Introduction

Rebel Moon (also known as Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire) is a 2023 American space opera film directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten, based on a story Snyder conceived.

Its ensemble cast features Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Charlie Hunnam and Anthony Hopkins. It is set in a fictional galaxy ruled by the Motherworld, whose military, the Imperium, threatens a farming colony on the moon Veldt. Kora, a former Imperium soldier, ventures on a quest to recruit warriors from across the galaxy to make a stand against the Imperium before they return to Veldt.

Following a brief limited theatrical release, Rebel Moon was released by Netflix on 21 December 2023. It received negative reviews from film critics. An extended cut is set for release in early 2024, and a sequel, Rebel Moon, Part Two – The Scargiver, is scheduled for release on 19 April 2024.

Outline

The Motherworld is the militaristic empire of its galaxy fuelled by centuries of conquest and war, through soldiers under its infantry, the Imperium. The current king welcomes a daughter, Princess Issa, who possesses a rare gift of healing and resurrection. Her power is taken as a sign of redemption for the Motherworld, as the royal family has grown weary of conflict and hopes that Issa will unify the empire not through force but through compassion. Instead, Issa and her parents are publicly assassinated during her coronation, and Balisarius, a prominent senator, declares himself Regent and renews the empire’s conquests with the support of Admiral Atticus Noble, a sadistic military leader.

On the independent moon of Veldt, Noble and his men arrive and insist that Father Sindri, a local village chieftain, sell them grain to replenish their food stocks as they hunt for a band of rebels led by the Bloodaxes. Gunnar, an ambitious farmer, disagrees with Sindri’s refusal to deal with Noble; Noble then beats Sindri to death and orders Gunnar to prepare all of the village’s grain before he returns in ten weeks. One of the villagers, Kora, packs her things to leave, but when she sees Imperium soldiers attempting to rape Sam, a young woman, she, along with Private Aris, an Imperium soldier who is disheartened by the practices of his superiors, confronts and kills them. Kora tells the villagers that Noble will massacre the village once he returns and gets what he wants.

She recruits Gunnar, who has a source that can reach the Bloodaxe rebellion, so that they can recruit them for their cause of fighting Noble. During their journey, she reveals to Gunnar that she once served the Imperium as a soldier, having been taken and brought up by Balisarius, who killed her family and destroyed her home planet. The next day, Kora and Gunnar depart for the Port City of Providence, a nearby port town, to assemble a band of warriors and defend Veldt against Noble’s fleet. They first recruit Kai, a smuggler and criminal. He takes them to two additional warriors, Tarak (a tamer of beasts) and Nemesis (a talented cyborg swordswoman). Kora ventures with the team to a remote moon to recruit Titus, a disgraced Imperium commander reduced to prize fighting. Gunnar learns from Kora that she feels a sense of guilt for Issa’s death as she once served as the princess’s bodyguard.

Knowing that they cannot defend against Noble’s ship, the King’s Gaze, the warriors use Gunnar’s previous dealings with the Bloodaxe rebellion to meet their leaders, siblings Darrian and Devra, and request the use of their starfighters. Darrian and half the clan agree to help, but Devra, who considers such a fight hopeless and a waste of their resources, retreats with the other half to safety. Under the pretence of offloading the last of his illicit goods to start a new life, Kai takes the group to a trading post, but captures them as Noble’s ship arrives, revealing he had always intended to betray them for the bounties on their heads. Noble reveals Kora’s true name as Arthelais. Gunnar kills Kai and frees the group, and Darrian and many of his troops are killed. Kora fights Noble, throwing him off the post’s high platform, and the surviving warriors return to Veldt together.

Heavily injured but alive, Noble is recovered by Motherworld forces and revived after having spoken on an astral plane with Balisarius, who demands that Noble end the insurgency against him and bring Kora to him alive so he can execute her himself.

Cast

• Sofia Boutella as Kora, a former Imperium soldier who rallies warriors from across the galaxy to fight against the Motherworld
• Djimon Hounsou as Titus, a former general of the Imperium recruited to lead the fight against the Motherworld
• Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble, an admiral and Balisarius’ right-hand man
• Michiel Huisman as Gunnar, a farmer and friend of Kora who joins her in her attempts to defend his homeworld, Veldt
• Doona Bae as Nemesis, a cyborg swordmaster
• Ray Fisher as Darrian Bloodaxe, a warrior and Devra’s brother recruited by Kora
• Charlie Hunnam as Kai, a mercenary and starship pilot hired by Kora
• Anthony Hopkins as the voice of Jimmy, the last member of a race of mechanical knights
• Dustin Ceithamer as the body-double on set of Jimmy
• Staz Nair as Tarak, a nobleman-turned-blacksmith with the ability to bond with animals of nature
• Fra Fee as Balisarius, a tyrant and Kora’s adoptive father who seized control of the Motherworld
• Cleopatra Coleman as Devra, Darrian’s sister and the leader of the Bloodaxe rebellion
• Stuart Martin as Den, a local farmer, hunter and love interest to Kora
• Ingvar Sigurdsson as Hagen, a friend of Kora who helped her rebuild her life after she abandoned the Imperium
• Alfonso Herrera as Cassius, Noble’s team warrior
• Cary Elwes as the King
• Rhian Rees as the Queen
• E. Duffy as Millius, a rebel fighter under Devra’s command. The character, like Duffy, is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
• Jena Malone as Harmada, a humanoid alien with spider-like features
• Sky Yang as Aris, a young Motherworld soldier who stands up against his comrades’ brutality
• Charlotte Maggi as Sam, a farm girl who warmly welcomes any outsiders that come to her village
• Corey Stoll as Sindri, a village chief of Veldt
• Stella Grace Fitzgerald as Princess Issa
• Greg Kriek as Marcus
• Brandon Auret as Faunus
• Ray Porter as Hickman, a farmer whom Tarak is indebted to
• Tony Amendola as King Levitica, an alien king who shelters the Bloodaxes
• Dominic Burgess as Dash Thif
• Derek Mears as Simeon
• Sisse Marie as Astrid

