Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child Of Fire

Instead of establishing and repeating the same flavor, we are presented with a sci-fi-tasting menu of increasing complexity. With each recruited warrior, a new event or adventure is partaken that alters the feel generated. I realized deeply that it took nearly 40 minutes to kick in because the pastoral sequence needed to establish its serenity so that shattering it fully actually matters. It also shows exactly how oppressive living under the bad guys is and why people would rebel in the first place, which was missing from the original Star Wars film and wasn’t shown until the holiday special. Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child Of Fire outdoes itself in the post-finale scenes, where the level of visual trippiness busts straight out the top of the psychedelic thermometer. This allows the movie to rise to genuine operatic heights instead of starting at maximum loudness with nowhere to go.

So no, Snyder is not out to reinvent the Star Wars space burger that everyone has been scarfing down since 1977. There seem to be a lot of ingredients from Lucas’s recipe kept in on purpose to mislead the viewer. By playing on everyone’s expectations from the obvious references to Star Wars, Snyder is able to subvert those expectations in drastically different directions. The parallels between Kora and Luke Skywalker are drawn and redrawn to make the movie’s true direction less apparent. The British accented robot Jimmy, voiced by Anthony Hopkins, is supposed to remind you of CP3O on purpose. That way the bonkers direction of the development of the robot’s role seems extra zesty and unexpected. There are even pop culture jabs that seem to crop up in places. When we first saw Charlie Hunnam’s Kai wearing a hood, I had to squint to convince myself that I wasn’t looking at Jim Starlin’s comic creation, Vanith Dreadstar, finally being brought to the big screen. Even the famous huge ship flying through space opening of Star Wars is alluded to and subverted with the graphic image of a vulva-like opening in space that a long, tubular ship passes through. Now you get to see how that big baby from 2001: A Space Odyssey was conceived.

Rebel Moon. (L-R) Doona Bae as Nemesis and Jena Malone as Harmada in Rebel Moon. Cr. NETFLIX ©2023

“With each recruited warrior, a new event or adventure is partaken that alters the feel generated.”

We would have to go back to 1980’s Battle Beyond The Stars to find another Star Wars paraphrase remake that uses its derivations in such a strategic method. I was on board and ready for more by the time it was over. This triple bacon space burger is so big and juicy they had to cut it in two. What I am looking forward to are the spicier patties in the forthcoming R-rated cut, teased as having almost an entirely different storyline due to the context of the greasy parts.

Whether this will drive the sci-fi further into a desirable Heavy Metal: The Movie edginess remains to be seen; however, with the two different cuts, you get to have your cake and f**k it too. Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child Of Fire is going to be watched by everybody everywhere anyway, but if you find yourself going into hyperspace over it, know it was by design.