Review: Netflix’s ‘The Monkey King’ is a fresh take on an old story
DUBAI: Streaming giant Netflix this week released the official teaser trailer for French Algerian actress Sofia Boutella’s latest film “Rebel Moon,” giving fans a look at the first part titled “A Child of Fire.”
The trailer shows a montage of battles, alien creatures, love and betrayal.
The short teaser also revealed that the second part of the saga – “The Scargiver” – will be released on April 19, 2024.
In the sci-fi adventure, which will debut on the streaming platform on Dec. 22, a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force.
Kora, played by Boutella, is a woman with a mysterious past living among the villagers who becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Mother World, Kora assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge.
The film is directed by Zack Snyder, the filmmaker behind “300,” “Man of Steel” and “Army of the Dead.”
In June, Snyder attended Netflix’s Tudum global fan event in Brazil with his wife Deborah and Boutella to showcase a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the film, which is a concept he has been developing since college.
“I’ve been working on this story for quite a while,” Snyder said on stage, according to Deadline. “It’s about a group of farmers on the edge of the galaxy that get visited by the armies of the Mother World which are the bad guys. The farmers have to decide to fight or submit.”
He continued, “I don’t want to give it all away, but if they had decided to fight, let’s say that was an option, they would have to travel around the galaxy to find warriors to fight with them. And so, it had us traveling quite a bit.”
The project will be released in the form of two movies after the writer-director spoke with Netflix about his 72-page-script, which translated to a nearly-three-hour movie.
In addition to the two-parter, Snyder will also release two cuts of the film.
It will not be the first time Algiers-born Boutella has taken on the role of a sword-wielding extraterrestrial. The actress, who at the age of 10 fled to Paris with her family during the Algerian civil war, is known for her breakout performance in the Oscar-nominated film “Star Trek Beyond” where she portrayed fierce alien warrior Jaylah.