GamesRadar+ VerdictSnyder’s sci-fi epic stumbles towards the finish line with an underwhelming Part Two that feels more like a Part One-And-A-Half.
GamesRadar+ Verdict
GamesRadar+ Verdict
Snyder’s sci-fi epic stumbles towards the finish line with an underwhelming Part Two that feels more like a Part One-And-A-Half.
Snyder’s sci-fi epic stumbles towards the finish line with an underwhelming Part Two that feels more like a Part One-And-A-Half.
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
Say what you like aboutRebel Moon Part One: A Child Of Fire(and Lord knows the critics did…), but at least it had a variety of galactic locations and striking set pieces. Odd, then, there is so little ambition to be found in the second half ofZack Snyder’s Seven Samurai-riffing space yarn, a battle movie beyond the stars that eventually dissipates into a deafening and deadening muddle.
Exposition-dump flashbacks reveal why ‘Scargiver’ Kora (Sofia Boutella) is now a warrior in hiding, how swordswoman Nemesis (Doona Bae) got her laser-generating forearms and what turned General Titus (Djimon Hounsou) into a drunk. (There is also some business involving ceremonial tea towels.) Really, however, it’s all just filler before the main event: a battle royale between Noble’s soldiers and Kora’s mercenaries that reduces the scenery to rubble and a lot of hi-tech weaponry to scrap metal.
Rebel #2 certainly doesn’t go halves on the action, not least when it moves to the Dreadnought itself for the inevitable Kora-Noble face-off. The problem is there’s no let-up. Snyder assails the viewer with a numbing salvo of firefights, duels and explosions that’s as hard to withstand as it is to care about.
After the first film’s elaborate scene-setting, the least its successor should offer is a rewarding, coherent climax. If anything, though, this is more of a retrenchment, with certain members of Boutella’s team (Staz Nair’s beefcake Tarak, for instance) used so scantily you question why they were introduced in the first place.
“You can’t win!” cautions kindly robot ‘Jimmy’ at one stage in the sonorous tones of Anthony Hopkins. Is he talking about the people of Veldt, you wonder? Or is he referring to Snyder’s loyal fans, who will have to endure two three-hour director’s cuts (and perhaps another sequel) before he gets Rebel Moon out of his system?
Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver is available on Netflix from April 19. For more, check out our guides to thebest Netflix moviesand thebest Netflix showsto stream right now.
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More about rebel moonZack Snyder reveals release dates and first look at his Rebel Moon director’s cutZack Snyder’s Rebel Moon director’s cuts get alternative titles, which have been secretly revealed
More about rebel moon
Zack Snyder reveals release dates and first look at his Rebel Moon director’s cutZack Snyder’s Rebel Moon director’s cuts get alternative titles, which have been secretly revealed
Zack Snyder reveals release dates and first look at his Rebel Moon director’s cut
Zack Snyder reveals release dates and first look at his Rebel Moon director’s cut
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon director’s cuts get alternative titles, which have been secretly revealed
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon director’s cuts get alternative titles, which have been secretly revealed
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
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Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”