Rebel Moon: The Scargiver. Better than Part One?
Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver dropped on Netflix recently. If you are reading this, you’re probably wondering if it is better than Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire. Or maybe you’re just a fan of Sci-FiWard and read everything – if so – welcome!
I watched this the day after it came out and was going to write about it the next day. Then I kind of forgot about it. Which I guess if fairly revealing.
You can read my review of Rebel Moon A Child of Fire by clicking on this thing.
So what is it about?
I would hesitate to describe this as the second half of Rebel Moon, as they strongly hint at the story continuing. But if that is the case, then it seems very unlikely to be set in a village on the Rebel Moon.
However, the intergalactic bad guys are after wheat, for now, so a farmer village makes sense. But in the future it might be slightly larger in scope. I hope so because the wheat obsession just felt weird.
If you have seen Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire, then you know what to expect. The baddies are going to attack that village because they fucking love wheat, and apparently, there is a shortage. Or they hate vegetables, and all the animals are dead. Or something.
If you haven’t seen the first one, then stop right now and watch it. Or at least stop reading this, as there are spoilers galore and this won’t make sense.
SPOILERS!
So essentially – Atticus Noble is still alive and is still the bad guy. He’s no Darth Vader, but is pretty cool. Kora is still the heroine of the tale. And her gang are still rebelling. But this time, there are more troops and bigger ships.
The gang are now gathered and their abilities established. As is the weirdly important village. I didn’t fully follow why it requires what seems to be a really heavy response or why it needs such legendary defenders. I felt like I was missing some point somewhere.
Is Scargiver any good?
I’m going to be controversial here and say – yes, it is. I enjoyed watching it, so that is its main function fulfilled. It isn’t great, but I guess it all depends on how you define these things. It is a good entertainment vehicle. While watching the events on screen, I enjoyed it. However, if someone said: write a list of all the good films I’ve ever seen, I’m not sure it would make the list as I will probably have forgotten it exists.
A good example of what I mean is another Zack Snyder film – Sucker Punch. I am not going to lie, I watched that film in an altered state of mind (weed is legal where I am, as is alcohol). I loved it, it was an incredible film. But then I rewatched it years later while in an older and more normal state of mind, and it was merely ok.
There is a lot of the trademark Snyder stuff: slow-mo action sequences, good-looking characters, and fairly generic stereotypical hero types. And a really drawn-out scene where everyone harvests wheat – also in slow motion. I’ve never seen so much slo-mo in a montage. Even a lady with two swords that could cut through wheat in seconds is opting for a slow-moving scythe.
They only have a couple of days, and while the wheat obsession is the main objective, they also find time to train villagers how to fight and build a decent underground trench. These are busy heroes.
We also finally learn a bit about all the main characters in one burst. They all sit down and tell their backstories—all of which seem to amount to: the Empire killed everyone they loved.
The only exception is Kora herself, who we find out murdered a young teenage princess. Although, not really, as the princess was magic or something. Why Kora is called Scargiver is never really explained unless it relates to the scar she gave Atticus. However, that doesn’t really make sense when he says something about getting a scar from the Scargiver herself. I am thinking too much.
The final fight is actually pretty cool. This is a relief as that is what both films have been heading toward. Death, explosions, soldiers who are really poor shots, duels between the main characters and even more slow-mo. It’s fun, if a tad shallow.
Final thoughts
Rebel Moon: The Scargiver is better than A Child of Fire. Apart from the wheat harvesting and exposition bits, it is action-fest and great fun. If you liked the first one and are a Snyder fan, you’ll enjoy it. If not, you probably won’t watch it or read this.
I’ll be watching the next part. And the Snyder cuts of the first two. I’ll even try to remember they exist to write a more timely review.