So here it is then, the second part that no one wanted to see, to a first part they really wished they hadn’t.

Zack Snyder’s second instalment to his Rebel Moon is now with us, bobbing around on the Netflix.

It is widely understood that it won’t be great from the off, simply on the basis of the how very poor the first one was, but can it improve on it somehow?

So, as most second parts naturally do, The Scargiver picks up from the end of the first, with the farming community of Veldt waiting on the return of Kora (Sofia Boutella) with some good news, which she gives them, to be fair, and that is that Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) is dead. Hoorah. Everyone can relax and go back to planting stuff in the ground and that.

Oh but wait. Perhaps Kora isn’t fully aware of the situation, and everything isn’t quite as she says it is. So there’s a real possibility that the farmer’s are far from in the clear, with trouble still heading their way. Is there anything they can do to help themselves?

So anyone hoping for some kind of improvement on what little there was in the first place, will be greatly disappointed. Part two is a bloated, dreary extension, that struggles in every single aspect to entertain. It would be great to say at least it serves as the full stop to this silly space story, that is woefully unoriginal in every way, but it can’t even do that right, by teasing/threatening even more to come.

And of course, in the same way part one was, this is a lazy re-telling of The Magnificent Seven, or possibly more appropriately, 1980’s battle Beyond the Stars, both of which are superior titles.

On a bigger scale it might bring into question Snyder as an auteur, of sorts, who appears to be joining Paul W.S Anderson (responsible for the Resident Evil franchise) in that special club of ‘special’ auteurs. It’s a niche club, specialising in specific types of film; and although Snyder started off well enough with 300, he’s almost become a parody of himself for being a director’s cut merchant. Which means he’s either not confident with his first cut, or, more likely, he’s aware he has a loyal following who are likely to pay up for something way longer, and, in nearly every case, far from an improvement, purely for financial gain. Cynical perhaps, but there’s no denying the trend.

Snyder is a talented director, but he does appear to be sliding into a dubious pit of his own making, where his creative edge is nothing short of being blunt right now, as this dire franchise illustrates perfectly.

Of course a Snyder Cut of Rebel Moon is on its way, which we can’t wait for. Oh scratch that, turns out we can.

As it stands this is the perfect companion to the first episode, in that it’s also unoriginal, turgid and dull, which appears to be an on-going trend as far as Snyder is concerned, whichever way you cut it.