Film Review: Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire is impressive sci-fi fare

Sofia Boutella as Kora and Djimon Hounsou as Titus in Rebel Moon.

• Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire
• ★★★☆☆
• Netflix

Opening in a pastoral settlement on a planet far, far away, Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire (12A) revolves around Kora (Sofia Boutella), a ‘child of war’ for whom ‘love is a weakness’.

When her village is threatened by the forces of an Empire bent on crushing an incipient rebellion, Kora reluctantly takes up arms and sets out on a quest to rally a rag-tag band of rebels.

Zack Snyder originally pitched his space opera as a blend of The Magnificent Seven and Star Wars, and he has certainly delivered on both counts: while the Rebel Moon universe seems a touch more brutal than George Lucas’s version, the parallels are vividly drawn.

Impressive as a visual spectacle — Kora visits a variety of exotic worlds — it’s rather episodic in its storytelling, with each succeeding scene introducing a new character – among them the mercenary Kai (Charlie Hunnam), the warrior queen Devra Bloodaxe (Cleopatra Coleman) and the disgraced General Titus (Djimon Hounsou) – all of whom need to establish themselves whilst foreshadowing events to come, much of which, we assume, will take place in subsequent movies.

Ed Skrein seems to be having the most fun in the role of the charismatic Atticus Noble, the evil emperor’s Vader-like sword-arm, but Sofia Boutella is a suitably dynamic whirl of fury as the Amazonian Kora.

Rebel Moon delivers little that’s new to the space-opera genre, but if you’re craving a Star Wars fix over the Christmas, this might just see you through.