Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Is No “Empire Strikes Back”! Despite taking every single cue from “Star Wars,” the second part of “Rebel Moon” in a supposed franchise of six movies (yawn!) is another round of audiovisual assault on the senses. Snyder fans who may have expected a more deep-rooted political take with parallels to the US will be disappointed to see a film that is all exposition and zero depth. His slow-mo, which has seeped away from action sequences to more unrelated stuff, is hard to sit through with little to no development in any of the characters per se.
In the following article, we will be looking at “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” (2024) in all its glorious details. If you still haven’t seen the film, I would recommend coming back to this because it will be full of spoilers.
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
After a quick recap by Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins), who also features as a consistent witness to whatever takes place at Veldt (an apolitical character in a political story), we are on board the King’s gaze. As we saw during the ending of Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, Admiral Noble is not dead (Ed Skrein). His deputy, Cassius (Alfonso Herrera), and a host of technicians have resurrected him using their technology, and when he wakes up from his deep slumber, none of his ferociousness is lost. The first thing he instructs Cassius to do is to set a course for Veldt.
Back at Veldt, the warriors tell the villagers that Kora (Sofia Boutella) has killed Noble, but their happiness is short-lived when they get to know that The King’s Gaze will land on the planet in 5 days to get the grain that they have ordered the villagers to reap.
Why do the villagers of Valdt reap the harvest?
The warriors, headed by General Titus (Djimon Hounsou), see that there is no other way to fight Noble’s impending attack other than reaping the harvest as quickly as possible and using it as bait. Titus instructs the villagers to come together and do the work in record time so that they have ample time to strategize their next move. With all the warriors pitching in, the villagers manage to reap the harvest soon, and they all end the season with their usual get-together.
How did Kora become an outlaw?
Kora and Gunner (Michiel Huisman), who have become even closer after fighting side by side in the first film, make love to each other. This is when Gunner asks Kora how she became the biggest fugitive in the galaxy. Kora goes back into her memories of being the guard to the King’s daughter—the Princess who was trying to abandon war with her healing nature of peace. She tells him that she was brainwashed by Balisarius (Fra Fee), who was like a father to her.
So, on his instructions, she took part in the betrayal by ambushing the King, Queen, and Princess. It was she who shot the Princess, and as soon as she saw Balisarius put all the blame on her for killing them, she decided to become an outlaw—especially after the princess decided to forgive her moments before her death. The guilt turned her into a force to reckon with; she became The Scargiver.
What did Titus plan for the arrival of the king’s gaze?
Since the villagers had two more days before the arrival of The King’s Gaze and Admiral Noble’s wrath, Titus decides to plan in advance for a possible war-like scenario.
Firstly, he instructs them to put all the grain right in the midst of the village instead of far away from it because Noble would not be able to just blast the village out of existence, jeopardizing the harvest. Secondly, he asks them to form trenches and barricades in order for them to defend against the enemy, and lastly, he and the warriors use the time at hand to teach the villagers to use the weapons dumped by the Imperium in the village so that they can stand their ground. The villagers also dug up the old abandoned ship that Kora had landed on Valdt in case they needed it in battle.
The Backstories of the Warriors:
Before the battle cry, the warriors sit down for one last supper, where we get a brief backstory of all of them. General Titus says that he was sent by Balisarius to take over land, but when he noticed that the people only wanted freedom, he asked his troops to back off. So, instead of punishing him, Balisarius killed all his troops, leaving him extremely angry. Titus tells them that if the battle goes southways, he will not be stepping back this time.
Similarly, Milius (Elise Duffy), who eventually becomes a part of the rebellion, has a grieving backstory pretty similar to that of people who were subjected to the wrath of Halcoust. Nemesis (Bae Doona) chose to cut her own hands and choose violence that had been part of her community after her peaceful homeland was destroyed and her children were killed. Tarak’s (Staz Nair) story feels rooted in Indian colonialism when he lost his parents, who were king and queen of his homeland. Kora hides parts of her story and tells them that she chose to stay in Veldt because her life as a warrior made her believe that love was not a part of living.
What happens when The King’s Gaze arrives on Veldt?
According to their plan, Kora hides her dropship where she also meets Jimmy briefly. The apolitical character can be seen as a witness of all the wrong that the motherworld was inflicting on its people. This is where Kora urges him to take a side and leaves for negotiation with General Noble.
On Noble’s arrival, we see Kora offering herself if he leaves the villagers alone. However, Gunnar, who is aware that Noble will not leave them be, alerts the villagers for a possible showdown. The battle starts taking hold, and the villagers fight to the best of their abilities. However, Noble’s troops, who are extremely large in number, overpower them, leading to Nemesis’s death.
While the battle is going on, Gunnar and Kora sneak the dropship into The King’s Gaze in order to get to the heart of the ship, and an intense battle ensues both on the ground and in the sky. While Noble’s troops almost get to the villagers with their high-tech machinery, Jimmy shows up for them and fights along.
Up in the sky, Kora manages to plant explosives at the heart of The King’s gaze, which explodes right before the cannons can take the villagers. This leads The King’s Gaze to go down in freefall with Kora packing in a Krypteian sword (the rebel moon parallel for a lightsaber) to fight Noble. She is able to behead him with the help of Gunnar, who gets fatally injured and dies.
The rest of the dropships from The King’s Gaze are brought down by Devrah’s (Cleopatra Colman) troops from the resistance, who show up for the villagers. In spite of losing a lot of people, the villagers win the battle.
Is Princess Issa dead or alive?
The ending of Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024) features a mournful Kora coming clean about being Arthelais. The film, which is all about forgiveness, sees Titus telling her that she can’t lose hope just yet because Princess Issa, who we all presumed to be dead, is alive. He tells her that there is still a lot to fight for, and since Princess Issa is their only hope of peace in this dark, hopeless, battle-filled world, she can’t give up yet.
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