Well, Madame Web actually has a competitor for the worse film of 2024. That would be Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver for those fortunate enough to not have seen it.
Director Zack Snyder’s hardcore fans keep insisting that Snyder should be allowed to do whatever he wants with his films. They claim that his vision for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) was stymied by idiotic studio heads who then ruined his films and the rest of the DCEU. However, Snyder’s latest film is a textbook cautionary example of what happens when a director is given carte blanche creative control over a film.
Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver, which streamed last week on Netflix, is the sequel to Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire that streamed last December. The storyline is based on a failed pitch for a Star Wars film and it is about a young woman named Kora (Sofia Boutella) who lives in a quiet farming colony on a moon that has to recruit a team to help her colony fend off an invasion by the evil Imperium. It’s essentially a sci-fi remake of Seven Samurai (which has been done before with Battle Beyond the Stars), as she recruits eccentric warriors to defend her colony. The first film was OK with excellent production values and cinematography although the script was derivative of other sci-fi tropes, and man, it was full of slow-mo shots. It was hoped by critics that part two would be a huge payoff for the setup, but that did not turn out as expected.
Instead of giving a satisfying and coherent conclusion, Snyder goes all out and indulges in the worst aspects of his cinematic bag of tricks. The film just oozes needless slow-mo shots of people farming, walking, or making any kind of motion. It was slow-mo porn! The film also boasted too many exposition dumps that brought the film’s story into a screeching halt. The scenes were the characters stopped in their tracks to give us extended back stories were clumsily done and were too long thanks to…slow-mo shots. What was worse is that these character expositions did little to endear us to Kora and her team of misfit warriors. The decisions made by the characters in their back stories often did not make sense and in the end none of the stories made the characters memorable. This was clear when not only was there no sympathy for any heroic characters when they died but it was hard to tell who they were during the well-staged battle scenes.
To its credit, Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver, had great special effects and design that evoked Warhammer 40,000 and of course Star Wars. The final boss battle between Kora and Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein) was well choreographed as they fought with their lightsabres, or whatever the swords are called in the Rebel Moon universe (help us but more films are planned) and Anthony Hopkins was brilliant as the voice of the Jimmy the rebel robot. But logic of the epic battles in the final act did not make sense. How could an advanced intergalactic force fail to detect simple farmers hiding out with weapons? How is it the main heroes are able to take out scores of armored enemy soldiers armed with axes and clubs? This was worse than when the Ewoks defeated the Empire’s forces in Return of the Jedi. All these flaws would have been forgivable if 1) we cared about the characters and 2) the battles engaged us. In other words, the battles were boring, the worst possible insult for action scenes.
While derivative from the start, Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver had the potential to be a rousing action film that would have been Zack Snyder’s answer to Star Wars. Instead we have to give credit to Lucasfilm for having the wisdom to turn down Snyder’s pitch.
The problem with the two Rebel Moon films boils down to the fact that Zack Snyder was given too much creative freedom and he overindulged his worst cinematic impulses. Yes, Snyder is a very talented director but he needs firm guidance when executing his films. So, if there are more Rebel Moon films, Snyder will have to either control himself or allow himself to be guided by objective partners.
As we move further into this decade, it is apparent that the superhero era in films and TV shows has ended. We all know about the hurdles many recent superhero films and TV show have faced with diminished quality and profit. Guaranteed would-be hits like The Marvels or The Flash failed spectacularly last year and help cement that the superhero films and TV shows are no longer as popular at they were in the previous decade.
This does not mean that there won’t be anymore superhero films or TV shows or that they will never be popular again. There are several superhero films and TV shows in various stages of development and it is possible that a new era could arise. It has happened before. Back in the early 2000s, superhero films became dominant in films thanks to the success of Spider-Man and X-Men, but they then diminished in quality and several films did not perform well. However, as we all know the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) exploded on the scene and launched an even more successful and popular era of superhero films and TV shows. It is similar to what has happened with the comic books that inspired these live-action films and TV shows.
As comic book fans know, comic books have had their ups and downs throughout history with different ages. When they first came into prominence in the late 1930s they sold very well, but by the mid 1950s comic books declined in popularity and sales until the release of Showcase #4, which revamped the Flash and introduced a new age of comic books. Essentially, the eras come and go in cycles with comic books as they reinvented themselves and there is little reason to doubt this won’t happen with superhero films and TV shows. For all we know this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine will usher in a new age of superhero films and TV shows. Or it may be a while as other genres capture the attention of viewers as they offer a fresh new take on superheroes.
So, until then what genre can replace the superhero films and TV shows in terms of prominence and popularity?
