Unfortunately there are a lot of reviewers with moderate sized platforms that will simply pick whatever tone or position that will maximize getting viewer engagement through the various algorithms in place across different mediums. It's why a lot tends to skew negative. It doesn't mean something produced is good though, it just means the endless focus on clicks, views, likes, subscribes, etc can overwhelm just some pretty practical analysis.
Disparu can be exhausting. But his real "gimmick" is assessing what should be the ideal show bible or story bible for a film or TV series, then working backwards. A lot of what he does, aside from click bait engagement unfortunately, is pressure testing the actual script.
There's a good film hidden and buried somewhere in the Rebel Moon concept, part of the problem is it's probably four film concepts jammed inside of what we got. If you have a weak script, and if you have marginal actors, then all you have left is spectacle. So, part of the wrinkle to this is Snyder had plenty of competent actors and actresses here, but he's still has to put them in a position to succeed. So, to my viewpoint, he had a mostly competent cast, but his other logistical flaws dragged them down to the level of marginal in total impact. In effect, part of the job is to be self aware enough to realize you need to just rely almost purely on spectacle.
Focus on the best performers you have in your cast so far. In this case, it would be IMHO Ray Fisher ( for all his off camera messes and controversy, his theater background would be helpful here) and Alfonso Herrera ( the Cartel nephew in Ozark ) Both are minimally used here. ( What Hunnam and Hounsou do well is just not a fit for this script) The character of Tarak ( the eagle rider/quasi "Indian / Native American role" guy) is a pretty test case of where some of this went wrong. In order to fight a huge army, you need an army. Or enough of one to combine with other moderate sized forces to fight back and make it seem plausible. In Joss Whedon's Serenity, the only ones could fight the formalized military fleet was the Reavers. Whedon couldn't really hide that very well, but since we loved the characters so much, and a lot of the writing is fun, most people aren't going to hang on that too much. It's pretty obvious, if Rebel Moon went further ( or does), that Tarak and his role as some kind of royalty, will come into play into bringing out another large military force here to fight the Imperium. Add it with the Bloodaxe rebels and some other new group, and that's enough to sell a huge battle scene. Except, Rebel Moon Part 1 and 2 really does nothing with Tarak. He's not well developed. It's not played well by a competent actor. Even if he was a competent actor, Snyder gives him zero fighting chance with the script he's been given. You need to make a functional story today, not lay the seeds of a future story not promised to anyone where that character stagnates. Can you get away with something like that elsewhere? Sure, a video game. Or an 80's after school cartoon where the typically demographics is a viewership that averages about 9 years old.
Writing a film script that can legitimately break out is incredibly hard. Very few people reside in the territory of a David Mamet or a Neil LaBute, where they have an innate built in ability for it. Part of the struggle is you need structure. You need to actually add in some tired tropes at times too. Because there aren't a ton of ways to skin the cat here. It's hard to break through when script after script looks and sounds the same. A good writer can however take the routine and add in elements that make it stand out. That draw attention. That will resonate with a casual viewing audience. So fundamentally sound scripts, many are just plain boring. They are often repetitive. But here's the key point, having that structure in the first place gives you a fighting chance at a functional narrative. Without it, you are going to crash and burn.
Part of good writing is you have to be willing to "kill your own baby" You have to be able to take the parts of what you wrote, that you love the most, that speaks to you as an individual, or might be some great fan service or gives a chance to truly put a spotlight on a character you love, and then you have to live with killing it off. If it doesn't serve a functional narrative. This is part of the problem here for Snyder. He can't kill the baby. And he's been around too long and had too much success to try to pretend he doesn't know better. Rebel Moon Parts 1 and 2 have no fundamental structure to it. They just don't. This is where I'm supposed to be diplomatic and say everyone is different, everyone has a viewpoint, to each their own or the classic "you do you brother". But in this case, anyone who wants to try to sell you on RB1&2 having any kind of fundamental narrative structure to it is probably also holding a crack pipe in their hands at the same time.
When you are in this situation as a filmmaker, just give spectacle. Large space ship battles, starfight dogfights, light saber battles, hand to hand combat, shoot outs, ambushes, executions, just endless carnage, violence and savagery. Someone will say, "But three hours of that non stop, you won't have character development, you won't have much of a plot, you won't have practical narrative arcs, you won't have any kind of emotional connection with the audience!"
OK, but you don't have character development now. You don't have much of a plot now. You don't have practical narrative arcs now. You aren't creating any kind of emotional connection with the casual viewing audience now. That's happening already. You've got nothing left to lose. Giving the casual audience spectacle is like just like teenage boys in middle school in the 80s swapping Playboy / Penthouse magazines and VHS **** tapes. ( I'm giving
@jye4ever some flashbacks here, sorry brother)
Let's simplify this some -
This is Odette Yustman in The Unborn from 2009. She's a barely marginal actress and relatively mediocre overall performer. The script was bad, even though I like a lot of what Goyer normally does. The rest of the cast was not helping anyone. No one was able to uplift the material presented. The plot, narrative, character arcs, character development and all the rest were effectively tanked and busted. But it had some spectacle. The movie poster is literally a snap shot of a still of the scene above. Guess which part turned into the movie poster? Do two straight hours like the scene above and people would still be talking about this movie today. Non stop. ( My old friend
@jye4ever is probably and literally downloading it right now.
) Now consider I'm talking about it right now. What does that tell you in terms of giving the fans something, anything, some consolation to hold onto?
If you want to keep surviving in the industry, sometimes you have to be self aware enough to realize that all you have left to give in a tough situation is a consolation prize to everyone.
