Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Review

Picking up mere moments after the ending of Part One, Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver serves as the epic conclusion to this two part story (with maybe more to come?). Believing to have killed Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein), Kora (Boutella) and the rest of the recruits return to her home planet of Veldt to celebrate their victory thinking the battle is won. When news arrives of his resurrection and forthcoming invasion of Veldt to get revenge on this band of rebels, Kora and her team only have 5 days to prepare, train the villagers and execute their final stand against the evil forces of the Motherworld. Ostensibly this film operates as a feature length third act, and with the setup of Part One out of the way, Part Two is a decidedly leaner and much more focused film than it’s often sprawling and messy predecessor.

Despite being one long script and shoot split into two halves, Rebel Moon Part Two feels distinctly different from Part One to an almost disorienting degree. Shifting genres from a planet hopping space opera epic, to a primarily one location war film, the scale of the story is significantly cut down. One can’t help but miss the crazier science fiction elements and world building from Part One, but stripping those elements back greatly improves the pacing of this latest entry, making for a far more cohesive viewing experience. Even though this film is yet another cut down PG-13 version, it never felt that it was missing as much as the first film, outside of the violence being more graphic that it is hard to imagine how much more can be added here when it’s already fairly lean narratively. One hour of preparation followed by one hour of pure action spectacle, with less of the episodic start and stop pacing that crippled Part One so severely, as this film got going, it doesn’t let up until the ending.

Meanwhile, this marks Snyder’s third film where he’s taken on the dual role of director and cinematographer, and while his most recent efforts may not match the past heights of his collaborations with DP Larry Fong, there is a clear improvement in the visuals this time around. Part of that could be attributed to the fact that it is shot mostly on location rather than in front of a green screen. An increased confidence behind the camera was certainly felt as the improved visuals compliment the stronger spectacle on display. Snyder’s films have generally excelled when it came to action and I though Part One was a major let down in that department with much of it feeling edited down to avoid an R-rating, giving the action little impact. Thankfully the over editing around its set pieces is greatly reduced as it was easier to at least be moderately thrilled by the film’s many laser sword fights, ship battles, shootouts and explosions, and of course much of this is complemented by slow motion tableaus to highlight every pose, action, and setting to create the most maximalist image possible.

The improved pacing, action and tighter narrative focus are all welcome and seek to fix many of the issues that plagued Part One but at its core, the film still suffers from a very muddled script and one dimensional characters which made it difficult to get emotionally invested in their struggle. Our Part One review mentioned that despite the band of rebels was archetypal, coasting on recognizable tropes and cool aesthetics, but they were so underwritten that they didn’t even meet the definition of an archetype. The smaller scale of this sequel promises a deeper dive into their characters and while it’s nice to (finally) see them interact with one another and learn their backstories, it’s all a bit too slight to truly engage with.

The flashbacks for each character are so short that it is baffling as to why none of this was in the last film in the hopes that Part Two could expand on them but it’s all too little too late. For a filmmaker as visual as Snyder is, often placing the visual power of a frame above all else, the storytelling is surprisingly show not tell when it comes to the character interactions and relationships with one another. Rebel Moon has been a frustrating project so far because conceptually, this world and all of its characters are interesting but audiences are never given enough to work with. One standout was Bae Doona robot armed Nemesis, a character whose origin is so cool that a spinoff involving her would so cool, if only to get more than just that brief hint. Ultimately, all the pieces are there for a fun, stylish and emotionally involving sci-fi epic, but the execution fails to deliver what should be a homerun on paper.

While the outlandish lore and world building of Part One may a big loss for some, it’s undeniable that Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver is a marked improvement over Part One with a much tighter narrative focus, more propulsive pacing, and stronger action spectacle. That being said, it still carries over many of the same issues as its predecessor, namely a weak script and thin characters. Though it may be improved, it is unlikely Part Two will convert any non believers. In the end, those interested in Rebel Moon are better served waiting for the director’s cuts releasing later this summer.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Alex Josevski

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