Rebel Moon 2023 aka Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire has marked a new dawn in Zack Snyder’s directorial career as a massive streaming hit. I’m dubbing it a new dawn as the title is a streaming blockbuster rather than a theatrical one, which is most unusual for Snyder films. Well, there was a limited theatrical release but it is on streaming giant Netflix, the movie has made a mark by becoming the most popular streaming film of the year.

The first part of Snyder’s science-fiction epic received 34 million views during its first full week on the streaming service. This placed it first on the list of English-language films from December 25 to 31 and made it the most-watched title on the streaming service. With that and the 29 million views the movie got in the first weekend Rebel Moon 2023 now has about 63 million views after 10 days of being available.

With 2023 being a year of box office failure for many high-profile films – Mission Impossible 7 and Indiana Jones 5 to name a couple – I guess Snyder thought it would be best to go the streaming route. And his unusual decision paid dividends in the best way possible. Rebel Moon 2023 is now one of the most streamed films from last year and the hype for the upcoming Part 2 is ever-growing by the day. People are waiting for the second part of Rebel Moon with bated breaths.

A Child Of Fire

Jimmy, the mechanical knight played by Anthony Hopkins, provides some basic context for the story of Rebel Moon 2023. He portrays a universe represented by fierce tyranny and, in a reverberation of Isaac Asimov’s Establishment, a degenerate primitive power given the strange Motherworld that has dominated “for 1,000 kings.” That is until the dominant ruler, his better half, and their magical girl, Princess Issa, are killed, probably by agitators. A power vacuum clears a path for Official Balisarius, head of Motherworld’s military to rule.

It’s a data dump that could have been drawing in assuming there was something else to it besides witnessing a phallic-molded ship of war cruising through space. The boat hauls the fearsome naval commander Atticus Respectable around the universe to plunder, take, and colonize universes as well as suppress any uprisings against the Realm. A combination of Darth Vader and the twisted SS Leader Göth from Schindler’s List, Skrein has a great time as this lethal commandant with a terrifying club, emaciated look, cut English pronunciation, and an inclination for nauseous, shall we say, spoiling ceremonies.

When Noble and the Imperium arrive on the moon of Veldt to violently occupy their lands, a sex-positive, Northwest European-coded farming community is minding their own business and “making love for the harvest.” The townspeople’s amazement and obliviousness about the uncouth power close to home is fairly confounding, given old Jimmy’s portrayal: Assuming that the illustrious family have been administering with an iron clenched hand for quite a long time, this guilelessness is lost. That is essentially the gist of this dragged-out soap opera called Rebel Moon 2023.

Rebel Moon 2023 Is Boring

Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon 2023 begins with a humble but hot farmer who, despite Lucasfilm‘s reluctance, is destined to be a major figure in the rebellion against a fascist interplanetary regime. The film was originally pitched to Lucasfilm as a Star Wars movie, which is understandable. While the names and dialect have been changed to keep away from claims, this film actually feels so near George Lucas’ protected universe that Snyder is essentially trying Disney’s legal team to sue him.

A lengthy voiceover by Jimmy lays out Rebel Moon 2023’s exposition dump instead of an opening crawl. In it, Jimmy explains that an evil empire is consuming the resources of unsuspecting planets and slaying rebels who work to stop them. Then, Snyder thuds us down on a weak universe of soil ranchers, where a harsh-browed Kora cautions her neighbors not to believe the troopers whose enormous boat has started unfavorably floating over their fields. Ring any bells?

It’s not just the archetypes that heavily follow Star Wars. It’s likewise the imperative bar scene with peculiar outsider critters, the ambiguously Western plotline with science fiction pizazz, and the lightsabers that may be liberally relabeled. And keeping in mind that the too-muchness of all that could have made for a thrilling and rich plot, there’s so minimal connection between these things that Snyder’s imagination rather feels like a languid composition, taking from more extravagant, unique works.

Rebel Moon 2023 Fails To Create A Promising Universe

While the impacts are pretty much as different as the settings in this universe-traveling war show, every last bit of it is painted with Snyder’s particular variety conspire. Troubling greys and greens coat void fields, a clamoring port city, spaceships, and castles. Orange and red accents appear in violent bursts, such as explosions or a red lightsaber swath. This variety of plot levels the universes, as does Snyder’s grinding dependence on CGI settings that vibe misleading, in any event, the cinematography of Rebel Moon 2023 is generally beautiful.

In Rebel Moon 2023, the characters are either exquisite or peculiar. As a result, when Kora scans the cantina, Hunnam’s meticulously groomed thief stands out from an aggressive alien who appears to be entirely made of boils. Even a character who is initially introduced literally covered in mud and spit will receive a glamorous makeover in between scenes, which makes this disparity almost comical. It’s a Snyder film. Nobody can head off to war without being torn and cleaned.

It might have worked if Snyder’s work showed that he was aware of this grim-glossy aesthetic. However, exactly as expected, Rebel Moon 2023 is persistently harsh in its tone, driving its legends into the limitations of agonizing and battle-crying while exquisite. It’s a similar choking-out requirement Disney put on its princesses, restricting their looks for the sake of being pretty. And all that makes for a film that, notwithstanding a blast of impacts, settings, and activity groupings, feels bland and sincerely empty.

A Damning Letdown

Regardless of an incredible outfit cast, Zack Snyder’s space drama is allowed somewhere near a subsidiary interwoven to prearrange, fair activity groupings, and a shallow story that neglects to satisfy its far-reaching promise. Rebel Moon 2023 is a massive letdown from a cinematic point of view, even with all the hype and record-breaking viewing hours.

Disintegrating under the heaviness of its own visionary self-importance, Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon 2023 is a progression of astounding-looking sets and outfits and impacts searching for a story, characters, feeling — truly, whatever could raise the beat. Maybe we will witness something entirely different in the second part but I doubt it.

Perhaps Snyder will convey something invigorating at the finish of his knock-off Star Wars adventure. In any case, at this moment, the main reason one should even want to watch Part 2 is to feel something, anything. Because the first part of Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire is, eventually, simply a decent-looking, dead trudge.