Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire

 Time for the much hyped Netflix sci-fi epos by Zack Snyder!

Now this movie is what the sequel series of Star Wars would have been, as it is Zack Snyder's proposal for them, which got rejected.  And the Star Wars feel shows throughout the whole movie as a result of course.

The story is set on the farmer planet of Veldt, where Kora, a former Imperial soldier, sees the Motherworld turn it's dominating and enslaving gaze on the little planet.  The sadistic admiral Atticus arrives at the planet, and opposed to her comments the settlers strike a deal which quickly backfires and would leave them starving after delivering the required quotum.  When a group of soldiers tries to rape a girl, Kora intervenes and kills them, but this forces her to leave the settlement and seek aid outside the planet.

Together with another villager and her friend Gunnar they travel to Providence spaceport, to search for the disgraced Imperial general Titus.  She reveals she had to leave the military after a coup by Balisarius, which resulted in the death of princess Issa who was under her care.  They meet the smuggler Kai who agrees to take them to Titus, together with the beast-tamer Tarak and the cybernetic swordswoman Nemesis.  Using Gunnar's trade connections with the Bloodaxes rebel group, they arrive on the planet Sharaan with Titus, who agreed to aid them after Kora swore an oath to avenge his fallen soldiers.

The rebels agree and send a small band of troops to help defend the village from the returning Imperial forces, but after they depart the population of Sharaan is massacred by Atticus for aiding rebels.  Kai however betrays them, delivering them to Atticus to claim the bounty on their heads, but is killed by Gunnar.  In the ensuing battle, Atticus is killed and the warrior band returns to Veldt, the threat seemingly eliminated.

But Atticus's body is recovered by the Motherworld, and is revived after being send to the astral plane and meet with Balisarius, who demands he brings Kora to him alive...

So okay, not that super great as the hype made it out to be, but it wasn`t a hopeless movie either despite the critics mostly negative reviews.  I think it more of a Star Wars light, and (sadly) on the same level as the Rey sequel series: generally bland, but with some sparks of cool television in it.  Curious what the sequel will bring in april...