‘Rebel Moon — Part One: Child of Fire’ Review: Galaxy Brained

Oddly, for a movie that’s rated PG-13 and often plays like a young-adult fantasy, Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” features at least two attempted sexual assaults and a queasily erotic encounter between a shirtless man and a many-tentacled alien. The film’s most thorough violation, though, is of its cinematic bloodline: To call “Rebel Moon” a “Star Wars” pastiche — with a dash of “Dune,” a lick of “Lord of the Rings” and a whole heap of “Seven Samurai”— is both glaringly accurate and somewhat redundant. In today’s fantasy-verse, derivativeness is virtually a given. Snyder has long been open about his influences, and has been imagining this crossbreeding of mythologies since he was in college.

Somewhere in a galaxy (you know how far) floats a peaceful planet called Veldt where burlap-clad villagers till the soil and mind their own business. A fascistic empire known as the Motherworld has other ideas, sending its representative, Admiral Atticus Noble (a scenery-scarfing Ed Skrein), to demand grain for its army. Brazenly channeling Ralph Fiennes’ character from “Schindler’s List” (1993), Atticus sports bowl-cut bangs, an S.S.-style uniform and a really big stick; so after he promises to return and slaughter the villagers if grain is not forthcoming, finding a savior is on top of everyone’s to-do list.

Enter Kora (Sofia Boutella) a mysterious outsider with a secret past, an ultraflexible spine and an expression that splits the difference between ticked-off and smoldering. Kora has her own reasons to seek revenge on the Motherworld; accordingly, accompanied by the gentle Gunnar (Michael Huisman), a confrontation-averse villager who looks at Kora the way your dog eyes your dinner plate, she embarks on a planet-hopping quest to round up fellow rebels.