Streaming Reviews: Two lost strays

Yes, it’s that time of the year to be kinder, but these two films aim for the moon but never quite leave Earth. One tries to chronicle privilege, while the second tries reinventing Star Wars.

Saltburn (Amazon Prime) - Emerald Fennell garnered notices for her film work beyond her acting (she portrayed Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown 2019-2020) when she wrote and directed Promising Young Woman in 2020, which starred Carey Mulligan. A revenge thriller/black comedy that explored women’s issues in their relationships with men of toxic masculinity, the film was a wild success. It opened up a new path for Fennell as a cinema hyphenate. Here, then, is her second feature film, and it’s written, directed, and produced by Fennell. Saltburn is the name of an eccentric family’s estate in England, and it’s Fennell’s take on the world of privilege, titles, eccentricity, and why regular people are so fascinated with this world, wishing to belong, have contact with, or ogle from afar. 

We first meet Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) as he walks to his Oxford college and spies Felix Catton (the new pin-up Jacob Elordi) in the courtyard. Immediately, he’s aroused and curious. At the College’s dining hall, it’s established that Oliver is a poor Merseyside scholar, while Felix comes from a titled family and shines in the center of the college's crowd. A not-so-chance encounter eventually puts Oliver in Felix's orbit. Invited to the family estate, we then get vignettes of this strange relationship, culminating in a scene when Oliver spies Felix playing with himself in a bathtub, and when Felix leaves, Oliver is sipping at the water as it goes down the drain. Unfortunately, the film ends up more as peephole fantasy than penetrating satire. It's always a visual pleasure but a narrative letdown. 

Rebel Moon Part One - A Child of Fire (Netflix) - Here is the new Zack Snyder, the project he’s been peddling for decades, a Snyder version of Star Wars rebooted. And the nagging question is whether it’s worth the wait and all the hype. In typical Snyder fashion, it’s already been marketed as having its own Director’s Cut, with a Part II coming in late 2024. The Director’s Cut strategy is straight out of his Justice League history. At the center of this two-hour Part I is Kora (Sofia Boutella), whom we first meet working in an agrarian commune on some distant planet. And when the government forces descend on the planet and do what the Dark Side does, she reveals herself as a former warrior and is now ready to be branded a rebel. 

Snyder may have had some good ideas here, and he still knows how to deliver on the fight scenes, although the slow-motion aspect gets tiring. But the narrative is like one big yawn. It’s best described as a chop shop product, with parts and bits taken from other films of the same genre. Of course, there’s Star Wars - but without the humor and strong interconnections between characters, Dune and Jupiter is Ascending. And please don’t get me started on the dialogue - it’s wooden, chunky, cliche, and even delivered without much conviction. Other than Kora, the rest of the cast seems forgettable when they open their mouths and declaim their lines. That this film shot to #1 most watched means Netflix does know what they’re doing, and it’s us, the audience, who don’t know better.