It's no secret that Zack Snyder's previous film, the so-called "Part One," was inspired by Star Wars (1977). Some argued that George Lucas' 1977 classic was itself inspired by Frank Herbert's novel, which was the basis of the recent adaptation, Denis Villenueve's Dune (2021). It's probably no surprise that this installment not only feels like Star Wars but also has elements that reminded me of Dune or even this year's Dune: Part Two (2024). Like Villenueve, Snyder is good with crafting compelling visuals. Snyder has some gorgeous shots. Many of which had him operating camera. A wide-shot of a kiss or golden-hour shots of farming are particularly good-looking. Snyder's visuals aren't as gritty or grounded. Snyder likes the fantastical and can be somewhat painterly. His production design team, stunts and VFX team are also top-notch. One can't argue that Snyder's film isn't interesting to the eye.
Snyder is also pretty fantastic with action. The second half of this film is essentially one long action sequence, one lengthy battle. It's similar to James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), which has its final hour be an extended battle scene. It's certainly thrilling and entertaining. Its only problem is that it isn't as emotional or impactful as Cameron's or Villenueve's films. Snyder is great with staging action or rather capturing it. He's just not that great with characterization. Characterization is helpful for getting to that emotion or impact. Cameron isn't a master of characterization either, but he does it better than Snyder does here.
Sofia Boutella (Star Trek Beyond and Kingsman: The Secret Service) reprises her role of Kora, a woman for whom we didn't get a lot of characterization. All we know is that she's a warrior who got pulled into a deadly conflict between the farmers on a planet called Veldt and the soldiers working for a brutal military force known as the Imperium. The Imperium arrived by spaceship basically to colonize Veldt or at least put it under military occupation in order to exploit its resources, which is only grain.
The reason the Imperium wants to occupy Veldt is far its grain crops, which is ridiculous because the film makes it seem as if grain can't be grown anywhere else or any other kind of crops can't be grown anywhere else. Every film from Dune to Avatar (2009) has to have a MacGuffin. In Dune, the MacGuffin is "spice." In Avatar, the MacGuffin is "unobtanium." Veldt's grain is the MacGuffin here, and, by definition, the MacGuffin doesn't matter, but it's better if at least the MacGuffin makes sense, meaning the characters going after it have to have a legitimate reason for going after it or that it's necessary for the plot in some fundamental way. Here, the grain crops don't have that legitimate reason or end up being that necessary for the plot. The villain himself concedes that point at the end. One wouldn't be considering the MacGuffin this much if the characterizations were better.
Michiel Huisman (Game of Thrones and Orphan Black) co-stars as Gunnar, the farmer and love interest for Kora. In terms of characterization, there is none for Gunnar. He's basically a handsome tag-along. Otherwise, he's a veritable non-entity. If he were removed from the narrative, it wouldn't change things in any substantial way. Other than be the love interest, he does nothing. Going back to Star Wars, Gunnar's arc seems like it's meant to be akin to Luke Skywalker who goes from farmer to rebel fighter. That's the superficial reading but his actual arc doesn't have the proper characterization to sell that.
The film focuses on the aftermath of Kora and Gunnar assembling a team and defeating one of the disciples of the military dictator. Part One gives us the introductions of the team members. We barely get to know them though. Snyder tries to rectify that here by literally sitting the team down and having them go through their back stories. It amounts to a series of vignettes that all feel repetitive. Every team member had family or friends killed by the Imperium, giving them all motives to fight. Yet, that's it. We don't get much more beyond the vignettes.
Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond and Gladiator) also co-stars as Titus, a general whose vignette reveals that his soldiers were executed right in front of him. Unfortunately, the film doesn't give us anything more about Titus, such as what kind of general he was or what the relationship was with his soldiers. Obviously, he cared about them, but Snyder could have taken time to show him interacting with those soldiers. Human interactions would've been more helpful. This doesn't just mean with these vignettes, which are essentially flashbacks. It's also in regards to the present-day action.
Doona Bae (Sense8 and Cloud Atlas) plays Nemesis, a woman from a fishing village who used to be a warrior but becomes one again. She does so wielding laser swords, not unlike lightsabers from Star Wars. Yet, in the present-day action, she's practically in a silo by herself. She doesn't or isn't allowed to interact with anyone else, even during the action scenes. She gets a cool fight scene, but if she doesn't get human interactions with the other characters, it's harder to have that emotional connection to her.
Staz Nair (Supergirl and Game of Thrones) plays Tarak whose vignette reveals him to be a prince. Yet, again, the film does nothing with him in terms of characterization. What is it like to go from royalty to slavery or indentured servitude? In "Part One," we first meet Tarak with a literal chain around his foot indebted to some rancher. This film could have explained how Tarak came to be in debt to this rancher, but it doesn't. It gives him pathos in terms of his family dying, but none of the other details of his life are even attempted to be told. The film gives him cool action moments and cool fights in that final hour. Also, Tarak has an amazing look. He's certainly sexy, but he's just a G.I. Joe doll, a hollow action figure. He like the others is a proxy for what becomes video game action in the end. The video game action looks good, but that's all it is.
Rated PG-13 for violence, language and suicide.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 3 mins.
Available on Netflix.
