REBEL MOON PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER is, in most traditional senses, a better movie than REBEL MOON PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE. It’s more straight forward, less tangents, a little build and then a bunch of action. And I think it looks better, maybe because it’s mostly taking place on one planet (the titular moon of Veldt), so they were able to focus most of their energy on the design and style of that one location. The downside to this is that it feels a little more normal, less unhinged, more restrained. But narratively it’s the big pay off, the exciting part, so it’s hard to be disappointed.

The first movie, you remember, was loosely structured as the first half of SEVEN SAMURAI/MAGNIFICENT SEVEN/BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. This humble farming village is going to be forced by the evil Imperium to give up all their grain, so secret-former-bad-guy-and-adopted-daughter-of-their-tyrannical-leader Kora (Sofia Boutella, STREETDANCE 2, CLIMAX) flew around and recruited a team of warriors to train the farmers how to defend themselves. They thought they headed off the threat by killing the fascist admiral Atticus Noble (the wonderfully strange looking Ed Skrein, THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK), but they quickly learn that he’s still alive (technologically resurrected in a cool, slimy opening sequence) so oh shit, it’s back on.

One great thing about REBEL MOON PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER is that Kora’s fellow ex-bad-guy General Titus is in charge, so he gets way more to do, including more speeches – always a good thing for a character played by Djimon Hounsou (NEVER BACK DOWN, AMISTAD). The first part of his strategy is to harvest the grain as they’re supposed to (but faster) and store it around their living quarters so the Imperium can’t blow them up without losing the grain. I’ve seen complaints that this “makes no sense,” but personally I love a sci-fi movie that does this sort of thing. They have space battleships and tubes to plug into a corpse to give it a jump, but they’re so dependent on bullying people that they don’t have their own infrastructure to grow grain. Checks out to me.

I learned after seeing the movie that the production grew real wheat so they could film the actual process of harvesting it – kinda like Michael Mann having James Caan really crack a safe in THIEF or William Friedkin having them really counterfeit money in TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. That explains why there’s maybe a little more wheat harvesting montage then I generally prefer in a motion picture, but I still thought good for you Zack Snyder, insisting on putting a wheat harvesting montage in your movie. I think actually the only thing he would’ve had to do to get me 1000% on board would be to ditch the Irish folk song type soundtrack in this part and use the electro guitar jam from the end credits, so it’s telling us this shit is badass.

Kora’s old man friend Hagen (Ingvar Sigurdsson, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER, THE NORTHMAN) has taken over as “father” of the village. Her sex partner Den (Stuart Martin, SLOW WEST) is cool about her having a new guy, Gunnar (Michiel Huisman, KATE), so there’s not love triangle bullshit. Aris (Sky Yang, “Chinese Kid,” TOMB RAIDER), the young soldier who disapproved of his comrades’ war crimes stayed with the villagers, maintaining contact with the Motherworld and pretending the occupation is going fine. But Noble sees right through it. Jimmy (voice of Anthony Hopkins, MASK OF ZORRO), the malfunctioning military robot, lives a new peaceful life in the mountains wearing a headdress of antlers, and observes from afar. I’d watch a whole movie about this guy, but maybe it’s better as this quick, impressionistic story off on the sidelines of the main one.

There’s some fun training montage, with the citizens learning to shoot laser guns and chop up scarecrows with swords. It’s kinda funny that we don’t get them failing miserably and then improving – everyone is already pretty awesome in Snyder World. And pretty soon (ahead of schedule, even) the fuckers show up and the plan is set into motion. The two-movie format ends up being a good have/eat cake strategy – in a way you get to have a long build up to the fight (like AVATAR) but in another way you get right into it. This seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I think as long as Snyder is going to be making movies specifically for streaming this is a good way to do it, combining some of the advantages of TV (freedom to be self indulgent and go off on tangents if he wants to) and some of those of movies (bigger budget for FX, longer schedule for stunts, relatively modest time commitment, no spinning wheels to fill a specific number of episodes).

