After watching Rebel Moon: Part 2, I can honestly say that both of Zack Snyder’s films would have been better as Star Wars movies. That isn’t to say that they’re not fun movies which would be great on the big screen, but it’s a shame that we don’t get to see this story as  Star Wars films when they were meant to be a Star Wars story. Part two is the exciting conclusion to Zack Snyder’s Space Opera and while I enjoyed it, it feels like an over-inflated third act to what should have been a 3-hour movie instead of two separate films.  If you read my previous review, then you know that these films are essentially the Star Wars version of The Magnificent Seven or Seven Samurai. There’s nothing wrong with that, those are common themes in stories! But this particular story didn’t need to be 4 hours, you could have told it in a 3-hour film where it doesn’t feel like anything slows down until the end. That is probably my biggest complaint about Part 2. Unfortunately, it takes a good hour to finally kick into high gear and be a good movie and I’ll touch on that later.

I certainly liked Part 1 than Part 2, but Part 2 has a lot of great action and Sophia Boutella absolutely shines as Kora, the Scargiver. She pretty much makes this movie and it will leave you wanting to see her kick more ass in future movies.  Who knows if we will get a third film to round out the trilogy, but I think Netflix should make it just so we can get to see more of her character. What works for part two are the action scenes in the third act. Defending the village is intense and when they storm the dreadnought, it leaves you on the edge of your seat even with quasi-fake lightsabers. Yeah, it’s not very exciting to watch those scenes when clearly you understand that it should have been a Star Wars movie with Jedi coming out of hiding and having awesome lightsaber duels. Still, we’ll blame Disney for passing on this film more than Netflix or Zack Snyder because it was clear what he wanted to do with this story and like I said it would have been a much better Star Wars story. Defending the village and taking down the bad guys is what really makes this movie worth watching. Yes, there’s more backstory. We finally learned why she is a wanted fugitive and went into hiding. It makes Kora more sympathetic and as an audience easy to connect with her. However, Part 2 isn’t so much as a standalone movie as just the Final act of a larger story. I enjoyed the action and the chemistry between the characters, but it did take too long to get there.

If you know me and my reviews, I’ve always said that two things can really ruin a movie, pacing and the editing. Sometimes you need a longer movie to tell an incredible story. I always use Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven as a shining example. That’s a movie that needed to be over 3 hours. And then there are movies like Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman or Killers of the Flowers Moon which could have easily been told in two and a half hours. Rebel Moon as a whole doesn’t need to be a 4-Hour movie. 3 hours would have been perfect because this is a story that’s mainly about the action. There should be world-building so that we understand the world that the characters live in. We should certainly have flashback scenes that explain how all the characters ended up where they are especially the warriors coming together. But a good hour could have been cut out of the second movie to tell a really simple story about defending a farm after the main warrior goes across the galaxy to find warriors to help in her endeavor. If we put both of these movies together and if this story is four acts then the third act needs to be deleted. You can do some flashback scenes and have some nice moments when I get back to the farm and start to build up the defenses. But there’s just too much of a lull in the first half of this movie before we get to anything good, especially if you’re setting this story up to be a trilogy. So yes my biggest gripe is pacing and editing. I loved the first part. It had the right amount of action and pacing to set up the story for an awesome final act which would have been Part 2. It’s just this movie didn’t need to be 2 hours. A 3-hour movie  combining Part 1 and 2 would have been perfect!

Part 2 has a lot of great performances, and the action is incredible, but it’s not good enough to make a great movie. You don’t have a great movie when it feels too long and boredom starts to set in early. That’s why sometimes you can tell the perfect story in 90 minutes. One of my favorite movies is Michael Mann’s,  Heat, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. It’s essentially a 3-hour movie where the first two acts are all about building up suspense through the investigation and then halfway through it you have this great dramatic scene where the cop and the robber have coffee and connect before the real action takes off. You have a moment to pause before the final act is filled with action all the way until the end. The pacing is perfect, there’s not too much in the film and there’s not less. You get everything you need through the investigation with the good through the investigation and then the climax that’s filled with just the right amount of action and suspense leaving the audience wondering, will the bad guys get away with it and escape I will the main cop get his man. Through all the great performances the action and the final act, it’s not enough to make this a wonderful movie. It’s adequate at best and maybe there’ll be an edited version that makes it just a three-hour movie where there’s no lull or boredom with the characters. Zack Snyder made a wonderful space opera that should have been a Star Wars movie and although he didn’t get a chance to make one, only something like it that feels familiar, the biggest flaw is the story is too long. I’m not as critical regarding the story feeling familiar or having common themes that we’ve seen in other science fiction movies. It’s going to happen and I can’t fault Zack Snyder for making a Star Wars-like movie when this movie should have been a Star Wars movie at Disney. And if it does have one thing going for it, it’s still a better story than the sequel trilogy. But I have to give Rebel Moon: Part 2 a 6.  The last half of the movie is great, the first half not so much so the movie as a whole is just adequate. However, setting the story up for our characters to go off on another adventure, I’m all for it,  and I think Netflix should make the third movie. After all, if we’re going to get a third Dune movie, why not a third Rebel Moon movie to complete the trilogy? Is Rebel Moon part 2 worth watching, absolutely, you just have to get over your boredom in the first hour of the movie,  but the action in the final act makes it worth it.