Not as bad as the first, but still is no “Star Wars.”

Faithful followers of my reviews (via text, tape, or podcast) will know that I thought Zach Snyder’s “Rebel Moon-Part One: A Child of Fire” was one of the worst Sci-Fi movies I have ever seen. I even voted it as the Worst Movie of last year. And yet, it was one of Netflix’s most popular movies. Of course it would. It’s a Zach Snyder movie on a popular streaming service.

Now, we have “Part Two: The Scargiver,” which isn’t as bad as the first, but that’s not really saying much. It’s still basically the same stuff happening over and over again. It’s the kind of movie you could watch on TV, while reading a more interesting book or checking out a Facebook or TikTok post.

This continuation picks up when the last movie left off, as the main heroine Kora (Sofia Boutella), also labeled Scargiver, believes she killed the evil Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein), but technology has reanimated him. But into a bigger, stronger fighting machine, one who believes he can lead his troops into hunting down Kora and killing anyone who stands in their way.

New things also emerge like how Kora and her friend Gunnar (Michael Huisman) become romantically involved, and how she had to betray the King (Cary Elwes) and Queen (Rhian Rees), making her wanted fugitive. Their surviving team (since the Charlie Hunam character was a wolf in sheep’s clothing) also consists of Titus (Djimon Hounsou), Nemesis (Doona Bae), Tarak (Staz Nair), and Millius (Elsie Duffy); and they all must train the farmers on the good planet to fight back against the Imperial.

As the battle begins, the good guys and bad guys get killed, explosions happen, and CGI effects are wall to wall. Add some corny one liners like “damn” and Tom Holkenborg’s dramatic score, the robot knight Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins) kicking some ass, and then you have a Sci-Fi battle. It’s just boring and sometimes predictable for my tastes.

The only times when we’re not indulged in all this crap, is when we get a few emotional stories from Kora and Titus, as well as she and Noble trading words with each other. And she and Gunnar have a more interesting connection than how the first movie displayed them. So, there is some improving work from Boutella, Huisman, Skrein, and Hounsou. I knew this sequel would be crappy, but not as crappy as the first, because there had to be at least something this franchise would improve on.

But I still didn’t care for this sequel. It can become another hit for Netflix, but what are we really missing here? Aliens, robots, evil empires, rebels, and swords that look and slice like lightsabers. The force is still not strong with this one.

An important distinction: “Rebel Moon-Part One: A Child of Fire” was memorably bad, while “Rebel Moon-Part Two: The Scargiver” is a slight improvement, but that’s like a dumb student making a little more of an effort and bumping his grade up from an F to a C. I’ll save my hatred for worse movies. Thank you.

Now Streaming on Netflix