Review: In 'The Scargiver,' Zach Snyder delivers a humorless second chapter to his 'Rebel Moon' franchise

If there’s an overarching reaction to director Zack Snyder’s deadeningly self-serious space opera “Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver,” it’s this: That’s all there is?!?

The first chapter, subtitled “A Child of Fire,” arrived on a cloud of Netflix-provided hype last December, billed as Snyder’s triumphant return to big-budget action movies and the start of a world-building franchise. If you want a sense of how well the movie was received — in spite of Snyder’s boast that, factoring in Netflix’s algorithms, more people saw it than bought a ticket for “Barbie” — observe that the second installment is barely making a ripple in its marketing.

The thing is, I was willing to meet “Rebel Moon” halfway. I thought the first movie was boring and bloated, but I figured that was what Snyder had to do as a warm-up for part 2, which would undoubtedly be an action extravaganza from start to finish.

So it’s surprising that after all the setting-up of part one, the second part, “The Scargiver,” spends the first of its two hours setting stuff up again. We get more reminders of Kora (Sofia Boutella), the former Imperial bodyguard to the King (Cary Elwes) and his daughter, Princess Issa (Stella Grace Fitzgerald), who was framed for an assassination attempt and fled to the peaceful farm world of Veldt. And we are reintroduced to Kora’s enemy, the evil Imperial leader Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein).

The script — by Snyder, Shay Hatten and Kurt Johnstad — also reunites with with the fighters Kora and Veldt local Gunnar (Michiel Housman) have gathered. They are: The retired general, Titus (Djimon Hounsou); the enigmant swordswoman, Nemesis (Doona Bae); the dashing warrior, Tarak (Staz Nair); and the tough-as-nails fighter Milius (E. Duffy). Each gets an extended flashback that explains what they were doing, and why they want the empire to fall.

Then, after what seems like an eternity of wooden line readings, Snyder starts the fighting. The action isn’t bad, though it often feels like Snyder is recycling moves from earlier films — especially his reliance on artfully crafted super-slow-motion. It feels like Snyder’s remaking “300,” but he gave the Spartans pew-pew laser guns.

It’s interesting to recall that Snyder reportedly pitched “Rebel Moon” to Netflix after LucasFilm rejected his pitch for a “Star Wars” movie. If so, it seems that Snyder completely missed what made the “Star Wars” franchise so memorable — not the gear or the tech, but the way George Lucas (and subsequent directors) took a cue from the classic movie serials, like “Buck Rogers” and “Flash Gordon,” that wanted to give viewers a thrill and didn’t take themselves too seriously. If there is even a milligram of humor in “Rebel Moon,” it vanishes amid all the clutter and noise.

——

‘Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver’

★1/2

Starts streaming Friday, April 19, on Netflix. Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language and suicide. Running time: 124 minutes.