REBEL MOON
PART TWO
THE SCARGIVER
The Magnificent Space Samurai, now fully assembled, return to the farming moon of VELDT to celebrate their victory over the evil ADMIRAL NOBLE of the MOTHERWORLD.
Noble, seemingly slain by former soldier KORA, has been resurrected by the Motherworld, and prepares to bring war to Veldt. The SCAR she GAVE him is his pride; her capture would elevate it.
With five days to prepare for Noble, the Magnificent Space Samurai train the peaceful villagers to defend their REBEL MOON from annihilation.
This is a marginal improvement over Part One. The exposition is still dense, but we have some mitigating factors this time around. Jimmy the Robot's (Anthony Hopkins) opening narration is noticeably shorter here than in Part One (for one thing, the title crawls in during the narration than just after). Our heroes narrate their backstories in a series of flashbacks which gives Snyder plenty of room to show more of his galaxy. Of these flashbacks, Kora's (Sofia Boutella) flashback is the most memorable as we see how she was thrown under the bus for Big Bad Balisarius's (Fra Free) assassination of the former Motherworld royal family. Only a few moments in these flashbacks could have been better shown, but it's a minor quibble.
It's also an improvement for its characterization. As you may recall, cyborg swordswoman Nemesis (Doona Bae) was introduced in Part One in a boss battle already in progress. She gets a few moments to establish her aloof nature, which is much more than she had previously. Private Aris (Sky Yang), the sympathetic Motherworld soldier, figures greatly into the plot as he plays double agent for Veldt. Jimmy the Robot gets his moment to shine during the final battle. The Motherworld's Slain King - whom a recent comic Christened Athander (Cary Elwes) - is truly pitiable in his last moments. Millius (E. Duffy), a character so minor I didn't mention them last time, stands out a lot more here.
Nearly half of its 123-minutes is devoted to the final battle alone. In the meantime, we get plenty of decent moments as General Titus (Djimon Hounsou) and Tarak (Staz Nair) train the Veldtians and prepare their defense. Its strongest scenes show how much our heroes have been accepted on Veldt. Meanwhile, Noble sees through their defense strategy before he even makes moonfall. It's cathartic, then, that he's legitimately taken off guard by several surprise bazooka blasts from up-close. The final battle is lengthened with false victories, false defeats, a few deaths (only one of which is tragic), and more before our heroes' triumph. That's quite a lot to take in.
What can I say about its technicals? I've reminded myself repeatedly while watching that our heroes ride not horses, but Urakis, on Veldt. The CGI used for them are that seamless. The final battle's best moments come when Kora and Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) get aboard Noble's massive flagship to take the fight to him. Let's just say it's an impressive space for a final battle. Speaking of space, its outer space imagery is beyond impressive even on a small TV screen. Tarak's home planet of Samandrai has the most alluring production and costume designs we see of the new planets. Once again, Tom Holkenborg's score perfectly accentuates its grand space opera tone.
A Child of Fire and The Scargiver were supposed to be it for Snyder's galaxy. But there's now supposed to be a few more movies on the way. The Scargiver even ends with a cliffhanger concerning the former royal family. I'm curious to see how it's resolved in, hopefully, Part Three. I'm pretty sure how it'll unfold given a minor scene in A Child of Fire, but let's hope for creativity. Both current films are still on Netflix if you want to see what I mean. You can also wait for the director's cuts for both later this year. With all due respect, I won't.
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