It is too early to tell, but we have a couple of contenders: video game-based properties or monster-based properties.
The MonsterVerse based on giant kaijus like Godzilla and King Kong has proven to be unexpectedly popular, while Godzilla Minus Zero blew away audiences and critics with its high quality and success. There are plans for films based on classic movie monsters like the Wolfman and Frankenstein’s monster, which could fulfill the failed promise of the so-called Dark Universe from ten years ago. The only issue with these monster films is their limited scope in terms of story. It is difficult to make compelling stories that focus on giant monsters while ignoring poorly developed human characters. But it is possible, again look at Godzilla Minus Zero.
On the other hand, video games have provided ample material for filmmakers to mine from. The most popular video games are based on science fiction, horror and fantasy and everything in between. In the past, films based on video games fared poorly as filmmakers were unable to translate what made the games so popular into film.
However, there have been many recent films and TV shows based on video games that were wildly successful and were well received. These include Sonic the Hedgehog, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Last of Us, The Witcher, Halo and most recently Fallout. Although the quality and success of these projects varied, it is clear that they are becoming more and more prominent in theaters and in streaming services. These properties are just the tip of the iceberg of available video games that are practically begging to be adapted to live-action. There are plans to produce films and TV shows based on The Legend of Zelda, Death Stranding, Borderlands, Minecraft: The Movie, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect and Bioshock. Of course, we will also be getting sequels and new seasons like Sonic the Hedgehog 3, The Last of Us, Knuckles, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. The subject matter of these projects range from alternate history, hard sci-fi, horror and animated cartoons.
Will these films duplicate the success of the MCU and other superhero films and TV shows? It’s hard to say at this point, but do not be surprised if some video-game based property explodes and captures the public zeitgeist. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was able to do this given that it earned over $1 billion when it was released last year. It’s possible that the sequel could earn more money and cement the Mario Brothers as the next big thing. Or maybe it will be some other video game property. The future is wide open for video game-based films and TV shows to dominate the public consciousness.
While cinematic universes based on superheroes have fallen out of favor and other attempts at creating different kinds of cinematic universes have faltered, the MonsterVerse has actually thrived lately. Just look at the unexpected success of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which when released last week earned much more in the box office than originally projected. Given the success of the latest MonsterVerse film, another sequel is warranted but to date there are not any concrete plans for more films or TV shows. Expect that to change shortly.
The success of the MonsterVerse surprised many people because a lot of attention in the past was given to the superhero film franchises which were more successful. However, as we all know, the superhero film franchises have struggled lately, which created a void for other film franchises to fill, hence the rise of the MonsterVerse. For some time, it was thought that creating a film franchise not related to superheroes was impossible, but the MonsterVerse proved the naysayers wrong.
Originally, the first film in the MonsterVerse, the 2014 American reboot Godzilla was not intended to launch a cinematic universe. Yet, a few years later the birth of the MonsterVerse was confirmed with 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, which was set in the 1970s while Godzilla was set in modern times. But both films featured the secretive Monarch organization which studied the titans or kaijus that were appearing in the world. Cementing Kong: Skull Island as the second film of the franchise was its post-credits scene which teased Godzilla and other giant kaijus from the Toho Studios Godzilla films.
The next entry in the MonsterVerse was Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019, which was a true kaiju epic featuring favorite Toho kaijus like Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah along with new and interesting titans. Sure, critics hated the film and it only performed so-so in the box office, but Godzilla: King of the Monsters struck a nerve with fans who where enthralled with the worldbuilding and the explosive monster scenes.
The next logical MonsterVerse film had to be one where King Kong fought Godzilla, which excited many fans. Godzilla v Kong was released on streaming at the same time as it was released in theaters in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it made a lot more money than people expected and was well received. It was the culmination that many eagerly anticipated ever since Godzilla was teased in Kong: Skull Island.
Due to the success of Godzilla v Kong, the MonsterVerse expanded into streaming with two TV shows: the animated Skull Island and the live-action MonsterVerse prequel/sequel to Godzilla, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Both TV projects received positive reactions and helped with the worldbuilding of the MonsterVerse as events from the TV shows were referenced in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Of course, this brings valid complaints about having to watch previous films or TV shows in order to fully understand what is going on. But does the plot really matter? Sure, the scripts of the films are an issue, especially with the more recent entries and there will come a time when fans will tire of the monsters fighting and want to see some more meat in the scripts. But this is possible as seen with Godzilla, which was a more grounded and mature film. Fans back then griped about the somber tone of Godzilla and the lack of monster action, but it turns out they were not ready for such a film and clamored for the big kaiju battles that dominate the films now. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was also a more level-headed project that explored the background of Monarch and took time to get us to care about the characters. Perhaps the next MonsterVerse film should find a way to showcase these characters, even though part of the TV show is set in the past.
