Less focused on universe-building than Part One, this second instalment of Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic instead centres around the promised clash between the rebels and the Motherworld’s forces, delivering an entertaining if unsurprising climax to the story.

Premise: After learning that Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) isn’t dead as they believed, Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her band of gathered freedom fighters led by former-general Titus (Djimon Hounsou) must prepare the small farming colony on the moon of Veldt to defend their homes against the vastly superior military forces of the Motherworld.

Review:

As discussed in my review of Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, it’s no secret that the plot of this two-movie story (hoped to be the opening instalment of an ongoing movie series) is inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (which, of course, has already formed the basis of countless re-imaginings, from The Magnificent Seven to A Bug’s Life). But whereas Part One incorporated a lot of interesting universe-building into its script, in order to set the scene and fill in the backstory while Kora (Sofia Boutella) was assembling her band of freedom fighters, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver is very much focused on paying off the long-awaited confrontation between the farmers of Veldt and the imperialist forces of the Motherworld.

As such, there are fewer surprises and fewer opportunities for exploring and developing new corners of the Rebel Moon universe in Part Two – in fact, barring flashbacks, the entire movie effectively takes place on the moon of Veldt and on Admiral Noble’s approaching dreadnought battleship. None of which is a bad thing per se – in fact, people who felt that Part One was too unfocused may prefer Part Two’s more streamlined approach to the storytelling – but it does mean that this second instalment is much more about delivering the promised ‘last stand’ between the farming colony and Noble’s forces, rather than about expanding the mythos any further.

“…the pace in the first half undermines the film’s sense of urgency…”

But that said, Zack Snyder does make you wait for the anticipated dénouement, spending the first half of this film dealing with former-General Titus’ (Djimon Hounsou) attempts to prepare the villagers for facing the overwhelming forces of the Motherworld. At the same time, it also fills in more of the backstory for the newly-arrived freedom fighters, although I must admit that most of their backstories are delivered rather inelegantly, by having them share their personal histories with each other as they’re sat around a table, like a sci-fi version of an awkward networking session.

The first half of the film also spends a surprising amount of time showing everyone harvesting the colony’s crops before the Motherworld forces arrive. Now I know that in the story, collecting the harvest is an important plot point, and I know that in real life, the filmmakers planted and harvested real crops to add to the tangibility of the farming colony set – but still, you’ll be hard pressed to name another sci-fi action film that spends quite so much screentime on pre-battle agricultural work. I also felt that by giving so much screentime to showing the villagers harvesting their crops before Noble’s dreadnought arrives, it undermined the sense of urgency to their preparations, and the sense that they were likely facing their impending deaths. If you compare this film to, say, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (which has one of modern cinema’s greatest build-ups to a ‘last stand’ against overwhelming forces), this film has none of the sense of ominous foreboding that preceded the Batlle of Helms Deep.

“…the extended final battle sequence is interested & varied…”

Thankfully, when the promised confrontation does arrive, it doesn’t disappoint. Having built the farming colony set for real, Zack Snyder is then able to ensure that a lot of the final battle was filmed practically (albeit with CGI augmentation). Sanitised CGI-based battles are rarely any competition for the tangible dirt and debris of practical explosions and stunt work, and Zack Snyder ensures that the final act maintains a feeling of groundedness, even amongst the spaceships and robots.

Credit where credit’s due, the writers also find a way to keep the extended final battle sequence interested and varied to avoid battle fatigue, and the ebbs and flows of the final act did throw up some genuine surprises here and there. That said, this is pure nonsense of the highest order, and if you’re not prepared to suspend your disbelief that a character with an axe can get the drop on a soldier with a sci-fi blaster, or if you’re going to question why a certain character waited until the most dramatic moment to do something that they could have done at any time, then this movie may not be for you.

“…only Sofia Boutella & Michiel Huisman really get the chance to expand their characters…”

With its increased focus on the action, there’s perhaps less room in Part Two for character development, although at least Djimon Hounsou gets a lot more to do here (after being little more than a cameo in Part One). That said, his character is, like almost all of the others, little more than a barely sketched out archetype, which is perhaps in keeping with the pulpy tone of the movie, but it will no doubt frustrate some viewers. Of the band of freedom fighters, only Sofia Boutella and Michiel Huisman really get any opportunity to expand their characters, while at the other end of the spectrum, it feels like we learn very little about Doona Bae‘s cybernetic swordswoman Nemesis that we didn’t already know from Part One.

Staz Nair at least gets to flesh out his character’s backstory a little more, although what we learn in Part Two arguable seems at odds with what we learned in Part One – while newcomer Elise Duffy makes an impression as Milius, the rebel fighter who joins the group at the end of Part One. Frustratingly, while ‘Jimmy’ (the robot knight voiced by Sir Anthony Hopkins) gets a bit more screentime here than in Part One, we still know very little about that character (who, more than anyone else, feels like a character that’s really just being teased here in advance of future potential instalments). Similarly, although Fra Fee returns (briefly) as the main villain, Regent Balisarius, he’s clearly an antagonist for future movies, while Ed Skrein continues to look like he’s having fun chewing the scenery as Balisarius’ underling Noble, who sees Kora as his ticket to personal advancement.

“…it’s objectively flawed, but falls into the ‘guilty pleasure’ category for me…”

Despite the film’s shortcomings (of which there are plenty), I did still have a lot of fun with this two-part story. Part One had enough interesting universe-building to make up for the somewhat derivative plot, and Part Two has enough interesting ideas throughout the extended battle sequence that it never feels entirely predictable. As a result, this two-film story definitely falls into the ‘guilty pleasure’ category for me – it's objectively flawed, but it’s something I enjoyed and will no doubt enjoy again. I’m also excited for the announced Director’s Cuts of both movies (which are due out later this year), as based on the extended versions of Zack Snyder’s previous movies (in particular Watchmen, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Zack Snyder’s Justice League), it feels safe to say that the characters, plot and impact of these films will all benefit from expanded screentime, and the additional freedoms that an R-rating would bring.

If this two-part story does lead to more Rebel Moon films, I’ll certainly be interested in watching Zack Snyder build out this universe further, away from the confines of the Seven Samuri plot structure – but if this is all we get from the Rebel Moon universe, it’ll feel like a missed opportunity ... but at least Part Two doesn’t leave any massive plot threads dangling unsatisfactorily.