, actor Fra Free (Hawkeye and Les Miserable) plays the role of Balisarius, an ambitious senator who seized control of the Motherworld’s throne after the death of the previous king and queen. Free is okay in the part, but there isn’t much time to delve into the character’s mindset or personality beyond a few sequences of him in backstory elements. Basically, he’s kind of like Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars saga…..the true “main bad guy” of the whole story, but not really shown much in the movie. Thus, Balisarius comes off as a flat, one-note “big bad” ruler and nothing else.
The rest of the cast, actress Cleopatra Coleman (The Last Man on Earth and Dopesick) as Darrian’s sister and the leader of a rebel insurgence Devra Bloodaxe, actor Corey Stoll (Ant-Man and House of Cards) as village chief on Veldt Sindri, actor Ingvar Sigurdsson (Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Everest) as Kora’s friend Hagen, actor Stuart Martin (Army of Thieves and Miss Scarlet & the Duke) as local villager / farmer Den, actor Alfonso Herrera (Ozark and Sense8) as Noble’s enforcer Cassius, non-binary acting talent E. Duffy (Lucky Me and Acid Noir) as rebel fighter under Devra’s command named Millius, actress Jena Malone (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Neon Demon) as the spider-like humanoid alien Harmada, actor Sky Yang (Holding and Halo) as Motherworld soldier Aris, Actress Charlotte Maggi (Summer Love and MaveriX) as farmer villager Sam, actor Greg Kriek (Rogue and Die Hart) as Motherworld soldier Marcus, actor Brandon Auret (Elysium and Chappie) as Faunus, actor Ray Porter (Almost Famous and Zack Synder’s Justice League) as the farmer Hickman, actor Tony Amendola (Stargate SG-1 and The Mask of Zorro) as alien ruler of the planet Sharaan King Levitica, actor Dominic Burgess (Palm Royale and Feud) as Dash Thif, actor Derek Mears (Swamp Thing and Alita: Battle Angel) as Simeon, actress Sisse Marie (The Lost Princess and Let’s Make it) as Astrid, actress Stella Grace Fitzgerald (Mrs. Davis and Chicago P.D) as the Princess Issa, and actor Cary Elwes (Robin Hood: Men in Tights and The Princess Bride) and actress Rhian Rees (For All Mankind and Halloween) as the King and Queen of the Motherworld’s Imperium, are delegated to smaller minor character roles in the movie. While not of the acting talent involved in this group gives any type of bad or over-the-top performances within their respective roles, these characters are merely there to help propel the narrative forward and / or to fill in gaps for exposition sequences. It’s a bit of shame that some of these individuals don’t get much more screen time as some are played by some solid actors / actresses. In the end, however, most are pretty forgetful in the grand scheme of things that are happening in the movie, which is a tad disappointing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As peaceful farm village is facing obliteration from looming threat form the Motherworld’s might, Kora sets out to prevent such a calamity from befalling them, while recruiting a band of rebels, scoundrels, and warriors to help stop the Imperium’s forces in the movie Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire. Director Zack Snyder’s latest film takes quite an ambitious vision of the science fiction space opera method of storytelling, drawing in viewers recognizable motifs, aspects, and nuances to help propel his visual world of heroes and villains. Unfortunately, despite that very same ambitious scope and vastness that Synder tries to do with the project as well as some terrific cinematography work and fantastic musical score, the film itself ultimately fails to connect with its audience, which is mostly due to the part of the film’s derivate nature, lackluster narrative, generic dialogue lines, numerous expositional dumps, rushed story progression, spotty visual effects, and forgettable stock-like characters from a recognizable, but wasted acting talents. Personally, I did not like this movie….plain and simple. It’s not complete worthless or utterly deplorable as there are a few (yet small) redeeming qualities, including Snyder’s ambition for the project and some cinematography / scoring work in the presentation. However, everything else is just forgettability derivate and has been done far better in other similar endeavors. I can definitely see where Snyder was trying to go with the story and the movie in general, but such aspiration flounder in such unoriginal and uninteresting elements that make up the movie, which is truly a shame. This was one movie that definitely was not worth the hype….and I think many will agree with me on that. Thus, my recommendation for this movie would be a hard “skip it” as it does little to push anything new for the sci-fi epic genre or even for movie entertainment escapism. Basically, just watch any one of the Star Wars projects or anything similar (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Stargate, etc.) over this feature. As a first film of a two-part film project, the ending of Rebel Moon promises a continuation (and presumably) resolution to the narrative as Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver is set to be release on Netflix on April 19th, 2024, but I’m sure most of the fanbase / viewers who were eager to see this movie are going to less enthusiastic to see it, especially after the failing attempts made in this picture. In the end, Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire is a failure on multiple levels, with its anticipation not reaching the lofty aspirations that Snyder was hoping for and just utterly being a soulless and completely derivate space opera bore.
1.9 Out of 5 (Skip It)
Released On: December 22nd, 2023
Reviewed On: April 13th, 2024
Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire is 134 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, sexual assault, bloody images, language, sexual material and partial nudity