Shame on me for thinking this would be an improvement over the first Rebel Moon. Shame on me for thinking all the clunky exposition in Part One would allow for a more focused and eventful sequel. Shame on me for watching this movie, and contributing to the viewership numbers.
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver plays like a greatest hits of Zack Snyder’s worst qualities. His signature visual flair is cranked up to the max, making this feel more like a spoof of his own work than a coherent film. It’s another two hour exposition dump with a few big action set pieces thrown in. This is style over substance to the point where it no longer makes sense. As long as it looks pretty, there doesn’t need to be logic or consistency with plot and character development.
Speaking of characters, it’s pretty obviously Snyder doesn’t have a clue on how to properly develop them within the context of the story. Instead, 90% of the “character development” comes through painfully forced exposition. Seriously, there’s a 15 minute scene where the heroes sit around a fire, taking turns exposition dumping their backstories onto each other. In another scene, a villager presents each of them handmade tapestries that have their character traits sewn onto them, and then proceeds to tell the audience why they possess those traits. It’s so incredibly lazy, and as a result, nothing they do feels earned, nor does it land with any sort of emotional weight.
I don’t think anyone is going to disagree when I say Snyder is very much a visual storyteller. It’s often enough to compensate for lacklustre writing, but there’s no amount of visual polish than can overcome the nonsensical choices made here. For as visually striking as the film looks at times, there is no rhyme or reason for the absolute abuse of slow motion. There’s a whole sequence of slow motion wheat harvesting, complete with someone picking up a handful of loose grain and blowing it into the air. This is beyond self-indulgent. The slo-mo is no longer a unique visual trademark. It’s a directorial crutch that’s worn out it’s welcome.
Rebel Moon - Part Two finds Zack Snyder rummaging through his same old bag of tricks. The problem is, not only have we seen this all before, but there’s no moderation with it this time. The laughable overuse of slow motion, the generic mess of borrowed science fiction tropes and quite possibly the dullest collection of characters in the galaxy amount to a new low for Snyder.
1/5