Before I give my honest review for Rebel Moon (2023) I would like to make it clear that I am a big Snyder fan. I loved his DCEU run and was a huge supporter of the #releasethesnydercut movement. Outside of DCEU I have watched his 300 (2006) and Watchmen (2009) movies and was quite entertained by both. I also put Rebel Moon (2023) on my list of must watch 2023 films. That being said I have tried my best to remain neutral in my assessment of this movie and was ready to criticise any bad choices by actors/ directors/ studio etc. that showed in the film. Having cleared that I will allow you (the reader) to decide whether my review for this movie is justified or not.
As I watched the trailers of Rebel Moon (2023) I was both hopeful and skeptical about it as building an original cinematic world isn’t an easy task. Although visually spectacular, Snyder had not taken on such scale of an assignment before and is notably not known for his writing. As I watched the first act of this movie play out my hopefulness grew. The movie builds out the basic premise quite well and sets the stage for its main characters to achieve their goals.
The dialogue which has been a major point of criticism for all the critics, was relatively simple and straightforward which made it easier to follow the plot of the movie. Many critics who felt that the dialogue was quite cringey and forced, were probably expecting some level of sophistication and complexity in Snyder’s writing. However, it didn’t really bother me as I was interested in seeing him give more context to this space opera world he had created and this was achieved with the dialogue within the film.
The accent choices by the various actors involved also gave a very diverse perception for the film as although everyone mostly spoke in English the varying accents gave a perception that they were all from different parts of this world and were figuring out how to interact with each other properly.
The story and characters are said to be derivative from a lot of other sci-fi, action and fantasy franchises, which is true. But it is more of an homage to those franchises in my opinion. I personally couldn’t connect too many franchises outside of Star Wars as my memory is limited to the last decade in the world of cinema. Maybe that’s why I really enjoyed the random and crazy character designs and backstories in Snyder’s vast mythological universe.
Although predictable to some extent, the story of the Rebel Moon (2023) does enough to hold the audiences attention in what’s coming next and entertain with epic visuals throughout the film. By the end of the movie I found myself interested in what was going to happen next in this story and I wanted answers to some interesting plot points scattered across multiple scenes of the movie.
There are certain character moments that might not move the audience as much as they should, but that is quite common for original intellectual property films as the viewers are introduced to completely new set of characters, motivations etc. Unless one is able to give up the filter of comparisons, it will be difficult for them to enjoy these characters and motivations. Ultimately it is a fictional world meant for entertainment and it fulfilled it’s purpose.
Snyder’s vision in Rebel Moon (2023) can also be adopted very nicely into a video game series which am sure Netflix will be looking forward to. However, Snyder first needs to focus on his world building mission and connect all the dots within the cinematic world of Rebel Moon. The sequel is scheduled for early next year, might also add some more fans for this franchise as there are enough setups throughout Rebel Moon (2023) that can have huge payoffs in the coming movie.
If you want to be entertained during this Christmas period, Rebel Moon (2023) is the way to go 🍿