Lots of hype about Rebel Moon. It’s the new sci-fi movie coming to Netflix. Now, whether that hype is real or manufactured remains to be seen. We’re guessing manufactured. The shows director and co-creator, Zach Snyder has a bit of a history with manufacturing hype. Justice League Snyder cut, anyone? Anyhow, let’s talk about Rebel Moon and some of the issues we had with this trailer. Right out of the gate, the title is a bad sign. Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire. Oof. Kinda ‘Star Wars’ meets ‘Game of Thrones’. (That may have been the pitch when Zach sold this to Netflix) Why not call it ‘Rebel Moon: A new hope song of ice and fire’? So, there’s that. Now let’s look at all the versions of other things we’ve seen before, just in the trailer. The open shot with the hand going over the wheat. That’s a direct lift from Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator.’ Lots of Gladiator and Ridley Scott shots all over the place. Then they throw in some Harry Potter scenes complete with Griffins. After that? Liberally sprinkle in some Star Wars light sabers. Wait… light sabers?! That takes balls. When you rip off light sabers? As a writer and creator how do you reconcile that decision? It just screams unoriginal. You just think it’ll look cool so you do it. Ouch.
There appears to be nothing new with Rebel Moon: Part One a song of fire and ice. (Netflix has guaranteed a part two. The Audience may get a vote as well as to whether or not they want to watch) It all just seems to be derivative of other (better?) stories. There’s an evil empire. A chosen one who wants to make things right, all set against a background of galactic politics where everyone wants to rule the galaxy. That’s fine, I guess. But is that something to aspire to? Where is the originality? It all feels like something that was pitched to LucasFilm and they passed on it. Oops. That’s kind of the back story to Rebel Moon evidently. Eh, what can ya do? When life gives you Star Wars lemons, go to Netflix and make Star Wars lemonade and call it Rebel Moon: Part one – the force awakens in Mirkwood.
Oh well, at least it will look neat. Zach Snyder and his director of photography know how to get a beautiful shot on camera. So, there’s that. Rebel Moon looks nice. Things blow up and fly around in slow motion. That’s neat. But as a fan of the Sci Fi, Fantasy Genre, I wouldn’t count on a season two. The show has to be expensive as all get out. That means it’s gonna need huge numbers of viewers. And to get huge numbers of viewers you need a great original story with compelling characters. We’ll wait to see more from Rebel Moon: Part One, the phantom menace of Dune, but right now the original story and the compelling characters haven’t revealed themselves. We shall see. Here’s the trailer for Rebel Moon, coming to Netflix December 22, 2023.