So, why did the MonsterVerse succeed as a franchise where others failed? Part of it has to do with the fact that even though the films and TV show feature spectacular special effects, their budgets are modest compared to the superhero blockbusters. This makes it easier for them to be profitable even if the box office returns are not as outstanding. It’s actually remarkable given that the battles and scenes with titans are the highlights of these films. Also, unlike some other film franchises, the MonsterVerse took time to properly set up its world. Legendary Pictures, the film studio behind the MonsterVerse, did not at first set out to create a film franchise and even when it did, the set up was natural. This method also created demand, after Godzilla: King of the Monsters many fans demanded to see Godzilla go up against his rival, Kong. A King Kong versus Godzilla film was not rushed out but carefully teased. This was not the case with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. To Legendary Pictures’ credit, they are giving fans what they want which is basically big kaiju fights and scenes with topnotch special effects.
As great as things are for the MonsterVerse, the film franchise will have to evolve in order to survive. Better scripts and more human character developments are essential, as well as more imaginative worldbuilding that unlocks the potential with the titans. What can be done with the titans and Monarch has barely been tapped and hopefully the MonsterVerse will be explored further with future TV and film projects.
By now, we all know about how physical media is dying, especially after the retailer Best Buy announced last year they would discontinue selling DVDs, Blu-rays and 4K disks this year. This is largely due to the prevalence of digital media and digital streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Max, and so on, and declining sales of physical media. These platforms made it much more convenient to access and watch your favorite films and TV shows without the bother of physically getting up, searching through your DVD/Blu-ray library and inserting disks into a player. However, something has been lost with the downfall of physical media. Or is it truly dead?
By announcing that physical media was doomed, interest has increased in fans and collectors to obtain the remaining physical media, especially in secondary markets, as fans are now actively hunting down copies of their favorite films. What helped drive the hunts was a major flaw that became clear with the rise of digital media: the availability of a favorite film or TV show.
On paper, digital media and streaming takes care of the problems with buying and collecting physical media, namely storage and the ease of accessing your favorite Star Trek episode. The problem is the streaming market has become so diversified that these services feel like you’re accessing incomplete libraries. A draw of streaming was the vast libraries they boasted. This was the case when Netflix was the only large streaming service years ago, but with the coming of Disney+, Max and other streaming services, these companies understandably took their toys and went home. Good luck if you subscribed to Netflix to watch the latest Marvel superhero film. You might get Morbius or some knock-off film, but if you want to watch Iron Man or Avengers: Infinity War you’ll have to subscribe to Disney+. The same thing happened if you wanted to watch Star Trek. While you can watch some of the films on other services, for the “complete” Star Trek library you have to subscribe to Paramount+, which offers little else that would interest the average Star Trek fan. And by “complete” we have to keep in mind that Paramount+ cancelled and removed Star Trek: Prodigy from their service. Now you can only see that show on Netflix, which will exclusively stream the second and final season of Star Trek: Prodigy.
Anyone sees where this is going? Essentially, you have to subscribe to all the major and even minor digital streaming services to be able to access the films and TV shows you want to see. That is if they have the rights to stream them. Anyone want to see Outland? Never heard of it? No surprise. Outland was a sci-fi crime drama that starred Sean Connery as a sheriff on a mining station on IO. It copied the gritty and grounded look of Alien but was a well done film. Now where can you find it. Sure, anyone can buy it digitally, but why should they if they are supposed to easily access it on digital streaming? Also the money spent to download Outland is comparable to buying a physical disk.
The same issue has been noted online with the sci-fi film Cocoon. It was successful back when it was released in the 1980s, it even won Academy Awards, but it is unavailable on physical media and you have to hunt for it on streaming. Then there is the situation with trying to watch the original version of Star Wars, no bloody Episode IV or other silly subtitles, and where Han shoots first! Many fans hoped that Disney+ would have streamed the original vision of George Lucas, but to date that has not happened. The only way to see the unaltered Star Wars is by purchasing old VHS cassettes, laser disks, and DVDs. Of course, the quality won’t be 4K but at least it is accessible to you and owned by you.
The problem with buying digital downloads of films and TV shows is that you don’t actually own the downloads. Disney+ boasted that with its service you could download their content to watch anywhere on any device. But do you get to keep the downloads if you unsubscribe? If you can please drop a comment below.
