Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire
Putting aside whatever grievances you'd have with Snyder in terms of his treatment of story and characters, you have to admit that the man has a strong sense for visuals.
★★★1/2
Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten
Eons past, in a distant star system, the Motherworld Empire, ruled by the evil Regent Balisarius (Francis Martin Fee) waged a destructive war against rebel forces. One of his military leaders, Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) arrives at the farming planet colony of Veldt with his army in tow, seeking to plunder its resources, only to discover that a wanted fugitive named Kora (Sofia Boutella) was hiding amongst its inhabitants. Determined to protect her newfound home, Kora embarks on a mission to recruit fighters to help her ward off the Admiral's impending attack on Veldt.
Let's get to the bad first. This is nowhere close to the best that Zack Snyder has ever done. I've not seen Army of the Dead or the Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, but this is easily at the bottom-most of all his films I've seen. Putting aside whatever grievances you'd have with Snyder in terms of his treatment of story and characters, you have to admit that the man has a strong sense for visuals. However, I was surprised to find that quality lacking here, with a messy aesthetic that seems to randomly blend styles and genres without a clear direction. I understand that it wants to do a Western-samurai-World-War-II-medieval sci-fi hybrid like Star Wars, but the difference between the two is that Star Wars merged the best visual elements from those genres, whereas Rebel Moon felt like it was picking from the leftovers. I've already felt this when I saw glimpses of its teaser trailer, that unease you feel as an artist or designer when you can tell that it's an early draft being submitted as the final work. Also very uncharacteristic of Snyder was how drab the camera work and compositions were, as if he shot the film without any storyboards to refer to, in contrast to his past works where every shot felt precisely crafted. I was really surprised to see so many basic static medium shots of dialogue scenes. In a typical Snyder flick, a character's hair, cape or trench coat would be billowing through wind and rain while hyper-masculine lines are being spewed out of bristled jaws. I know some of you hate that crap, but I don't know why you'd want realism in everything - it's so overrated, sorry Nolan fans. I wonder if it was a very tight budget that gave it a TV movie-like feel. After all this was funded by Netflix, so Snyder may not have the same resources at his disposal like he did with the other major studios.
Anyway, despite all those complaints above, I still enjoyed it. It's just your regular sci-fi fantasy actioner, and I don't think it ever pretended it was anything more than that. There are space ships and strange planets and weird aliens and people getting killed with frickin' laser beams. The action is somewhat decent, and doesn't use shaky cam. The best thing about it are the actors, who are generally good. Snyder went the super-serious route with this one, so the actors were on full-on dramatic mode. Many critics have praised Boutella for handling both acting and action duties, and rightly so. Ed Skrein always does a highly despicable villain so effortlessly, and I like that they didn't make his character a buffoon. His Admiral Noble is terrifying. This movie has a better villain than a lot of the Marvel flicks if you ask me. Surprised to find out that Ray Fisher (Cyborg from the Justice League movies), Anthony Hopkins, Cary Elwes, Jena Malone and Corey Stoll were in this movie. Great to see acclaimed Korean actor Doona Bae in a badass role. Charlie Hunnam does another bad accent here - he was ok, didn't bother me. I like how the Imperium soldiers act like absolutely detestable Nazi-esque bad guys, so it was really satisfying when they finally get their comeuppances.
I also think there are some strong moments here. The one with the robot (Anthony Hopkins), Kora confronting the soldiers on Veldt, when Noble negotiates his terms with the village head (pretty intense), Tarak riding the giant bird, and the VFX for the spider-lady was surprisingly good. Anyway, these are just my own thoughts. Overall, it's a fun, one-time watch for me.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Fret not, this isn’t a stuffy arthouse treatment, but a surprisingly fast-paced, genre-leaning, effects-laden sci-fi actioner with a strong dose of family drama at its core. So, not only do you get to see Yeoh bringing her action chops, but flex her acting ones too.
★★★★1/2
No spoilers
Laundromat owner Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) must grapple with a multitude of issues, including potential eviction from her premises, being emotionally estranged from her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), feeling disappointed with husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and being a disappointment to her father Gong Gong (James Hong). But things are about to get worse when another Waymond from another multiverse (also Ke) appears to recruit Evelyn to fight in a multiversal war and save the world.
It’s interesting that there are two separate movies about the multiverse (the other one being Dr Strange 2) playing at the same time right now that couldn’t be more different in feel and approach. But they both have protagonists with a third eye on their foreheads. It’s like they’re each their own multiversal branch-offs. I’m a Sam Raimi fan, but even I have to admit that the title Multiverse of Madness would have been better suited to this far more bonkers Michelle Yeoh flick. The multiversal concept is more creatively utilized here whereas Raimi’s film only conservatively toys with it.
Fret not, this isn’t a stuffy arthouse treatment, but a surprisingly fast-paced, genre-leaning, effects-laden sci-fi actioner with a strong dose of family drama at its core. So, not only do you get to see Yeoh bringing her action chops, but flex her acting ones too. I still think her best performance was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but she gets to do more here, and it’s a blast to see that.
Another great highlight is the “return” of Ke Huy Quan playing a lead role as Yeoh’s husband Waymond, most well-known for his role as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s hard to believe that he has done very little acting in almost 40 years, because he so effortlessly juggled a myriad of alternate Waymond characters like a pro, including one that could have been a Tony Leung role in a Wong Kar Wai flick. His character struck close to home for me, but that’s a discussion for another time.
It’s no secret that 93-year-old legend James Hong is in this film also, and no, it isn’t just a fleeting cameo, but there was one other casting that was a genuine surprise for me, and she was terrifically funny and was completely relishing her role. I won’t spoil it here for those who don’t watch trailers and follow entertainment news. Stephanie Hsu also did a decent job here having to go toe-to-toe with so many acting legends during the dramatic moments.
The only very minor gripe is that the Daniels (directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert of Swiss Army Man fame) piled on the silly or gross-out humour a little too much, that they sometimes took the wind out of a few dramatic moments.
Nevertheless, this is still a very heartfelt, adult story about family, nestled within a visually frenetic and funny film where sex toys can be used to access the multiverse. For people who griped about the lack of originality in blockbuster films, it’s time to walk the talk and watch this film instead. Highly recommended!
Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.