Rebel Moon Reviews All Say The Same Thing About Netflix Sci-Fi Epic
There’s a lot to admire about Zack Snyder’s work, particularly movies such as 300, Man of Steel, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Unfortunately, the filmmaker’s latest brain-child, 2023’s Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, isn’t so admirable, according to critics and audiences, and they’re all bombarding the movie with negative reviews.
Visuals Are The Only Thing Critics And Viewers Praise
For those who aren’t familiar with Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, Zack Snyder’s space opera debuted near the end of 2023 on Netflix to dismal reviews from both the critics and the audiences. Many criticized the movie as being over-stuffed with slow-mo battles and derivative storytelling choices while also featuring Snyder’s visuals, which are the film’s only redeeming quality.
And to that, dear readers, we say, “Give it a shot.” It’s only 133 minutes long, and there’s a chance that you might actually like it.
A Bad Star Wars Knock Imitation
The first of the two announced Rebel Moon movies debuted with a fairly low score on the Tomatometer for a movie with Snyder’s name attached to it. Besides the aforementioned reasons tied to the film’s cinematography, the critics were rather harsh toward the film’s plot, with many stating that the narrative borrowed, rather liberally, from better Hollywood blockbusters and movie franchises.
Even some of the characters seem derived from movie franchises such as Star Wars—though some concepts make the movie reminiscent of Warhammer 40k.
Critics Say Rebel Moon Is A Disgrace To The Sci-Fi Genre
The slew of criticism doesn’t seem to end, with some saying that Rebel Moon is a movie made entirely out of spare parts, others saying that it contains some of Snyder’s worst impulses and that it has none of the weight of Dune, none of the characterization of Guardians of the Galaxy, and none of the madness of Jupiter Ascending. That’s pretty harsh. Whether or not such criticism is well-founded and deserved is ultimately for the audience to decide. The beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.
Expectations Too High?
The truth is that massive franchises such as the MCU and Star Wars have raised the expectations bar. Previously, it was very difficult to come out with an original breakthrough, which is why moviemakers and studios began relying on remakes and remasters to make a buck, and now, getting an original IP off the ground is borderline impossible.
Pair that with the high expectations from the critics and audiences, and any decent movie is set to fail miserably in the reviews section. But, it would seem that a segment of the audience liked Rebel Moon.
Audiences Favor Rebel Moon More Than The Critics
While it’s not the highest Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, an Audience Score of 60 percent, based on more than 5,000 audience reviews, is somewhat encouraging for Rebel Moon. The movie performed exceptionally well at the box office; the nerddom liked it despite it borrowing heavily from other sci-fi stories, and most of the positive reviews stem from the film’s entertainment value. In the end, movies are made for the audiences, not the critics.
The Outlook On The Rebel Moon Franchise
In the end, the numbers rarely lie, and the positive audience score and exceptional earnings paint a somewhat positive future for Rebel Moon as a franchise. Ultimately, this is not the first time in cinematic history that the movie was bombarded with negative reviews upon launch, only to re-emerge two decades later as a widely acknowledged and beloved cult classic.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
