“Moonfall” Review
Patrick Wilson stars in “Moonfall,” Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster film about the possible destruction of Earth when the Moon comes out of orbit.
I consider myself to be a fairly open-minded person. When a film comes out, I always give it a fair shot. So when I saw that Roland Emmerich, the filmmaker behind bombs like 1998’s “Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and “2012,” was making a disaster film called “Moonfall,” I decided to give it a chance. After all, Emmerich has made some good work like “Independence Day,” “The Patriot” and “Midway.” But “Moonfall” is a complete disaster with no entertainment value which completely wasted two hours of my life.
After the Moon falls out of orbit and is heading towards the Earth, a group of astronauts (Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry and John Bradley) go on a dangerous mission to prevent the world’s annihilation.
One thought that continuously floated through my mind as I watched “Moonfall” was that I’d rather be watching “Don’t Look Up.” How ironic that I didn’t want Earth to be destroyed in “Don’t Look Up” but I want global destruction to be achieved in “Moonfall.”
The screenplay (written by Emmerich, Harald Kloser and Spenser Cohen) has some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a long while. The film has the audacity to have its characters spew cliched lines like “As You Know” and “God Help Us All.” Anytime you hear those two lines in a film, you’re in for some trouble.
As for the characters, they are either incredibly boring or stupid, making decisions so dumb that you’re rooting for the Moon. For instance, when the space shuttle carrying our heroes departs, they narrowly escape a gravity wave that causes a tsunami. Meanwhile, the characters’ relatives, who are supposed to be driving away, stop the car and watch the shuttle go up. Now, I’ve never been in a life threatening situation like a gravity wave, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to run away from it.
The film’s effects are quite niche but they far from save the film which suffers from poor writing, characterization and action.
While Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) is a solid protagonist and manages to rise above the mediocre dialogue, Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) is incredibly bland and Halle Berry, a fantastic actor, is given nothing to work with. Most of the actors fall flat and the legendary Donald Sutherland is completely wasted in a role that is only on screen for less than two minutes. That is not how you treat a legend with a voice like his. You give that man a leading role and some respect.
While K.C. Houseman (John Bradley) is likable at first, he has most of the comedic lines thrust upon him. Because he’s the only comedic character in the film, the rest of the cast feels lifeless and Bradley, while a likable presence, becomes annoying after a while.
If you want to have comedy in any film, the best kind comes from interaction. In a much better Emmerich film, “Independence Day,” several characters are funny and have great chemistry with one another but “Moonfall” is about as funny as it is enjoyable. Watching this film is an exercise in staying awake which is insane given the film’s somewhat incredible effects.
And just when you think this film can’t ascend to any higher levels of absurdity, the plot twist as to why the moon is falling is so lame it makes the twist from “The Happening” look like “The Sixth Sense.”
The real tragedy of “Moonfall” is that I know Roland Emmerich can make better films. I like “Independence Day,” “The Patriot” and “Midway” but he keeps making awful films. And recently, he had the gall to say that Marvel and “Star Wars” films are ruining the industry. At least most of those films are good. What’s “Moonfall’s” excuse? When I watched “Moonfall,” it started to hit me. “Jackass Forever,” a film made for $10 million, has more intelligence and entertainment value than a space action film made for over $100 million. Let that sink in.
