Rebel Moon is a film I watched recently on Netflix, and I really enjoyed it, but I have noticed that online it has been getting so much flak for numerous reasons, including its story, character development, and a few other things - such as borrowing elements from other films, or franchises. So, I thought I'd write about its story and a few things that stood out to me, both negative and positive.
There will be spoilers ahead, so if you haven't watched it yet, I think it would be best not to read this post before you've had a chance to see it.
The Story
I don't want the entire post to be taken up with me describing each beat of the story, so I'll just break things down a bit into three sections, and give some commentary on each part.
ACT 1
A short opening narration tells us a bit about this world, namely the king and queen being slain. So, we can gather that this is some sort of galaxy-spanning monarchy, who have lost its monarchs.
Kora, the main character is a member of a small Viking-inspired village, and she works as a farmer. There's a love interest, and she is encouraged to marry him to be a full member of the community, because, as it turns out she was found in a crashed starship, and rescued by her father figure.
It wouldn't be much of a story if something didn't happen that turned her normal life upside down.
Inciting Incident!
A massive cruiser arrives, and she is clearly panicked as she runs to ring the town bell and warn the others. Since all of the other villagers don't seem phased, this adds to her mystery. Through dialogue, we discover that their excess food supplies was sold to some rebels known as the Blood Axes, which has left them with nothing to offer the people aboard the cruiser.
The baddies come down, and at first, things seem pleasant, until the leader beats the leader of this village to death in front of everyone. Demands the lion's share of their food, and says they'll return for it in 10 weeks. The villagers know this will leave them with barely enough to eat, but have no choice in the matter.
In their stead, a small group of soldiers are left behind, and these guys are deranged. Clearly, they've seen some shit, based solely on how psychotic they act.
There's a robot who is left along with the troops, and one of the soldiers refers to them as Jimmy's. He's excited to see them and laughs at the fact they don't fight anymore. After the king's death, they all laid down their weapons and became nothing more than manual labour hands. Demonstrated by one of the soldiers shooting at it, to prove the theory.
It's a very brief piece of lore/world-building and reinforces the idea of the king and queen being killed, just in case we missed it. I think the scene in general works to showcase the type of people these soldiers are, and also get this point across.
Away from the troops, the robot takes a liking to one of the village girls and says she reminds him of the princess. This same girl is then attacked and dragged into the soldiers' building until Kora comes to help her.
There is a massive action scene, and we get to see that Kora has a far darker side to her. It's confusing initially, seeing her go from a farmer to a highly trained killer. But, due to the mystery that has been building, we start to piece together an idea of who she is.
The final soldier has the girl, and the robot enters the room and is commanded to kill Kora, but instead shoots the soldier. One shot, one kill. After that, the robot flees the scene.
This event has cemented the villager's fate. They have no choice but to fight to defend themselves against the cruiser when it comes back.
My Thoughts On The Setup
Personally, I think it started strong. This first 30 minutes of the film opens strong, and drip feeds us relevant information through the characters, without leaving this small village on a small alien world.
We learn some backstory for the world and are given the backstory of the main character in small junks when it feels natural. The inciting incident is a good one, and it makes sense for these people to fight back against this oppressive regime. The people themselves are interesting because they don't want trouble and would rather appeal to the soldier's good side. But, Kora knows that won't work, and she takes action for the sake of self-preservation.
ACT 2
The second act is relatively simple, so I won't spend too long on this. Basically, Kora explains who she is to her love interest, while they're heading into the nearest town to find the Blood Axes.
She's not only ex-military, she was the apprentice to the head of the military and was being prepared to take command. Top-tier training, hence her abilities. This isn't just told to us, as we have flashbacks that tell the entire story in a quick space of time.
While in town they meet Kai, who hears what their intentions are and offers them passage in his ship. He even adds to the list, and instead of just gathering the general and Blood Axes, he knows of other people who are no friends to the empire.
This section is handled well, in my opinion. They gather a lot of people of a similar political standing and are prepared to fight.
There is no time wasted in this portion of the film. We get somewhere and are introduced to a character who is in the middle of a situation, and the main characters watch as the person tackles their problem. I'm actually glad that the whole gang doesn't really jump in and get involved, and instead just observe. This helps to build upon each new character and allows them screen time.
This section flies past, and there's no time wasted between worlds. Trying to fit so much into a short runtime is tough, and in a way, I find that they accomplished this well.
With the extended cut of the film on the way, I imagine much more development to each of these characters will be added, in the form of scenes between each new character's entrance into the film.
ACT 3
The Blood Axes are the final group to join this band of people, and with their help, they are ready.
Before heading back to their home-world, Kai says he needs to drop off a shipment, and once that's done he's free to join their cause and become more than a chauffeur.
The Twist
Kai - who put forward the idea of collecting all of the other people - betrays them, and they are all captured by the villain of the movie.
They all have a price on their head, especially Kora, and will not only give Kai a large payday but will also act as the vessel for the promotion of the antagonist.
I didn't see this twist coming, and it really got me, because I liked his character.
There is a breakout, a fight - which is a pretty good spectacle - and the antagonist is defeated. Everyone goes home, but in the final scene, it is revealed that the antagonist served.
I was happy about this because I think for a multipart film series, it's better to keep the same antagonist throughout, as opposed to introducing a new one with each new film.
The Storyline
I don't think the story is bad. It does its job, which is to set up these characters, and the larger conflict of the series, while also introducing us to a new world.
There were many moments where I wanted to know more, to dig a little deeper, but due to their runtime, it was best for the creators to just move on. It raised a lot of intrigue though, and if there were novels, comics, or even games set in this world I'd check them out.
The film does a lot right, and while certain things could have been handled better, I don't think there is a whole lot to fault. It piqued my interest in this new franchise, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of the next installments.