Unfortunately for movie lovers, Rebel Moon continues a disappointing 2023 sci-fi trend — though 2024 seems poised to fix the issue at hand. Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, director and co-writer Zack Snyder’s space opera brain-child, debuted on Netflix to dismal reviews from critics and audiences alike. Not only is the film over-stuffed with slow-motion battles and bogged down by derivative storytelling choices, but Netflix’s Rebel Moon is blurry. Snyder’s stylish-to-a-fault visuals match the rest of the mess. Given the lack of sci-fi blockbusters based on original stories (and not pre-existing IP), it’s an even bigger letdown.
In Rebel Moon‘s first outing, ex-soldier Kora (Sofia Boutella) turns against the imperialistic, galaxy-ruling Motherworld and its army, the Imperium. By gathering together a rag-tag group of rebels who want to save a farming colony on the moon of Veldt from Imperium-caused extinction, Rebel Moon‘s Kora becomes Snyder’s Star Wars-inspired hero. Since the director originally pitched the now-Rebel Moon as a more mature, darker Star Wars spin-off, the similarities aren’t all that surprising. Cobbled together from bits of far superior films, Rebel Moon is a Star-Wars-meets-Seven-Samurai mood board. However, its failure could have much further-reaching implications.
Rebel Moon & The Creator Made Similar Sci-Fi Mistakes
To make matters worse, Rebel Moon isn’t the only original science-fiction epic to fumble its execution in 2023. Director Gareth Edwards received tons of much-deserved praise for Rogue One, the immediate prequel to 1977’s first Star Wars film that painted the rebellion in a more realistic, gritty light. Of course, Edwards was also the filmmaker behind the well-received 2014 Godzilla reboot. That said, his track record for creating compelling spins on pre-established franchises is solid. Unfortunately, Edwards’ stab at an original sci-fi feature, The Creator, initially bombed at the box office. In fact, The Creator‘s best feature was its brand-new world.
In Hollywood, it’s challenging to get anything green-lit — let alone a completely original concept. In the age of cinematic universes and sprawling franchises built on tried-and-true IP, like Marvel and Star Wars, it’s even rarer to see an original genre film given a blockbuster-movie budget. However, Gareth Edwards’ past films inspired confidence, making space for The Creator. Set in 2070, The Creator sees humans engaged in a deadly war against artificial intelligence. Joshua (John David Washington), a former special forces agent, is tasked with hunting down the titular being and their enigmatic, war-ending weapon. Much like Rebel Moon, however, The Creator is dishearteningly derivative.
Rebel Moon & The Creator’s Problems May Get In The Way Of Future Original Sci-Fi Blockbusters
Despite being unoriginal, The Creator‘s reviews were largely positive, thanks to the film’s impressive visuals and thrilling action set-pieces. Even so, the lack of unanimous critical acclaim impacted the movie’s opening weekend performance at the box office — and there was a lot riding on that success. That is, if a big-budget, original idea like The Creator soared, it would help pave the way for other brand-new sci-fi features to get made. While Rebel Moon‘s reviews are overwhelmingly negative, it’s holding steady in Netflix’s top 10. For different reasons, neither original sci-fi film is a shining beacon of hope for the future of the genre.
It’s great to see original ideas secure massive budgets, but when the green-lit features feel like stale amalgamations of other genre hits, it creates a worrying trend for sci-fi films. While some may feel that Rebel Moon‘s familiar plot was the point of the film, there’s a difference between using a genre’s well-established tropes to further an original idea and fully leaning on those tropes to tell a story that’s all-too familiar. With lackluster returns at the box office for The Creator and a bevy of atrocious reviews for Rebel Moon, studios may be less willing to take risks on original sci-fi projects going forward.
2024’s Big Sci-Fi Releases Could Turn Things Around For The Genre
The good news? Rebel Moon might not completely derail the future of original sci-fi films in Hollywood and beyond. In fact, some of 2024’s biggest sci-fi releases could turn things around for the beloved, enduring genre. For starters, Bong Joon-Ho’s highly anticipated sci-fi film, Mickey 17, looks like a fresh entry in the well-worn genre. Given that the Oscar-winning director has crafted other hit science-fiction films, like Snowpiercer, Mickey 17 holds a lot of promise. It’s true that 2024’s most exciting sci-fi movie is based on a novel, but the source material, Mickey7, doesn’t have the kind of reach of, say, Dune.
