Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon — Part One was an enthusiastic but derivative mess: a ‘gather the team’ yomp through an overly familiar yet logically inconsistent galaxy, which brought together a bunch of vaguely defined characters as a not-so-Magnificent… Seven? Eight? Even that wasn’t clear. Aside from one neat twist, the occasional pretty shot, and the presence of underused robo-knight Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins), there was little to recommend it. Part Two is, at least, an improvement, given some much-craved focus by its single-planet setting (the Amish-ish Veldt) and battle-scene thrust. Even so, there isn’t that much more to recommend it.
Sinewy villain Noble (Ed Skrein) is back on his feet and still looking like he’s sucking a walnut, but now he’s less interested in stealing grain than capturing Kora (Boutella, once more given little to do other than look anguished and fight). Not that she’s aware of this for the first hour or so. All she and her comrades know is the Imperium Dreadnought is due to arrive in five days, giving the film’s first half a ticking clock that is swiftly undermined by its incongruous sense of languor.
There are some notable casualties, but you’ll barely care.
Until the plasma starts blasting, The Scargiver is mostly about farming. All done with pre-industrial tools (and, er, anti-grav platforms; apparently in this universe they can make things float but they don’t have combine harvesters) and shot so lustrously and tenderly by writer/director Zack Snyder, it starts to feel like a weirdly high-def Soviet propaganda film. It's also about getting chummy with the humble locals — who somehow find time to weave personalised tapestries for each of the heroes — and sharing backstories.
But rather than thread some fresh insights about General Titus (Djimon Hounsou, laden with the film’s clunkiest dialogue), or the cool-but-hollow Nemesis (Bae Doona), or that one with the black stripe on their face (Elise Duffy), we’re instead given a whole info-dumping scene where they sit around a table and take turns to monologue about their pasts. The weirdest flashback is Tarak’s (Staz Nair). Turns out the nips-flashing, axe-wielding barbarian-looking dude is actually from a steampunk world inhabited by ruff-necked dandies.
It is a relief when the fighting finally starts, though it largely happens in a big brown field, and you have to wonder at Titus’ tactics (basically: run at them with hammers and sickles). Plus, a lot of humble farmers must die before Jimmy finally gets his shiny metal butt in gear. There are some notable casualties, but you’ll barely care. And, predictably, there’s a half-arsed tease of further Rebel Moon-y adventures. The not-so-Magnificent Five-or-Six-now, it seems, may ride again.
