Zack Snyder’s most basic impulses as a filmmaker seem to revolve around one guiding principle: make the coolest-looking image at any given moment. This is part of what makes him a filmmaker that audiences flock towards (and that’s all I’ll say about his fans in this review). But it’s what makes him so often frustrating, because his instinct for visual flair comes at the expense of thought-provoking storytelling. Though the bulk of Snyder’s films come as comic book and graphic novel adaptations, could he fare any better when making a wholly original work with the backing of Netflix?

In the case of the stupidly titled Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, the answer is a resounding “no.” Snyder’s made no secret of his desire to make his own Star Wars property, but the execs at Lucasfilm smartly passed. Thus, we have Netflix’s Rebel Moon – the second part of which will threateningly loom over our heads until April 2024.

To be fair, the film isn’t a straightforward rip-off of Star Wars – though there is a scene where the heroes waltz into a space cantina full of weirdo aliens in search of a ship. There’s also a straight-talking android voiced by Anthony Hopkins. The story itself is original enough: the universe is fractured after the murder of the King, Queen, and their daughter. Somehow factoring into all of this is Kora (Sofia Boutella), a refugee on a farming planet that’s threatened by the evil empire. She’s forced to go across the galaxy to recruit an army to help defeat the invaders, and the film hops around from planet to planet as the ragtag crew grows.

But don’t ask me to go in-depth on any of the characters beyond physical descriptors, because I don’t think even screenwriters Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, or Shay Hatten could either. The film tends to jump around from scene to scene, barely introducing a new environment or character before diving into an obligatory action sequence. Yes, these action sequences look cool, with fun and frenetic fight choreography, but never does the film give us a reason to root for or against anyone. And the film is populated with creatures, costumes, weapons and sets that look cool, but here I sit only a few hours after it ended, and I struggle to remember anything beyond how they look.

I struggled even harder to understand exactly what the point of the film is from moment to moment. For as much as A Child of Fire is indebted to Star Wars, Seven Samurai, and an endless grab-bag of sci-fi tropes, those films at least had a story that was easy enough to follow. This film doesn’t follow the Hero’s Journey, or a redemption arc, nor does it raise any in-depth topics like grief or bravery. Though it very well could, but the dialogue is universally vague and hyper-focused on nonsensical lore. Oh, and don’t forget that this is technically the first half of a two part saga, so don’t expect any kind of character resolution whatsoever when the credits roll.

Seeing the film on a big screen doesn’t improve the visuals either. As with his last film, the just-as-dumb but tolerable Army of the Dead, Snyder serves as his own cinematographer. And just like in that film, Rebel Moon looks like it was shot on portrait mode with an iPhone. Too often, the focal point is out of focus because of the incredibly shallow depth of field – I heard several comments after leaving the theater asking if there was a projection issue, or if the film was supposed to look that way.

Snyder’s most infamous flop, and a healthy dose of online bullying, led to the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021 (a.k.a. the “Snyder Cut”) which was less a great version of the same film, but a more cohesive one. Perhaps the rumored director’s cut of A Child of Fire will provide the same improvements; it’s hard to watch the film and not feel as if several scenes were missing entirely. Original sci-fi will never not be exciting, especially when it’s on a scale as grand as this. But when it’s original sci-fi made by Zack Snyder, it becomes much less exciting.

Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire will premiere on Netflix on December 21.

OSCAR POTENTIAL:

• Unfortunately, I would not be surprised if the film shows up on the Oscar shortlist for Visual Effects. But that is this film’s only hope. (See what I did there?)