Production

Rebel Moon is inspired by the works of Akira Kurosawa, the Star Wars films and Heavy Metal magazines; its logo is an homage to the latter. Johnstad and Snyder first started talking about creating the film in 1997. The project began development as a Star Wars film that Snyder had pitched to Lucasfilm, shortly after the sale of Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. This pitch was to be a more mature take on the Star Wars universe. Snyder also pitched the idea as both a video game and a film to Warner Bros. Pictures “a couple of times”. The project was later redeveloped by producer Eric Newman and Snyder, first as an original television series, before settling on a film by Netflix.

Casting

Sofia Boutella’s casting in the lead role was announced in November 2021. Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Ray Fisher, Jena Malone, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Stuart Martin, and Rupert Friend joined the project in February 2022. Fisher first became aware of the project around 2019 or 2020 back when Snyder planned it to be a TV show, being shown whiteboards and showing his interest when Snyder explained that those were for a “little space thing” he was working on. Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Michiel Huisman and Alfonso Herrera joined the cast in April 2022. On 16 May 2022, it was announced that Ed Skrein had replaced Friend as the film’s main antagonist due to scheduling conflicts, with Cleopatra Coleman, Fra Fee and Rhian Rees joining the project. On 08 June 2022, it was announced that Anthony Hopkins had joined the cast as the voice of Jimmy, an impossibly sentient JC1435 mechanised battle robot and one-time defender of the slain king.

Filming

Filming commenced on 19 April 2022, with Snyder sharing the first images from the set on Twitter that day. Snyder also served as cinematographer. It ran until 02 December, with 152 days of filming taking place in California, to tap into $83 million in qualified spending and tax incentives. Stuart Martin, Cary Elwes, Rhian Rees and Ray Porter acted out and recorded the film’s script for Snyder to listen to while preparing the day’s shoot; they appear in the film as Den, The King, The Queen, and Hickman, respectively.

Post-Production

The titles for the two parts are reported to be Part One: A Child of Fire and Part Two: The Scargiver, according to teaser trailers released at Gamescom in August 2023.

Music

The score was composed by Tom Holkenborg, who has previously contributed to the score for the Snyder-directed Man of Steel (2013) and scored Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) alongside Hans Zimmer, in addition to scoring Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Army of the Dead (both 2021) as well the Snyder-produced 300: Rise of an Empire (2014).

Release

Rebel Moon had a limited theatrical release on 70 mm film in four major cities: Los Angeles (Egyptian Theatre), New York (Paris Theatre), Toronto (TIFF Bell Lightbox), and London (Prince Charles Cinema) on 15 December 2023, before its streaming debut on 21 December 2023, by Netflix. Snyder announced plans to issue an R-rated extended cut, set to release before The Scargiver, in addition to its original PG-13-rated cut.

Trivia

• Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman and Anthony Daniels were considered to play Jimmy the Robot until Sir Anthony Hopkins was chosen.
• In addition to Star Wars, and Seven Samurai, the film also borrows elements of Warhammer 40,000.
  • The use of Latin names for imperial/royal institutions, the design of weapons and vehicles, and the quasi-religious elements.
• The film’s logo is a direct homage to the logo of the sci-fi and fantasy magazine Heavy Metal.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Zack Snyder
• Producer(s):
  • Sarah Bowen … executive producer
  • Misha Bukowski … co-producer
  • Wesley Coller … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
  • Shay Hatten … executive producer
  • Kurt Johnstad … executive producer
  • Teresa Kelly … associate producer
  • Eric Newman … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
  • Deborah Snyder … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
  • Zack Snyder … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
  • Bergen Swanson … executive producer
• Writer(s):
  • Zack Snyder … (screenplay by)
  • Kurt Johnstad … (screenplay by)
  • Shay Hatten … (screenplay by)
  • Zack Snyder … (story by)
• Music:
  • Tom Holkenborg
• Cinematography:
  • Zack Snyder … director of photography
• Editor(s):
  • Dody Dorn
• Production:
  • Grand Electric
  • The Stone Quarry
• Distributor(s):
  • Netflix
• Release Date: 15 December 2023 (limited release).
• Running Time: 133 minutes.
• Rating: 15.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)