April 19 on Netflix rolled out is the second part of Zack Snyder’s epic saga Rebel Moon, subtitled «The Scargiver». The first film quite rightly received a huge amount of angry feedback from viewers and critics due to its blatant secondary nature and general unpretentiousness, so hardly anyone seriously had high expectations for the second one. Nevertheless, the film is reaching the audience, and we are ready to tell you whether Snyder should expect a new wave of hate, or whether the project is improving the situation compared to what we saw in December.
Genre space opera
Director Zack Snyder
Starring Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Stuart Martin, Anthony Hopkins (voice acting)
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
After the star-studded team of brave warriors has gathered and Cora has defeated the main contender for the «Hairstyle of the Year» title, Nazi Admiral Atticus Noble, all this good company has arrived in a long-suffering village on the planet Veldt. Meanwhile, in the best comic book tradition, the imperial doctors manage to bring the evil commander back to life, and as soon as he is back on his feet, he immediately gives the order to fly to Veldt.
They are already harvesting grain and preparing to meet the enemy army. But the main thing is that «The One Who Leaves Scars» is ready for the second round of the confrontation. So, get ready for the most pretentious and epic battle for the harvest in the history of cinema.
You can safely skip the entire first half of the movie without a guilty conscience. The first half hour is more like a commercial for vodka «Bread Gift» or some kind of beer than a space opera prologue before a decisive battle. You won’t see such epic shots of abundant wheat, agricultural routine in general, and bags of grain stacked nicely in a barn anywhere else.
We also need to mention the confessional monologues of the main characters, whose backstory boils down to one thing: everyone lived happily ever after and knew no grief until a bloodthirsty empire came to their house and burned everything to the ground. Try to guess what visual technique the director uses in these flashbacks.
The harvest culminates in a cappella singing by, somewhat unexpectedly, Djimon Hounsou. He did not allow himself to do this even in last year’s «Shazam» — the lighthearted $100 million Skittles ad, in which there is no trace of the Snyder’s dark DC universe.
But that universe is now history, and now the director has begun to build a new one, although given the first two films, his idea looks very dubious. In the text reviews in the previous one, I honestly reported on its many shortcomings, but from the point of view of evaluation, I was too compromising towards Snyder’s creation. Well, after watching the sequel, I must admit that I was wrong.
The essence of the second part of the film, which is entirely devoted to the irreconcilable confrontation between the peasants and the local Nazis, boils down to a storyline in the spirit of «the empire strikes back».
It is noticeable that a lot of money was thrown into this obscenely loud performance, but they forgot to bring an adequate production idea, not to mention any freshness. That is, it is not particularly interesting to watch for an hour or so how one-dimensional dummies on pathos, with a shrill soundtrack (attention, read in an unnaturally low tone). A lot of clumsy, incapable extras are not particularly interesting.
Each of the seven samurai will get their moment of glory. The warrior Nemesis with two lightsabers in hand will be remembered for her lackluster lightsaber combat, but she will look insecure in portraying her rage toward the enemy. In this aspect, it can take a few lessons from our Ivanna Sakhno. The local Conan the Barbarian will take on the soldiers with blasters with an axe and, again, surprisingly, will be successful. The peasant Dan will take on the admiral himself, but neither his outstanding muscles nor Hugh Jackman’s looks will help him.
Among all these useless and uninteresting chases, the main character Cora will stand out. In addition to the fact that she decided to compete with the villain for «Hairstyle of the Year», the most interesting moments will take place with her participation, including a very decent action scene in one of the corridors of the enemy ship, filmed in motion (was it possible?).
Unfortunately, the sporadic hints of something really exciting are buried in the nonsense. «The Scargiver» probably again lead some new Netflix tops and at the same time collect a bunch of negative reviews from disappointed reviewers. Brain slamming won out over common sense. Zack Snyder has left another scar on the hearts of his ardent fans. Under such circumstances, this movie would have had every chance of failing at the box office. But Netflix is a truly Sucker Punch.
