Zack Snyder offers up a stunning space opera with Rebel Moon, a first-part saga that wears many influences joyously on its sleeve while still managing to find its own place among the stars of this genre that we don't see enough of these days (Star Wars doesn't count by reason of over-saturation alone). On a small moon at the edge of the universe a clan of quiet, industrious agriculturists work hard for a simple, bountiful life until a monolithic spacecraft penetrates through through their atmosphere, bringing violence and war with it. It represents a ruthlessly dogmatic regime with eyes on conquering everything in the known cosmos and only a mysterious stranger (Sofia Boutella) living amongst them provides any hope against the eventual onslaught. This first film is a raucous recruitment montage as she leads a ragtag band of outliers across many solar systems to find others that may help their cause. Snyder builds his world with music (phenomenally emotional score by Tom Holkenborg), motion, colour and stirring passages of monologue rather than sit-down exposition. Anthony Hopkins' robot narrator provides the obligatory Galadriel opening spiel and then it's off to the races and even if everything doesn't quite make sense plot-wise, the film moving in fits and starts of slow and sped up pacing, Snyder paints with such vivid, broad strokes one can't help but be moved by the spectacle onscreen, a feast for eyes, ears and soul alike. Boutella has already proven what a strong presence she is in the action/fantasy realm and holds her own as a lead terrifically here, supported by Djimon Hounsou, reliably villainous Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Charlie Hunnam, Cleopatra Coleman, Cary Elwes and a standout Jena Malone. The isn't without some issues; it races along with such childlike lack of expository inhibitions that we aren't introduced to all of the characters languidly enough to care about them as a unit, and the story can feel a bit scattered amongst the stars in terms of coherency. But observe the style, movement (yes, there's lots of slow motion, deal with it), music and sheer atmospheric scope of this story, it's truly something breathtaking and a world to get lost in from moment to moment. That's what Snyder and excels at so much is the *moment*, the sheer cinematic bliss of one framed scenario and all the spatial dynamics requisite to capture an audience. In this moment I'm grateful for his vision, and excited for the second part of this story. Any film that references Harry Potter, Avatar, Inglorious Basterds and Chronicles Of Riddick in the same runtime while still managing to retain a soul of originality is doing something right.