Many owners of the PS5 learned the hard way that their digital downloads are not theirs to keep forever, as it was announced late last year that any Discovery+ content that was purchased and downloaded would be removed from PS5s. So, what is the point of buying downloads if you cannot keep them? With DVDs and Blu-rays, the disks are yours forever, you can watch them at anytime just as long as you have a player, which are very cheap these days. Of course, a problem with all the media platforms is the availability of old and obscure content. There are countless sci-fi, fantasy and horror films and TV shows that have basically disappeared since they are not streaming (usually due to rights issues) on any service and if they had a DVD or Blu-ray release, they have gone out of print a long time ago. This makes me glad that I never got rid of my DVD copy of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners since it is a favorite that cannot be easily seen these days.
What can a genre fan do? Sure you can subscribe to every streaming service but that is expensive and you’ll be stuck paying for subpar services just to access a film or TV show, which can be removed at anytime, often without notice. This happened to me when I was binging Snowpiercer on Max and stopped watching it a few episodes away from its season finale. The next day the entire series was removed from Max. This streaming service was infamous for removing other genre content because the parent company did not want to pay residuals to writers and so on. Such content included Raised By Wolves and Westworld. Anyone who intended to watch the complete series is out of luck these days.
Another thing that makes physical media superior is that many disks come with unique interactive menus and features that you cannot get on a digital download. Some like The Lord of The Rings films are renowned for the exhaustive content on their Blu-rays and 4K disks like extensive behind-the-scenes features, production art, games, and of course deleted scenes. You certainly won’t get this much material in a download!
The best option is to shop for obscure products on second-hand online services that specialize in obscure and out-of-print DVDs and Blu-rays. But be prepared to pay a lot. Then there is cable or satellite TV. Yes, the point of streaming services was to enable viewers to cut the cable cord, but many times, cable is the best place to watch obscure genre films. However, while sales these days of physical media are past their heyday, they are still being made. It is easy to see a time when physical media makes a comeback like vinyl records did as streaming services and digital downloads become more expensive and inconvenient for fans. But for now, make a point of actively seeking out and buying your favorite obscure sci-fi film like Silent Running or the original version of the Star Trek TV shows. You never know if an increase in sales would have an influence on the decision makers in Hollywood. Besides a Blu-ray or 4K disk library definitely looks cool on display in your homes!
The fourth season of the alternate history TV series, For All Mankind, just concluded with a typical speculative flourish that defines the program.
Streaming on Apple TV +, For All Mankind was co-created by Ronald D. Moore and explores a reality where the Soviets reached the moon before the United States could. Instead of stagnating as in our reality, in this alternate world, the United States is inspired to keep pushing the boundaries in space exploration. In each subsequent season, the series jumps ahead roughly every decade and we see how much of an impact the Soviet moon landing has in the world. A lunar station is established in the 1970s, which further fuels the space race between the world powers of the Soviet Union and the United States. Naturally, this also fuels the Cold War which now extended into outer space as seen in season two when the two world powers nearly went to war on the moon during the 1980s.
By the third season, tensions cooled between the two powers in the 1990s. A new space race to reach Mars and the struggles of those who reached the red planet were the focus of the third season. This brings us to the fourth season which just concluded. Taking place in the early 2000s, the fourth season of For All Mankind presents a world where Al Gore is the U.S. president, the Soviet Union continues to exist, John Lennon is still alive and there are only three Star Trek TV shows (!), but as with the previous seasons, the TV show focuses on several characters affected by the alternate space race.
The heart of For All Mankind is the aging astronaut Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman). In the first season, Baldwin had the opportunity to land on the moon on Apollo 10 before the Soviets, but never took it, much to his regret as Alexei Leonov landed on the moon shortly after Baldwin’s mission. Baldwin winds up involved in crititcal points in NASA’s space exploratory efforts such as being commander of the Jamestown lunar station, helping to defuse tensions with the Soviets in the second season during a space shuttle flight, and as the commander of the commercial mission to land on Mars and establish a colony there in the third and fourth season. Despite his many achievements, Baldwin struggles to find meaning in his life, to adapt to a quickly changing world and he does not even want to return to Earth after spending many years on Mars. By the fourth season, Baldwin is facing his twilight years and determined to make a difference. He does this by latching onto the quest to keep the human Martian colony from withering out.