There’s a little bit of Superman here – they still have the spaceship that Kora crash landed on Veldt, and use it as part of their plan. They also dig trenches and tunnels, set up explosives, count their guns. There’s an enjoyably corny thread about a little white kid who takes a liking to the robot-handed swordswoman Nemesis (Doona Bae, THE HOST), causing her to become more emotionally attached than she wants to. And there’s a nice scene where Sam (Charlotte Maggi), the water girl Kora saved in the first movie, presents each of the warriors with a personalized cross-stitch type wall-hanging. I liked seeing them be touched by that and also picturing them hanging those inside their spaceships or whatever.

I compared REBEL MOON PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE to when I was a kid and me and my friend used to mix up all his action figures. Another play tradition in those days was to say one of the bad guys had become a good guy, since we thought they looked cooler, but ultimately we wanted to play with the good guys. So, like, The Baroness is doing the right thing now but she used to be evil and that gives her some edge. Kora’s past as a brutal conquerer could’ve just been that – I wouldn’t put it past Snyder. But I’m impressed he made it the central theme of the sequel, getting a good emotional arc out of it.

See, in REBEL MOON PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE Kora gained trust in Gunnar after they risked their lives together, and she told him her story. Part of it. By the time of REBEL MOON PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER they’ve been through more, and become closer, and through the magic of editing they consummate the relationship with sincere, non-harvest related sex. Afterwards, while cuddling in bed, she reveals that it’s even worse than she told him before: her adopted father Balisarius (Fra Fee, THE MISERABLES) was actually behind the assassination of the king and queen that put him in power, she was there when it happened, and to her great shame was pressured into shooting the princess Issa (Stella Grace Fitzgerald). Then Balisarius immediately turned on her, said “What have you done?” and everybody there kinda did an end-of-ROAD HOUSE but instead of pretending they didn’t see who killed the guy they pretended they saw Kora (then known as Arthelais) do it.

(Note: Balisarius seems to have played a long game, adopting her to eventually maker her a fall guy and blame it on her “ethnic impurity”! So there’s a reason Noble and friends have those terrible Nazi haircuts.)

Let’s take a moment to imagine this from Gunnar’s perspective: he’s had a crush on this lady for two years, he finally seals the deal, moments later he learns that she’s wanted for the assassination of the most beloved person in the Realm. But he doesn’t seem fazed! This man is ride or die!

I thought it was pretty cool that there was more to the story revealed here, but when it really gets interesting is during the section where they’re preparing for battle. Titus brings the warriors into a barn and says they’re going to confess to each other. He goes first, telling them about the tragic incident that turned him against the Imperium, and then they take turns telling similar stories of shame and motivation to fight back. (Nemesis cut off her own hands to get those robotic ones!)

When it’s Kora’s turn she tells an abbreviated story, not the one she told Gunnar, and not one that seems equivalent to what anyone else told. Titus seems to know she’s withholding, keeps asking Are you sure you don’t have something else you want to say?, and Gunnar is a good boyfriend and helps her change the subject.

So the emotional climax is after the battle has been won (spoiler), when Kora can’t accept praise for her heroism, and is finally ready to confess who she is. But she’s not expecting acceptance – in fact she’s trying to prove to them that she’s unworthy of their love. So REBEL MOON PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER is a story about seeking redemption, not just by becoming a good guy and doing a good thing (the Darth Vader method), but by finding people who understand you, and by learning to forgive yourself.

No, of course it doesn’t express that idea in a naturalistic, human sort of way. But it does in a mythical way appropriate to the material. I liked it.

If you do get invested in these characters, even just in a basic surface level way, REBEL MOON PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER is a satisfying (if not groundbreaking) sci-fi action movie. Everybody gets things to do – especially Jimmy – although I do have one complaint: Tarak’s whole introduction last time was about his talent for taming and riding beasts, and unless my memory is failing me that doesn’t come up here. I like how he turns out to be totally different from what I assumed last time around (he was a nobleman and fancy lad forced to flee his kingdom so the bloodline wouldn’t be wiped out), but I don’t care, man, I still want to see some beastmastering!

I know there was some fretting about Snyder saying he wants to do six REBEL MOON movies or some such. Yep, I very much believe they’ll give him the money to expand this franchise the way he also was gonna do with the ARMY OF THE DEAD sequel and anime series that they officially announced but haven’t made. No reason to be skeptical about that! Otherwise we’ll just make do with these two movies that tell one complete story with a little set up at the end for the third adventure I will also watch in the unlikely scenario that the REBEL MOON saga doesn’t get Dark Universed.