#m: a child of fire

[mndvx]

REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE December 21st 2023 | dir. Zack Snyder ››› Charlotte Maggi as Sam ››› Dustin Ceithamer and Anthony Hopkins as Jimmy

[thequantumranger]

Sofia Boutella in Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

[femvillain]

THIS IS PERFECT.

Rebel Moon (2023); dir. Zack Snyder.

[rebel-moons]

I think it can be easy to overlook in the midst of all the other stuff Snyder tackles in his movies, but I love the way he writes romantic relationships.

Kora seeing kindness as a virtue worth dying for, and Gunnar being shown to be kind above all.

Kora resisting a deeper relationship with Den - who is described with attributes the villagers admire such as the best hunter and a loyal friend. Gunnar is shown to be just a simple farmer, trusting and honest to a fault, but it is him she wants is drawn to.

Kora believes she is incapable of loving and being loved. But it’s Gunnar’s love for Kora that saves her in the end.

[olvaheiner]

Rebel Moon Part. One: A Child of Fire poster by Ruiz Burgos (details)

[flilisskywalker]

Thank you, Zack Snyder, for giving me another shipp to obssess with.

[picspammer]

soft robots >>>>>

Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) Rebel Moon (2023)

[oliveoomph]

Sofia Boutella

Rebel Moon

[pianostrings]

Rebel Moon Novelization

Some interesting parts from the novelization! Contains potential spoilers for Rebel Moon under the cut.

The novelization opens with the destruction of King Heron's world, as punishment for aiding the Bloodaxes. Noble forces Heron's son, Aris, to kill his father with the bone staff to protect his family before he is conscripted into the army. Noble beats the rest of his family to death anyway.

Kora's sex scene with Den is fleshed out (wink). Inwardly, she admits to liking Gunnar, despite his shyness, but has issues with intimacy and the idea of starting a family.

Hagen, a villager whose wife and daughter died, was the one who found Kora and took her in. He is something of a father figure to her.

Slightly longer dialogue scene with Sam & Jimmy. Features Jimmy's line from the trailer that a 'A king is a man, and a man can fail or betray. But a myth is indestructible.' He mentions that Balisarius had the Jimmies separated from Princess Issa, despite their vow to protect her, and that most of them had never set foot on the Motherworld.

Sam thanks Aris for saving her (❁´◡`❁)

Den takes over as the village leader after Sindri and his wife are bone staffed to death 😓

Before Kora leaves, she asks Hagen to task Private Aris to fix the guns on the dropship she crash-landed on Veldt in.

In Kora's flashback scene, we learn Kora's family lived above the tea shop they owned. She had two older siblings. They are killed by Imperium soldiers while she is upstairs packing.

Kora's scene with Balisarius has dialogue. He introduces himself. She tells him her name is Kora. She believes he is impressed she had the guts to pull the trigger. He renames her on the spot 😒 and takes her as a 'a gift to himself and his legacy' 😒 because 'every leader had an heir'.

Kora's life on the ship is briefly detailed. Balisarius brings her to a surrendering planet and makes her watch the soldiers open fire on its people. She is sent to train at the Imperium military academy and doesn't see Balisarius for years. Before she leaves, he tells her she can't tell anyone about her past or where she came from. She graduates with top marks and her final test is orchestrated by Balisarius: it involves her executing a man without question.

More scenes in the village. Aris keeps his Imperium uniform to keep up appearances for transmissions to the Motherworld.

While trying to fix the ship, Aris and Sam share how their parents died. It's giving young love over shared trauma 🥰 They wake to find there is a deer with antlers removed (important!) roasted on a spit and the ship has been repaired. Aris guesses it was Jimmy who did it.

We hear from Jimmy's perspective that he ran to save Sam because he felt the same connection and loyalty to her as he did Princess Issa (interesting). He decides to make his own choices, carves his own staff, cloaks himself with a robe, and a pair of fashionable deer antlers to go into the wilderness.

Hickman hints at Tarak's backstory-- he says Tarak runs when given the chance and that he let his own people die at the hands of the realm.

Cassius takes a call from someone who makes him more uneasy than Noble, a high scribe named Enoch with abilities that defy logic. Cassius finds Noble predictable in his brutality.

We learn more about Cassius: he doesn't have the implants the realm's upper classes and high-ranking officials make to their bodies because it would leave him open in ways he didn't want. Cassius's family isn't native to Moa (the Motherworld) but had been there for generations and became affluent. His mother's penchant for opulence mounted debts for his father, a senator, and her modifications revealed their circumstances to another senator who blackmails them. Cassius's father trades him to serve with the priests who tells him that silence and observation are powerful tools (interesting).

