‘Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver’ Review: An Even More Rote Story, but a Bigger and Better Battle
variety.comOwen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic What do you call world-building when it’s built entirely out of worlds that have already been built?
I wouldn’t call it cinema; it might be closer to Lego with attitude. Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver,” like his “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire,” is a sci-fi action fantasy so familiar and generic, so borrowed from and inspired by other things — it’s the 1977 “Star Wars” meets “Seven Samurai” meets “The Lord of the Guardians of the Rings of the Galaxy” — that it’s already the theme-park version of itself.
Yet compared to most of the media, I was kind to “Rebel Moon — Part One.” Released just four months ago, it was an oversize banquet of fanboy fast food, not a film to take seriously, but I couldn’t deny that I found it highly watchable, unlike the countless critics who seem to feel that Zack Snyder has become The Enemy Of All They Stand For.
Having cut “Part One” some major slack, though, even I’ll say: “Part Two” has less of interest going on in it. It’s just an extended countdown to the big showdown, with Snyder devoting scenes to “filling in” characters who still come off as human action figures.
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