Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Roland Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson. Halle Barry, John Bradley, Charlie Plummer, Michael Pena, Eme Ikwaukor, Caroline Bartczak, Zayne Maloney, Donald Sutherland, Stephen Bogaert, Kathleen Fee.
Very little makes sense in this gleefully silly and nonsensical blockbuster from Roland Emmerich. Moonfall is a derivative sci-fi film that borrows from other films such as Armageddon, Deep Impact, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Road, etc. The German born filmmaker has become the modern-day master of the big, spectacular disaster flick, and as with his previous films like Independence Day, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, Emmerich again trashes the planet with casual abandon.
Here the moon is apparently a hollow mega structure that was built by an alien intelligence millions of years ago, but now an evolving and self-aware artificial intelligence is set on destroying both the moon and the earth, wiping out the human race and paving the way for another life form to dominate. The moon’s elliptical orbit is decreasing and bringing it closer to the earth, and its gravitational forces are wreaking havoc, with floods, earthquakes, large debris showers of moon rocks, and other natural phenomena. The first person to become aware of the threat is amateur astronomer and conspiracy theorist KC Houseman (John Bradley, from Game Of Thrones, etc), but no-one will listen to his warnings. By the time NASA realise the threat time is running out.
With only days before the moon’s orbit brings it into contact with the earth, a desperate mission is hastily assembled, comprising of Jocinda Fowler (Halle Berry) who is now the head of NASA operations, disgraced former astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and K C himself. There is plenty of tension between Fowler and Harper due to their shared past as NASA astronauts on a routine mission to repair the space shuttle which ended badly a decade earlier. Using an old, decommissioned space shuttle, they fly into the centre of the moon to counter the threat by triggering a powerful explosive device that is supposed to correct the moon’s alignment and save the planet before the US military launch a tactical nuclear strike on the moon.
Very little of the screenplay from Emmerich, Spenser Cohen and Harald Kloser makes sense and there are plenty of holes in the plotting. The half-baked script delivers lots of pseudo-science and conspiracy theories about the moon landing. Moonfall lacks the satirical edge of the recent Don’t Look Up. For me the strongest part of the film was the subplot in which Brian’s troubled teenage son Sonny (played by Charlie Plummer, from Lean On Pete, etc) races across an apocalyptic landscape to find safety. This actually gave me characters I could care about and a scenario that was engaging and compelling, even if it does seem like it was lifted straight from The Road.
The cast deliver solid performances that are attuned to the nature of the material. Bradley wasa last minute replacement for Josh Gad, who dropped out due to a scheduling conflict, and his performance as the nerdy and anxiety ridden K C is one of the best things about the film, and he scores several big laughs. He brings some much need humour to the material with his observations undercutting the preposterous nature of the material. He even has a pet cat cleverly named Fuzz Aldrin. At times though Wilson looks a little bored and uncomfortable with this nonsense, while Berry does her best to maintain her dignity while spouting some expository dialogue. The also cast includes Michael Pena, and there is the almost obligatory weird cameo from Donald Sutherland in a blink and you miss him role as a crazy, enigmatic shadowy NASA employee who is the keeper of the space agency’s darkest secrets.
Much of the dialogue is stilted, cliched and nonsensical, although it is delivered with straight-faced conviction by Berry and Wilson.
As expected with a big budget blockbuster of this sort, the special effects are very good. For some reason, the artificial intelligence and nanotechnology that is attacking the moon is depicted here as a swarming sticky black mass of goo. There is some impressive sound design from Ryan Stevens Harris (Midway, etc), and cinematographer Robby Baumgartner (The Guest, Midway, etc) captures some striking images of the destruction wrought. The trail of destruction is pretty impressive especially when seen on the big IMAX screen.
Another drawback is the unnecessarily bloated running time of 130 minutes. The best way to enjoy this silly and derivative film is to leave your brain at the cinema door.
★★☆