Sexy scene with Noble and the Octopus, called the Twins. They were gifted to him by a warlord and are one of the few things he actually likes. Not shockingly, he is really into tentacle shit and BDSM. Cassius interrupts and Noble offers to let him go a round with the Twins. Cassius, grossed the eff out, politely declines. It's TMI, even for him.

More Cassius backstory: his career in the priesthood doesn't work out; after his family is ruined and executed, he joins the military order where he meets Noble, who confirms his father was responsible for Cassius's family's downfall & execution. In the academy, Cassius sees Noble's cruelty up close. He thinks of Noble as someone charming and cruel, surrounding himself with slightly smarter but less ambitious people. Good at working his way into the right circles.

Daggus is known throughout the galaxy for its cobalt mines. The land was leveled and indigenous life died out. Workers, mostly refugees, move there with the promise of wealth only to be exploited and live in poor conditions.

Kora offers to help Nemesis with Harmada, but she declines. She says: 'Harmada has grown accustomed to the pain of her grief. I know her rage intimately. We are not enemies.'

After watching Gunnar save the child, Kora thinks that even though he isn't a seasoned warrior, he has the heart of one. She's catching feelings.

In a flashback scene, she watches Princess Issa play in the snow at the winter castle. There is a frozen lake with giant fish and creatures swimming underneath (important later).

Kora witnesses Issa bring the bird back to life and warns her not to show anyone her power. Issa recounts that when she was born she almost killed her mother but when she was placed in her arms, the Queen was miraculously healed. Everyone present was sworn to secrecy. Unbeknownst to them, the King watches this scene from the castle window.

The King approaches her later and tells Kora that Issa likes having her as a guard and expresses his happiness at her new role. He asks if she misses her homeworld, but Kora doesn't respond. Balisarius told the King that Kora was abandoned as a child.

King Levitica agreed to help the Bloodaxes because he finds the Imperium's notion of 'homogeneous purity vile' and because 'they neither respect nor value anything that doesn't serve them at the expense of their own lives.' His comfort and kindness remind Kora of Hagen, her father figure on Veldt.

While waiting for the Bloodaxes, Tarak tells the others of how the people of his home, the Samandrai system, were killed or enslaved by the Imperium. Kora asks why he wasn't taken and conscripted to be made an example of. When he doesn't respond, she surmises he left before that could happen. Kai calls him a coward and ribs the other men. He and Titus almost get into a fight. Gunnar tells Kora he thinks Kai is a dick.

Darrian tells Devra that "people need a revolution they can see". When he refers to not allowing another world to fall in their name, he is presumably referring to King Heron's world at the beginning of the book.

A dying King Levitica tells Noble that "goodness will return to the universe. Endless war and needless death will end in the universe., There will be one to bring it back." So sad to see the end of his squidgy face.

Kora and Tarak speak; Tarak doesnt trust Kai, but she brushes it off. Girl, there are SO many alarm bells ringing.

Kai's betrayal reminds Kora of the "first monumental betrayal in her life."

There is more dialogue between Noble and the team as they are bound and about to be transported. Noble mocks Nemesis's dead children (seriously, fuck this guy!!!). The spine machines are meant to paralyse them for transport.

Noble asks if Gunnar will be a problem being transported unbound but Kai laughs it off, saying Gunnar is a coward. Oop. That was a bad read.

The fight sequence actually has them fighting together. Titus acknowledges Nemesis saving his life. Tarak and Titus fight happily side by side.

Darrian's death scene is vague; it says his body 'shut[s] down like the hunk of metal he clung to' while screaming 'Death to the Motherworld! Death to the Realm! For Shasu!' while hysterically laughing.

More dialogue when Noble and Kora fight. When she looks over his (presumably) dead body, she wishes it was Balisarius instead and is sad to know that she'll likely never be able to confront him in person.

There's a "who's going to fly this thing" moment with Kai's freighter. A crime this was left out. (Also, they don't answer this; the freighter apparently just lands itself when they arrive back in Providence.)

Back on Veldt, Sam invites Aris to stay in her home. She loves sewing and quilting, which she learned from her grandmother. Aris likes the quilts, which is good because she has so many.

After the company arrive in the village, they are followed by two Hawkshaws at a distance. They are watched, in turn, by Jimmy.

Devra commands her ships return to 'Base One'.

The astral plane setting where Noble meets Balisarius is confirmed to be the winter gardens of the royal palace where the Princess Issa scene was set.

Balisarius' face is noted to have been kept young with 'fortune and science' (yeah, and bad CGI 😐)

It's explicitly confirmed that Kora is responsible for the assassination of the royal family, or at least is being blamed for it. Noble says: 'I have found her. The hated other who murdered in cold blood that which we held most dear.' He also calls her 'the ethnic impurity, the monster, the Scargiver, the enemy of us all.' Balisarius says Arthelais is the 'assassin of the royal family, she who killed the king and queen, as well as her charge, the Princess Issa.' - From Rebel Moon Part One - A Child of Fire: The Official Movie Novelization by V. Castro Other interesting parts:

The scribes extract the teeth of their victims and put them on their masks in front of an image of Princess Issa to 'honour her.' The effect is, not surprisingly, extremely horrifying.