In the fourth season, a large asteroid, called Goldilocks, is discovered drifting towards Mars that is rich in iridium. After a lot of deliberation, the M-7, a conglomeration of seven world powers, including the U.S. and the Soviets, decided to have the asteroid diverted into Earth orbit for immediate rewards and riches. Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi), an Elon Musk-type and owner of the corporation Helios Aerospace, has a vision of humanity expanding into the solar system and beyond. He realizes that if the Goldilocks asteroid is diverted to Earth that any interest in developing Mars and exploring space will wither and die as the world powers will be busy enriching themselves with the asteroid in Earth orbit. He comes up with a plan to essentially hijack the asteroid and have it orbit Mars instead in order to force Earth to keep investing in the red planet.
As this is going on, there is a labor struggle in the Martian colony best represented by Miles Dale (Tobey Kebbel), a former oil platform worker turned Martian laborer. In the reality of the TV show, fossil fuels have been phased out of use in the world as new energy technologies made them obsolete. While this may be great for the environment, many workers in the fossil fuel field had to find new means of employment. Dale relocated to Mars for a new opportunity, but the realities and frugality of Helios forced him to run a black market operation in the colony. Underlining these labor struggles is the fact that many of the laborers including Baldwin see Mars as their home not Earth, which means this could be the beginning of Mars eventually becoming an independent world.
Trying to keep the Martian colony running smoothly is Commander Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall), a Black woman who was one of the first woman astronauts for NASA in the 1970s. As Baldwin is the rebellious heart of For All Mankind, Poole is the soul of the show as we see from her POV how radically different this reality is from our own since women and people of color were able to advance in society much more quickly compared to our own. Like Baldwin, Poole is very relatable but for different reasons. While Baldwin is a sympathetic relic struggling to fit into the new order, Poole is an empathic and level-headed, by-the-book leader who is the moral center of the show. As these situations go, Poole is brought out of retirement to command the Martian colony and becomes embroiled in the labor struggle that morphs into a revolution of sorts on Mars.
In the backdrop of the fomenting Martian revolution, we also follow the stories of several NASA personnel. The most interesting is Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt), the first woman to be mission controller of NASA. During the TV show she was forced to work for the Soviets and commit treason by providing them with the secrets of American space technology. In the just-concluded season, Margo, who was believed to have been killed in a domestic terrorist bombing, comes out of hiding from the Soviet Union and has to decide what she will do with her life and how she can contribute to humanity’s space efforts. Her situation brings her into conflict with her protogee, Aleida Rosales (Coral Peña), who also is a woman of prominence in NASA.
What makes For All Mankind so captivating to watch is how it balances interesting personal stories with wider geopolical developments in this world that is distinctly different than ours. We see the impact of how a Soviet moon landing further accelerates society and technology. It’s obvious that we have the capability to have advanced in space exploration but our society lacks the drive to take us there. It’s disheartening that while there is a thriving colony on Mars in the TV show, real-life efforts show how far behind we are. We cannot even manage to return to the moon as we learned recently when the Artemis mission was delayed, yet again.
In some ways, even though we see that this is not a perfect society, it seems to be a better world than our own. Many issues have been addressed much earlier in this timeline such as the struggles of people of color , women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Advances in techonolgy are casually noted such as the use of the Internet and cell phones which began in the 1980s, and the rapid development of alternatives to fossil fuels. On the other hand, this altered world has its own problems such as it seems as if socialism/communism has spread throughout the world thanks to the continued exitence of a despotic Soviet Union (in the fourth season of the TV show, Gorbachev was overthrown by hard-line communists). One simple but intriguing tool the TV show uses is that of the montage. At the start of each season, a montage quickly brings viewers up to date on developments of the world, such as the results of presidential elections and pop culture news.
These developments would be meaningless if For All Mankind never presented how these events affected its characters. We see the wonders and struggles of this altered world through their eyes and react accordingly. One of the show’s strengths is that is able to smoothly introduce new characters while moving away from older characters as the show jumps ahead in time. It’s unknown if Baldwin and some other older characters like Poole will continue to be a part of the series though it’s unlikely. In a flashforward tease shown in the season finale, we find ourselves in 2012 without any indication if Baldwin and the others are still alive or active. With regards to the fourth season, For All Mankind continued to soar with its look at a past that is more futuristic than our own. Many episodes and plot lines were fascinating and built up to an intense and cathartic season finale.
At this time, it is unknown if For All Mankind has been renewed for a fifth season, though it is one of the more popular TV shows on Apple TV +. Not only would it be great if we’re given a fifth season taking place in the 2010s but a sixth season that takes place in this decade and beyond. Who knows, maybe we’ll see the Jovian system being colonized or perhaps of the first steps to faster-than-light travel as humanity begins to contemplate traveling to other star systems. If all goes well Ronald D. Moore and his colleagues will be able to conclude this captivating look at an alternate world of true space exploration.
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