Moonfall

Starring: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Charlie Plummer, Wenwen Yu, Michael Pena, Caolina Bartczak, Eme Ikwuakor, Donald Sutherland
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2022

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The world is stunned when a mysterious force shifts the moon out of orbit and into a collision course with Earth.

Review:

Tim: When I first heard about Moonfall, I was ecstatic. It sounded like an incredibly cool concept and the perfect vehicle for Roland Emmerich to return to greatness. See, that's the thing- Emmerich is more than capable of greatness- Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Stargate, The Patriot. I love each of those movies. Sadly, he's also delivered a series of disappointing-to-bad movies. That's been most of the last almost two decades. The moon crashing into the Earth seemed like a great opportunity for him to recapture his early success.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen here. Moonfall is another Emmerich disappointment. You have to believe at this point that he's lost whatever magic he might have once had. This is a big, dumb, illogical movie that's all spectacle and no substance. It's a total mess of a film. Yes, it does get some credit for Emmerich's big, audacious swing, but this isn't a very worthwhile movie.

I loved the idea of the moon crashing into the Earth, but I wasn't prepared for Emmerich's deep science fiction angle. I don't think it works. It allows him to bring in crackpots and conspiracy theorists, but the whole thing feels too forced and farfetched. I never really believed the explanation about the moon, and it undermines everything else in the film. I couldn't suspend my disbelief nearly enough to enjoy the hogwash story. Emmerich is never able to sell this reality and the whole movie seems ludicrous. It was a lot to suggest the moon would collide with the Earth, but when you (SPOILER ALERT) start talking about a hollow moon, alien civilizations, Dyson spheres, and all the rest, it just becomes too much. I think there might have been a way to present all this in a way that felt easier to accept, but the movie does not achieve that. The story here feels absurd and illogical.

Like most of Emmerich's movies, the human relationships feel forced and paper thin. I never actually cared about any of the characters here or believed their motivations. Patrick Wilson is in the biggest role and he's a good actor. He works hard to sell this, but ultimately, I never felt that invested in his story. It was too obvious, too flimsy. Halle Berry is a talented actress, but I felt like she got the short end of the stick here. She was relegated to the sidelines too much. Her name comes first in the credits and yet the list of interesting things she does is very minimal. Emmerich doesn't leverage her abilities nearly enough. I really like John Bradley from his time on Game of Thrones and he gives one of the best performances of the film. He's a scene stealer for sure and he brings energy and humor to the movie. That being said, Emmerich gives him far more interesting things to do than Berry. I didn't understand that at all. As much as I did like Bradley and his banter with Wilson, it felt like he should have had fewer scenes so Berry could have more to do. I didn't care for Charlie Plummer's performance at all. It left me feeling completely cold. Wenwen Yu likewise has so little to do. I love Michael Pena, but outside of one effective scene, he's mostly wasted in a straightforward, boring role. I loved seeing Donald Sutherland, but he does absolutely nothing. I kept thinking he would play a larger role at some point but it never happens. Emmerich did assemble a solid cast for his film, but he never leverages them the way he needed to. His script and directing hamper their ability to make the movie better.

As you might expect, the visuals and the spectacle of the disaster are the biggest draw to this film. There's something legitimately entertaining about watching the enormous moon in the Earth's sky, swinging by the planet, causing untold destruction. Some of the ideas about gravity seemed completely absurd, but it was fairly fun to watch. I wish we had more of these scenes. The visuals are impressive and while there's not much suspense (because we don't really care about anyone or anything), they're still fairly fun to see. Unfortunately, we get more scenes of our trio of astronauts, which is not nearly as exciting as the movie seems to think it is. Truthfully, outside of a few entertaining moments, the climax of the film felt disappointing and too predictable.

I wanted to like Moonfall, I really did. I think about the level of initial excitement I felt, contrasted with the absolute blandness of the final product and how I feel about it. It's discouraging. This could have been a fun, entertaining film, but instead, it's another Emmerich failure. I don't hold out much hope that he can revive his career- he seems more and more set in his ways, delivering these visually stunning, emotionless disaster movies. This might not quite be a bad movie, but it gets uncomfortably close.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: 2012, 10,000 BC, Independence Day, Stargate, The Day After Tomorrow