Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child Of Fire

Science fiction is a very tricky genre to pull off to make it entertaining or find the right fan base. You have the traditional fans of Star Wars and Star Trek of course these fan bases will always argue what franchise is the best of these two. I prefer Star Wars if i have to choose but i actually enjoy completely different science fiction films that´s not connected to any franchises or specific characters from a well known science fiction film. A perfect example of when a sci fi film turned out to be really good is of course the 1996 classic sci fi action film Indepenence Day from director Roland Emmerich. If there is one sci fi film you have to see this is definetely one of them you should put on your watch list. Might as well throw director Roland Emmerich sci fi action film Stargate in there as well, because it is a 1994 sci fi classic. Since we are talking about this specific genre i feel that we should talk about a film that doesn´t get mentioned a lot anymore. And that is the 2011 action sci fi film World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles from director Jonathan Lieberman ( director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning as well, a sequel i actually enjoy ). I know that this film is a very mixed bag from sci fi fans worldwide, some people enjoy this film for what it is a simple alien invasion action film, while some sci fi fans thought it was a stupid film. I personally feel that World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles did a good enough job to make this a fun popcorn film with great tempo in the action scenes. Basically you follow a squad of U.S. Marines as they try to strike back against aliens invading our planet, there is no bigger plot than that. If you enjoy action films and sci fi combined then i think you should give this film a chance. And listen to the commentary track if you get a physical copy of the film, it does give you some interesting information regarding the making of this film. One director who made quite a buzz about himself regarding a sci fi action film he made is the director known as Zack Snyder. His 2011 film Sucker Punch was definetely enjoyed by boys mostly but criticised for making the female characters very sexual in their outfits. Either way the film become a box office bomb so thhe audience didn´t seem that interested after all. Director Zack Snyder have continued making several action films since then and even returned to zombies in the Netflix film Army Of The Dead. So here we are with a new sci fi Netflix film from Zack Snyder simply called Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child On Fire. The second part of this film is coming out this spring so the question is, does Rebel Moon - Part One deliver enough for sci fi fans or is it just as terrible as the god awful sci fi film After Earth with Will Smith?

On the backwater moon of Veldt a group of farmers live together to make a solid life by growing their own food and work hard to make the harvest successfull. One of the villagers Kora ( Sofia Boutella ) is doing her best to help the village survive. After a celebration led by the village´s leader Sindri ( Corey Stoll ) while everyone enjoyed a good time, the next day they all get an unexpected visit by Atticus Noble ( Ed Skrein ), the sadistic admiral of the militaristic Imperium and his army. They are looking for a band of rebels led by siblings Devran Bloodaxe ( Cleopatra Coleman ) and Darrian Bloodaxe ( Ray Fisher ), while he offers to buy the village´s surplus grain. Sindri refuses the offer, claiming they have barely enough to survive. A farmer, Gunnar ( Michiel Huisman ), contradicts Sindri´s claim, indicating that the village might have some surplus. Noble kills Sindri and orders Gunnar to prepare enough grain that they will pick up in ten weeks. Kora warns the village that once Atticus returns he will kill everyone unless they mount a defense. Kora and Gunnar depart for the port town of Providence to recruit warriors for the village´s defense.

Before i watched this film i didn´t really read any background information on why director Zack Snyder wanted to make this film or what inspired him to make Rebel Moon - Part One. I wanted to go into this film knowing as little as possible, just to see if i would be pleasantly surprised. One of the first things i can see pretty clear is that this film is definetely inspired by the Star Wars franchise. I don´t knowif that is the case but you can actually feel it with the design of the space ships, certain robots and i would say some costume designs as well. Even if the story of Rebel Moon - Part One is very different from the Star Wars universe you can definetely see that there are some similar ideas in this film. I have no problems with that honestly since i just want to be entertained. Now, i will be honest and say i do have a few issues with this film but let´s talk about what i enjoy about this film. It becomes very clear that lead actress Sofia Boutella is one of the stronger characters in this film as the fearless Kora and i especially enjoy watching her battle scenes. Actress Jena Malone ( who fans of The Hunger Games definetely remember ) as the spider creature Harmada is a highlight for sure and i wish we could have seen more scenes with her. We also have legendary actor Cary Elwes ( who does not remember him from the classic The Princess Bride? ) here as The King and there is something charming about his screen presence. Once you see Cary in his scenes you can´t help feeling joy in your heart. I do feel that some of the battle scenes between good and evil have some fun moments, and even if this film doesn´t show any blood i still feel that the action scenes does have some enjoyable moments. So let´t get into some issues with this film and i have to mention that some of the acting in this film is really bad. We have seen this before in films such as Jupiter Ascending and we find it in Rebel Moon - Part One as well. It is like some of the actors don´t really feel passionate about their characters and i feel that it is a big missed oppurtunity. To be honest the plot is not really that interesting and i feel that the side story of the main character Kora saves the film a lot when some other parts of the story feels very uninspired. Knowing this is a Zack Snyder film you know he loves to use CGI effects and it´s a very mixed bag here. Some scenes look good while other scenes could have been improved. I would still say that i enjoyed Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child Of Fire for trying to make a sci fi action adventure for fans who love this genre. Even if it does have flaws there are several details to be pleased about as well. I am hoping Part Two coming this spring of Rebel Moon will be even more fun. As for now i think director Zack Snyder can still be trusted making enjoyable popcorn films, and that´s exactly what you can expect from a film such as this. If you enjoy battles in space with aliens, androids and guns then this should be what you are looking for. Rebel Moon - Part One have enough to please true nerd fans of this genre so i would suggest you also check it out on Netflix.

Rating: DDD