As with Michael Bay, I was waiting (if not patiently) for the day Zack Snyder produced something I found essential, and even when it finally happened, it took a while to stagger out. Early reviews of his two-part, Hard R-rated “Star Wars” riff “Rebel Moon” weren’t kind, but rumours of an even more explicit director’s cut kept me in suspense. I could feel my kind of film coming up to the plate ready to swing.
I was not disappointed.
Suddenly, the abject Randian vision of his superhero movies found purchase in a narrative I could get behind. Here, the superiority of a few is not cause to destroy civilization or exalt in its frailty—there must be people that need saving to justify their heroics, and the superhero has to make the Herculean choice to share his gifts with a disgusting civilization. No, the heroes of “Rebel Moon” were flawed and wretched, inspired to become freedom fighters. Like Bay’s “6 Underground” and “Ambulance,” the spectacle was focused inward, towards the harm perpetrated against individuals as a mirror of the damage experienced by an entire people.
Everyone needs solidarity; everyone needs to feel their labor is not being stolen; everyone wants to believe a brighter tomorrow is on its way. Not much gives me hope these days, but I do know I’ve watched this beautifully composed symphony of gore quite a bit in the last year.