"Moonfall" Review: A Disaster Movie

Platform: In Theaters

Release Date: February 4, 2022

There are many directors whose film catalogs carry enough of a theme to lead audiences to link said directors with a certain niche. Christopher Nolan loves twisty mind-benders, Michael Bay is all about actions and explosions, and today's focus, Roland Emmerich, has an unhealthy obsession with destroying the planet. Helming notable disaster/sci-fi films such as “Independence Day” and its sequel “Resurgence,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012,” Emmerich clearly feels he has a strong grasp of the concept and this year's “Moonfall” does not seem to stray much from his usual formula. Not known for garnering much critical success, with only “Independence Day” and “The Patriot” carrying any real favorability, “Moonfall's” excentric premise would seem to indicate that Emmerich has conceded to the idea of a making good movie and, rather, focuses more on trying to thrill the audience.

Ten years after being attacked on Space Shuttle Mission by an unknown black swarm that leaves a fellow astronaut dead, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), having been blamed and fired by NASA, struggles to make ends meet. When he is tracked down by Dr. K.C. Houseman (John Bradley; not actually a doctor), a conspiracy theorist who cites proof that the moon is dangerously falling out of orbit, Brian shrugs him off. But when news breaks about strange happenings with the moon, Brian reunites with K.C. and they take their shared experiences and knowledge to NASA as natural disasters begin to occur around the planet. As the world prepares for the apocalypse and the military prepares a nuclear attack, newly acting director of NASA, Jo Fowler (Halle Berry), is left to trust Brian and K.C. to help her drop an EMP on the black swarm of nanotechnology as the Moon is continues to near the planet. Brian and Jo are surprised to find that once they travel down a hole in the moon, that K.C.'s theory of the moon being a megastructure is true, and the moon is an advanced piece of technology run by a white dwarf core. After learning of the true history of humankind, the three astronauts are equipped with the weapon they need to stop the nanotech swarm and have one final shot to save their families back on Earth.

This movie tries to juggle multiple high-end concepts and two storylines, while still attempting to deliver world-ending chaos. The moon storyline is led by Harper, K.C., and Jo, as they are who conjure and carry out the plan to destory the nanotech they believe is altering the moon's orbit. Then there is the Earth storyline, which encompassed two subplots: the military's nuclear plan and the survival of the main characters' families. The events on Earth were treated as second-class material and felt like it was used to be filler than substantial storytelling. Being introduced to Jo's and Brian's sons, Jimmy (Zayn Maloney) and Sonny (Charlie Plummer), along with others in their close circles, was supposed to bridge the personal stakes of the team's mission to the audience. However, there was no time spent with those characters and very little connective tissue to build any emotional attachment to the characters or the success of the mission. Between the children's journey to a military base, multiple dealings with scavengers, the miltary's nuclear option, and the natural disasters caused by the moon, the little time allotted for each made them feel little more than white noise.

Following the main plot of deciphering what has happened to the moon and how to stop it takes too many unexpected turns that continues d to raise the stakes of the movie's absurdity. Drawing heavy from conspiracy theories, “Moonfall” draws circles around a cover-up of the dark side of the moon, the dangers of sentient AI (Artificial Intelligence), and the moon being an advanced technological structure hidden within its rocky exterior. Each new discovery, rather than being pleasantly shocking, exposed the lack of strong direction in the movie. Each of these concept and theories are interesting in their own right and could be highlight of their own films, but when carelessly thrown together, there is nothing left but a jumbled mess of ideas. This becomes most apparent in the final act, as the planet disaster film becomes engrossed in Star Trek-like lore with spaceship blasters and video game power-ups. If the moon slowly coming into impact with the Earth is too tame for you, do not worry, this movie competes with itself to become its most ridiculous self.

For a director who recently came under fire for comments indicating how film franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are ruining the movie industry, he sure did not come out of the gate with a strong entry himself. There is very little creativity and variety in the destruction seen on Earth, some of which has CGI that is barely better than a Windows 98 computer game. There is no concern with building an interest in the stakes of the astronaut's mission, as the characters are left with very little development and are not expected to give much of a performance outside of explaining the wild science theories in the plot. This is an empty movie that barely crossed the threshold into being somewhat entertaining, but mostly because of its theories, not its story or visuals. I would suggest one of Emmerich's older films, like “The Day After Tomorrow,” or a more recent world-ending flick, like “Greenland,” if you want to get your disaster on.

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RATING: 🌑 🌑 / 5

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