Movie · 2023 · Science Fiction, Action, Adventure · 2h 14m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 0.3/10 (332.5K ratings)
There are no heroes. Only rebels.
Overview
When the ruthless forces of the Motherworld threaten a quiet farming village on a distant moon, a mysterious outsider becomes its best hope for survival.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.3/10
IMDb: 5.6/10
Letterboxd: 2.03/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 22%
Metacritic: 31
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Zack Snyder
Production
The Stone Quarry, Grand Electric
Cast
Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Bae Doona, Ray Fisher, Charlie Hunnam, Anthony Hopkins, Staz Nair, Fra Fee, Cleopatra Coleman, Stuart Martin, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, Alfonso Herrera, Cary Elwes, Rhian Rees, Elise Duffy, Jena Malone, Sky Yang, Charlotte Maggi
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually aggressive but dramatically thin space opera that feels assembled from familiar sci-fi and fantasy parts without enough character, momentum, or originality to justify its runtime. It has occasional striking imagery and a few committed performances, but the derivative plotting and constant slow-motion sap the energy out of the action.
Best for
Zack Snyder completists
viewers who enjoy grim, mythic sci-fi worlds more than character-driven storytelling
fans of glossy, high-contrast visual style over narrative coherence
Skip if
you want a self-contained story with clear emotional stakes
you’re tired of derivative franchise-building and exposition-heavy worldbuilding
slow-motion spectacle and hollow archetypes are a turnoff
Overview
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is the kind of blockbuster that arrives already burdened by its own mythology. It wants to feel like the opening chapter of a grand space fantasy, but most of what’s on screen is borrowed texture: farmstead rebellion, ragtag recruits, imperial menace, and a chosen outsider whose backstory is more implied than earned.
Worth noting
Zack Snyder’s visual instincts are still intact, and the film occasionally lands on a striking image or a pleasingly alien design. But the pacing is glacial, the dialogue is blunt, and the action is repeatedly drained by overuse of slow motion. Instead of building momentum, the movie keeps pausing to admire its own surfaces.
Bottom line
There are hints of a larger, more interesting saga here, yet this installment mostly functions as a trailer for a better movie that never quite arrives. If you like your sci-fi pulpy, propulsive, and emotionally legible, this is likely to feel like a slog. If you’re here for ornate gloom and mythic posturing, you may find enough to admire in the wreckage.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Alivia Marie (1.5★) · 6018 likes
Zack Snyder does it again (derogatory)
davidehrlich (1★) · 2985 likes
From his fresh and inspired “The Dawn of the Dead” remake to his panel-for-panel adaptation of “300” and the fetishistic pastiche that he packed into his “Sucker Punch,” Zack Snyder has always been as much of a cover artist as he is an iconoclast. To his fans, Snyder is a sacred defender of the seriousness that Hollywood used to strip-mine from the geek culture it mulched into mass entertainment. To his critics, he’s blockbuster cinema’s first example of the A.I.… more From his fresh and inspired “The Dawn of the Dead” remake to his panel-for-panel adaptation of “300” and the fetishistic pastiche that he packed into his “Sucker Punch,” Zack Snyder has always been as much of a cover artist as he is an iconoclast. To his fans, Snyder is a sacred defender of the seriousness that Hollywood used to strip-mine from the geek culture it mulched into mass entertainment. To his critics, he’s blockbuster cinema’s first example of the A.I.… more
Sean Fennessey (1.5★) · 2212 likes
I really should know better.
Dean Dobbs (0.5★) · 1916 likes
Zach Snyder seems like a nice guy, so why is he doing this to us?
hunter (1.5★) · 1583 likes
finally, a film for people who like Star Wars (1977) but also hate having fun
1994 · Action, Adventure, Science Fiction · 2h 1m · PG-13 · Curator 3.2/10 (100.6K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A more straightforward adventure about crossing into an alien civilization and sparking rebellion.
2005 · Science Fiction, Action, Adventure · 1h 59m · PG-13 · Curator 6.2/10 (409.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A strong fit for the ragtag-rebels-against-an-empire setup, with better character chemistry.