Contrary to what the title of the article might suggest, almost no criticisms of Rebel Moon – Part One were taken into account for the production of Part Two: The Scargiver, with Zack Snyder choosing instead to double down on his insistence for headache-inducing slow-motion, a juvenile screenplay, non-existent character development, and even more blatant plagiarism, among other issues that carried over from the first film.
You’d think a four-month gap between the release of both films would allow for ample time to make adjustments to the final cut of Part Two based on critical reception, but time—as invaluable of a resource as it is—seems to have been severely wasted on all fronts.
There has been radio silence from Netflix in regards to its marketing and promotion, no additional scenes were shot nor were there any changes made in post-production (according to the filmmakers), and clearly no feedback was taken from critical response to adjust the film accordingly.
Granted, making significant changes to a project after it’s already been shot is a difficult and monumental feat, so some leniency can be granted in that regard but there should still be no excuse.
The Scargiver more or less picks up right where A Child of Fire left off. The rebels on Veldt are gearing up to defend their village from the Imperium, who await their collection of the villagers’ harvest. Unbeknownst to them, the rebels have been amassing arms and devising traps to free themselves from the iron grip of the Imperium.
As a continuation of the first part, it connects well with no major plot holes or revisions made. The story is much grander in scale and the pay-off from Part One is well worth it. There are lots of elaborate set pieces and action sequences that keep the pacing on its feet, with very little drag compared to its predecessor.
Throughout the action, there are moments of levity between the core group that give the film its emotional angle, with Sofia Boutella bringing out all the stops for a gripping, heartfelt performance as Kora, the lead character. The rest of the supporting cast are spectacular as well and bolster Sofia’s performance, making for a well-rounded group performance that brings all their respective characters to life.
As forgiving and praising as this all sounds, it unfortunately does not outweigh the faults of the film, a lot of which carry over from Part One. Despite the action sequences being a major strength, it’s also one of its major weaknesses, as the film basically consists of entirely third-act fighting.
The first third is spent building up to it and the rest of the film is just non-stop violence, which for some could be enjoyable, but it leaves no room for anything else to happen, especially character development which is another major issue.
None of the characters seem like they’ve progressed from their personalities in Part One because there is no time for them to do so. It seems like they focused too much on making this film a spectacle rather than a balance of both show and story.
The worst of all these offenses however, is Zack Snyder’s extremely irritating trademark of slow-motion usage. A good 40% of the action scenes are slow-motion shots that look cool in theory, but aggravating to watch in execution. All it does is marginally and unnecessarily pad the runtime and fail to create the suspense it thinks it does.
While The Scargiver is in every way a significant improvement from A Child of Fire, it is also significantly worse in every way. It creates sort of a Schrödinger’s Cat situation where it’s simultaneously good and bad but never really both. In all honesty, the best way to sum it up is that it just merely exists. Nothing else. No substance whatsoever.
It is entertaining and fun, but that’s all it really has going for it. How Zack Snyder plans to make more films in this franchise eludes me. The most unfortunate realization I had while watching it was realizing there was going to be yet another sequel.
Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver is streaming exclusively on Netflix as of now Friday, April 19. The film stars Sofia Boutella as Kora, Charlie Hunman as Kai, Anthony Hopkins as Jimmy, Ed Skrein as Atticus, Charlotte Maggi as Sam, Michiel Huisman as Gunnar, Djimon Hounsou as Titus, Stuart Martin as Den, Staz Nair as Tarak, Bae Doona as Nemesis, Sky Yang as Aris, and Fra Fee as Balisarius.
