Rage of Stars (2026) Review | Łukasz Róg's Cosmic Drama

We open with Jemma (Andrea Tivadar), a captain in the International Special Forces Unit, a multinational black-ops team that handles the threats too sensitive for any single flag. She’s a pragmatic soldier, all clipped orders and cold efficiency, but she’s haunted by vivid, involuntary premonitions - flashes of cosmic collapse, of stars going dark, of humanity wiped from the record. Her superiors, led by the stoic Commander (Małgorzata Klara), dismiss these as combat stress, the psychological toll of a hard life. But when a routine extraction goes sideways and Jemma’s vision saves her squad - led by the grizzled Luk (Jord Knotter) - from an ambush with impossible precision, the disbelief starts to crack.

The plot then spirals outward, away from the sandbox of geopolitical conflict and into a realm of terrifying certainty. Jemma’s visions intensify, revealing a pattern: it’s not random mania, but a front-row seat to a deterministic apocalypse. The team, now including the skeptical tech genius Kriss (Jack McEvoy) and the blunt soldier Tom (Elijah Rowen), becomes a fugitive unit, trying to find a way to change a future that Jemma can feel is already written. Their mission shifts from containing threats to understanding the source of her visions, leading to a confrontation that is less a battle than a philosophical debate with the end of the world itself. It’s a plot that thrives on ambiguity, asking whether the future is a locked cage or a fluid river, and it doesn’t hand you easy answers.

Let’s start with Tivadar, because she is the engine that keeps this precarious vehicle on the road. Jemma is a soldier torn between her loyalty to her unit and the crushing weight of a galaxy-sized trauma. Tivadar plays this duality beautifully - her steely exterior gives way to moments of vulnerability that feel earned, not performed. Her chemistry with Jord Knotter’s Luk is the film’s emotional core; they share a quiet, unsaid bond that speaks louder than the barrage of gunfire around them. The supporting cast is decent, with Jack McEvoy providing the dry wit and rational counterpoints, but they’re largely functional, orbiting the supernova of the lead performance.

Łukasz Róg brings a European grit to the typically glossy Hollywood action scene. The combat sequences are brutal, kinetic, and refreshingly grounded, favoring close-quarters chaos over drone-shot choreography. The film’s aesthetic leans heavily into a cold, sterile military palette, but it slows down for the weirdly beautiful scenes of cosmic horror. When Jemma’s visions hit, the screen dissolves into swirling nebulae and fractal patterns - a trippy, low-fi cosmic dread that feels more David Cronenberg than Marvel. It’s in these moments where “Rage of Stars” truly distinguishes itself, aiming for a cerebral vertigo that genre films often shy away from.

But ambition has a cost. The script, juggling military jargon, philosophical dialogue, and character backstory, often gets tangled in its own knots. The story’s leap from a grounded thriller to an abstract metaphysical drama is a rocky one, and the third act succumbs to a rush of exposition that feels less profound and more confused. The visual effects are a mixed bag; the cosmic stuff is evocative, but the inevitable green-screen backdrops during the finale look distractingly cheap, undermining the grandiosity of the stakes. The film also sidelines its supporting characters just when they become interesting, particularly the enigmatic Maya (Mayu Gralińska Sakai), who seems to hold more answers than she shares. It’s a shame, because the world-building hints at a richer lore that the 106-minute runtime simply can’t contain.

Pros

• Andrea Tivadar’s powerful, nuanced lead performance.
• Genuinely inventive and eerie cosmic horror imagery.
• Solid, visceral action choreography that avoids the usual shaky-cam clutter.
• A lean, punchy runtime that respects your time.
• A refreshingly ambiguous, non-Hollywood ending that lingers.

Cons

• The plotting becomes increasingly muddled in the second half.
• Inconsistent visual effects, especially in the climax.
• Underwritten supporting characters, particularly the female ones outside the lead.
• The tonal shift from military thriller to abstract sci-fi is jarring and uneven.

“Rage of Stars” is a frustrating, fascinating misfire - a film that reaches for the heavens but gets caught in the atmosphere. It’s the kind of movie that you’ll find yourself arguing about on the drive home. Is it a flawed gem of indie sci-fi, or a well-acted but overambitious jumble? Honestly, it’s both. It is a character study wearing a space suit, a military thriller with a philosophical aneurysm. It’s the kind of mid-budget, original science fiction we claim to want, and yet, it’s easy to see why the masses might stay away. It asks for patience it doesn’t always justify, and it trades in easy catharsis for a difficult, chilly meditation on fate. I respect the hell out of its ambition, even when its execution trips over its own feet. For fans of thoughtful sci-fi who can tolerate a bit of narrative chaos, it’s worth a watch. For everyone else, it’s a noble failure. Given the current summer blockbuster landscape, I’ll take a noble failure over a safe success any day, and for that, “Rage of Stars” earns its modest place.