While Kora is living on the ship, she sees a Kali in a giant metal encasement with 'thick tubes of red and blue energy' and 'something alive in there'. She feels sorry for it, and thinks it is the only other thing on the ship who understands the feeling of being trapped.

Kora's off-worlder status is being made a big deal of, and I'm still not sure why. Balisarius apparently gets no heat for raising the assassin that murders the royal family?

Cassius is given way too much backstory for him to just be a random henchman. I suspect he may be collecting information to overthrow Noble at some point.

I am outing myself as a Sam is Princess Issa truther, even if it doesn't make any sense at all. But I think it's neat.

Sam and Aris ❤

Jimmy ❤

[lulu2992]

So I watched the Director’s Cut versions of Rebel Moon Part One & Two, respectively renamed Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness, exactly one week ago, the day they were released.

As a person who generally doesn’t enjoy the idea of watching films that are over 2.5 hours, really isn’t a fan of gore, and thinks sex scenes are uncomfortable and unnecessary 95% of the time, I was rather apprehensive, to say the least, since those three things are precisely what the two movies promised. Still, I managed to watch them on the same day even though the fact it was hot outside and consequently almost 30°C in my room probably didn’t help me not to feel unwell for a good portion of my viewing experience :’)

However, there’s a fourth thing the new version of the films promised, and this, on the contrary, is exactly what I love and probably what kept me going: more lore. I won’t go into too much detail so as not to spoil major plot points here, but I think Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness kept all their promises.

Some characters get a proper introduction (notably Aris and Nemesis), or more screen time so we understand them and what they do (mostly the Priests, Hawkshaws, and Jimmy), or a better, more satisfying, sometimes more emotional ending. We also get completely new scenes and characters, and that too greatly helps the narrative, whether it’s by adding more backstory, taking the time to explain someone’s motivations more clearly, revealing how some people reacted to certain events, or detailing how something works.

Also, some of the “mistakes” viewers complained about, for example the spaceship being powered with coal or somebody not missing any teeth after we clearly see them get knocked out, are fixed in the Director’s Cut. It turns out those things were not illogical, they were just censored for the PG-13 version…

As for the sex scenes, while they weren’t indispensable, I have to admit they do serve a purpose. The two “main” ones have a character in common, so we can see how different that person feels and acts with each of their two partners. The scenes need to exist together because they’re only really interesting when you compare them, but that’s how they tell a story. Never in my life had I been so happy to see someone successfully remove a bra, haha! There’s also, of course, the one that involves tentacles, which was–thankfully–milder than I thought it would be, and another unexpected one that happens off-screen but was a rather nice and cute surprise, in my opinion.

And, yes, aside from giving us more blood and more sex, we also get… more wheat! I really don’t mind, though. In fact, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I’d watch one hour of the cast (actually) harvesting crops in slow motion over just one minute of heads exploding any day :’)

While they’re still not perfect, I think Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness are improved versions of A Child of Fire and The Scargiver. I still like Part Two better than Part One, but overall, as promised, we get more information about the world, the characters, and their stories in the Director’s Cut. Sometimes, it’s just a new line of dialog or a short interaction that’s added here and there, but it really does a service to the films and makes them, although they’re much longer (especially the first one), feel more coherent, more compelling, and less rushed.

At the end of the day, I think what I most appreciate about Rebel Moon is still that it was brought to life with a lot of care and passion. The two art books, Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology and Wurm: Ex Materia: Heroes & Monsters, confirm how painstakingly made and well-thought-out everything was, and I will always love and respect this about this project.

[tumblethroughthekaleidoscope]

Rebel Moon (2023) directed by Zack Snyder

"The king is a man, and a man can fail. But a myth is indestructible."

[mndvx]

REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE December 21st 2023 | dir. Zack Snyder ››› Staz Nair as Tarak

[editfandom]

Sam - Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire, 2023

[femvillain]

Noble moaned as the slick black tendrils kneaded and probed his body. The tightening of their grip around his cock, wrists, and neck made him forget who he was and that anything existed outside this bed chamber. He liked to feel his windpipe constrict until the lack of oxygen gave him a sense of lightheaded euphoria. — Rebel Moon Novelization, V. Castro.

[sesiondemadrugada]

Rebel Moon - Part I: A Child of Fire (Zack Snyder, 2023).

[olvaheiner]

Rebel Moon - Part. One: A Child of Fire (2023)