What The Creator and Rebel Moon Have In Common (and What They Don't)

It's not every day that Hollywood takes a gamble on truly original ideas anymore. Hell, next year alone, we're getting a new Ghostbusters, Inside Out, Despicable Me, Mad Max, Beetlejuice, Deadpool, Quiet Place, Planet of the Apes, and Kung Fu Panda. It's clearly a much safer bet to remake or sequel previous successes. Though, I'm not sure anyone asked for a new Gladiator or Twister take -- maybe the flying cows will be in 4k?

Anyway, there is currently not one but TWO truly original films recently available to stream! The Creator and ‌Rebel Moon are both decent ideas for sci-fi epics that Hollywood took a gamble on. Both films are massive in scale, costing $80 million and $166 million, respectively. But both have one (or more) fatal flaws that are worth exploring.

The Creator

Created by the folks behind Rogue One (which may be the best Star Wars film of the entire canon), The Creator is an interesting story about a future where AI coexists with humanity (at least in Asia). The adoption or fear of AI devolved into a massive global war, pitting Americans against the AI robots and all those who would protect, harbor, or build them (i.e., everyone else).

It's clear that The Creator is heavily influenced by the visual aesthetics of District 13, another great original Hollywood film. It also feels like a Christopher Nolan film, partially because it stars John David Washington and Ken Watanabe but also because the pacing is very Nolan-esque.

Gareth Edwards's The Creator is a great movie, but it's extremely predictable. The writing relies on age-old tropes that leave little surprise. However, the lack of mystery is largely forgivable because of the overall story's quality and delivery. The film is generally enjoyable, and the characters have depth. When combined with the performances, The Creator is a good movie. It won't win awards, but it's worth watching.

The same cannot be said for Rebel Moon...

Rebel Moon

Zach Snyder, famous for making movies that cause comic book fanboys to argue, originally pitched Rebel Moon as an R-rated Star Wars film. The team at Disney obviously said no, and Netflix took up the "reimagined" idea.

Before going any further, it's worth noting that there is plenty of room in the Star Wars universe for dark and gritty storytelling. The aforementioned Rogue One is a great example of a true tragedy set in the backdrop of the Empire. Last year's Andor was also a massive success, largely because of its dark depiction of pre-rebellion life. While both have very dark themes, they also have the tried-and-true Star Wars undercurrent of hope. The light in the darkness adds value, context, and direction for the characters and audience to hold and see the stories to the end.

Rebel Moon lacks anything resembling hope, which makes for a very odd story about a rebellion. The film is also anything but good. It took me three attempts to get through the entire movie, largely because it was so convoluted and boring that I would give up on it and do something else around the house. In other words, cleaning the oven was a better use of my time than watching Rebel Moon.

‌Rebel Moon is basically a video game where the main character must go through multiple side quests to build a team for the final battle. The player (or, in this case, the viewer) doesn't learn much about the characters they pick up along the way because they're simply a means to an end. As a result, the characters have no depth, no agency, and nothing to find interesting. Aside from the main character, who is introduced by having her name shouted twice, I couldn't tell you a single other name from the film. The lack of character depth is so pronounced that the villain devotes ten minutes to reciting their backstories at the movie's climax!

Unlike The Creator, where quality filmmaking forgives the occasional writing faux pas, Rebel Moon is a bad movie made worse by asinine direction. Zach Snyder seems to think that every single action shot requires slow-motion cinematography. It's tedious and adds a good 20 minutes to the film's runtime. The excessive slo-mo shots end up being laughable rather than enhancing the storytelling. The result is a muddled mess that isn't worth the two-hour investment.

Writing Matters

I'm glad that Hollywood took a chance on big-budget sci-fi movies that aren't tied to existing intellectual property. We need more original stories being brought to life rather than relying on remakes and sequels. However, Hollywood will cease to make original films if they don't see a return.

The Creator made about ‌$104 million worldwide, or about a $20 million profit (not accounting for marketing). With a 66% score, critics were largely mixed in quality.

‌Rebel Moon went straight to Netflix, which only recently started releasing viewership numbers. So, there's no telling how much the film would have made at the box office or if the $160 million investment was worth it. That said, critics largely panned the film, giving it a 24% score.

Writing matters in all forms of storytelling. Big action sequences and shiny spaceships can't gloss over every plot point that doesn't land. Every original epic that fails means the studios are much less likely to take a chance on future ideas. I'd rather see more films like The Creator than another iteration of ‌Beetlejuice, but films like Rebel Moon make that future reality far less likely.