Zack Snyder‘s new sci-fi film Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child Of Fire has been branded a “disaster” in scathing first reviews.
Part One, which will be released on Netflix on December 22, stars Sofia Boutella as fearsome warrior Kora, a stranger with a mysterious past who crash lands on a moon and begins a new life among a peaceful settlement of farmers. However, she soon becomes their only hope of survival after they find themselves entangled with a tyrannical leader.
The film also stars Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, Fra Fee and Anthony Hopkins, who plays an android on a journey of self-discovery.
Initial reviews are now circulating online, with most critics heavily criticising the film’s “incoherent” and “generic” plot.
In a one-star write-up, The Independent described Snyder’s sci-fi movie as an “incoherent shambles,” adding: “It’s a film populated by some of the Justice League Snyder Cut filmmaker’s worst impulses: a mess of imagery, some of it attempting to shock, congregated largely around the idea of what might look good in a trailer.”
The Guardian branded the film a “disaster” and criticised the lack of character development, nondescipt greenscreened locations, and “stultifyingly generic plot”.
IGN was similarly scathing, writing: “Despite a great ensemble cast, Zack Snyder’s space opera is let down by a derivative patchwork script, mediocre action sequences and a superficial story that fails to live up to its expansive promise.”
Meanwhile, in a two-star review, Empire wrote: “It’s well known that Rebel Moon was originally conceived as a Star Wars movie. Refurbished and reimagined, it now arrives as a Netflix original. But watching it, it’s clear this isn’t just Zack Snyder’s Star Wars — it’s his The Matrix, his Blade Runner, his Gladiator. It’s Vikings and Nazis and aliens and lightsabers.
“This is an exercise in throwing absolutely everything at the wall, and seeing what sticks. Unfortunately, little of it does.”
In November, Snyder revealed that the film will receive an R-rated director’s cut, which will be “a full hour longer”.
Rebel Moon: Part One – Child Of Fire arrives on Netflix on December 22. Part Two: The Scargiver will release in April of next year.