Moonfall is a 2022 science fiction drama film co-written, directed, and co-produced by Roland Emmerich. Spenser Cohen and Harold Kloser also contributed to the script. Emmerich is a sci-fi legend of sorts, having previously directed Universal Soldier (1992), written and directed Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), and the list goes on.
A mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman believes her.
The cast includes Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, and Donald Sutherland. The film was shot in Montreal with a $140 million budget, making it one of the most expensive independently-produced films of all time.
Moonfall made its debut in theaters on February 3rd, courtesy of Lionsgate.
THE GOOD
Moonfall has been shredded by critics for the most part after pre-release screenings, which to be quite honest didn’t necessarily surprise me when the first reviews came out. The trailer reeked of a B-movie box office disaster, and I couldn’t help but think that someone would be losing their their job over this mess of a movie. After a few more reviews began to come out, it started to sound more like a Roland Emmerich movie which of course added some intrigue. As I touched on above, Emmerich knows his way around a movie that is simply meant to be experienced on the big screen. So, was Moonfall the train wreck I initially anticipated it was going to be or did it send me home with a smile on my face? Keep on reading to find out!
Okay so first and foremost, I did not hate this movie. Its been awhile since I have seen a movie from Roland Emmerich, but he definitely has a signature style. He likes outlandish storylines that lead to a massive spectacle of a finale sure to have audiences on the edge of their seat, and Moonfall is no different. For the majority of the film the acting takes a back seat to the CGI and the overall technical elements of the film, but that somehow evens itself out by the end. Emmerich wants to make you think, but he also wants you to be in awe wondering just how far he is wiling to take things. Admittedly his vision requires you to look beyond several flaws, but you will be rewarded for your efforts.
If you are worried that Moonfall will force you to wait until the final 10-minutes for the action to start, you can rest assured that is not the case here. As a director Emmerich is like your toddler who insists on dumping out every single tote of toys as soon as he wakes up as if he is planning on playing with all of them. Before you know it, buildings are collapsing, everything is underwater, and every business is abandoned. This approach ensures audiences will not be bored, offering a ton of disaster movie joy to the just over 2-hour runtime. To be completely honest, I applaud Emmerich for his willingness to make movies that fit his vision, even if they may be met with a great deal of criticism from those who will pick it apart. He is surely a man who goes to the beat of his own drum.
Now I’m not trying to make excuses for Moonfall, but it faced several obstacles during production that may have shelved many movies indefinitely. The COVID-19 pandemic in particular created quite a few issues considering Emmerich began getting the ball rolling for the film in 2019, which of course was pre-pandemic. The cast was impacted as Stanley Tucci was replaced last minute by Michael Peña due to traveling restrictions keeping Tucci from reaching the production site. Filming locations were extremely limited, forcing the construction of over 130 different sets to be utilized on location in Montreal. They were also forced to expedite principal photography because of the pandemic related issues.
It is also worth pointing out that Emmerich made the push for Moonfall to be an independent film as he wanted to have the majority of creative control, heading to Cannes Film Festival for financial backers. Eventually the roughly $140 million budget consisted of contributions from Huayi Brothers, Lionsgate, and Germany. Emmerich got the idea for the film after reading the novel Who Built the Moon?, which debates the possibility that the Moon was artificially constructed. He worked on the script for four years, and apparently actual conspiracy theory exists arguing this is an actual possibility. Who knew.
Although this is a far cry from their best work, Moonfall offers up a very talented cast. I won’t go too deep into their specific performances yet but I will talk about them a bit later in the review. I’m a big fan of the great Halle Berry for obvious reasons (for some reason her role in Swordfish always comes to mind), and she was fantastic in the 2019 crime thriller John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (full review here). I enjoyed her character in this film overall and felt like she was a solid addition to the cast.
I really like Patrick Wilson as an actor who has been investing a good majority of his time in the Conjuring franchise, most recently The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (full review here). Wilson has good chemistry with Berry and the rest of the cast, and in my opinion he earns his spot as a leading man yet again. John Bradley, who is best known for his role as Samwell Tarly in the HBO drama series Game of Thrones, won me over by the end of the film with his character and he also provides the majority of the comic relief, getting quite a few laughs from the audience. I also enjoyed seeing Michael Peña who is an actor that always impresses me in his roles. Charlie Plummer, who was fantastic in the coming of age drama Words on Bathroom Walls (full review here), takes on a small supporting role as the son of Patrick Wilson’s character. He was a bit dull for the majority of the film but I was happy with his character by the end.
THE BAD
Bare with me, this may take a while. I went into the theater knowing what the initial criticisms were but I was more than prepared to form my own opinions. If you follow my reviews I consider myself to be unbiased and willing to appreciate a movie for what it is mean to be. Well, first and foremost, Moonfall is without a doubt riddled with issues, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a horrible movie. I will now do my best to touch on the “cons” of the movie.
Okay, so the first thing I noticed is the acting. Now we are dealing with a cast consisting of some very decent to upper echelon acting talent working today, ranging from Halle Berry, to Patrick Wilson, right on to my guy Michael Peña. Donald Sutherland is in the film as well, but he plays such a limited role I feel wrong even mentioning him. Now I will start with the headliners, Berry and Wilson. Both very solid in their craft no question about that, but in Moonfall they are both just meh. I honestly can’t put my finger on it, but the majority of their lines feel about as flat as a 2-liter of Coca-Cola left out without the cap for a few hours. They just seemed uninspired and bored.
Michael Peña felt the same once he made an appearance, which made me realize these are not isolated incidents. Even Charlie Plummer felt like he was lacking energy. After doing some research on all of the issues the film faced during production which I touched on above, I think it is fair to say that the quality of the acting took the biggest hit. If you are rushing the non-action scenes due to time restrictions, the quality will suffer. Oddly enough, I felt like Game of Thrones actor John Bradley was the most consistent of the bunch. But before I sit here and trash the acting, once the final act comes around, everyone kicks it onto another gear and reminds us of why they are some of the best Hollywood has to offer.
Another odd issue I had with Moonfall was the technical element, specifically the special effects. At one point Patrick Wilson’s character is riding his motorcycle to a speech he is late for and the green screen work is just BRUTAL. I mean, the background isn’t even anything extravagant and it seems like he is riding around in low budget Blade Runner. For some reason or another this happens often throughout the film, where it seems as though the character is in two places at once. Now I understand this is commonplace for a low-budget film, which this really isn’t, but what is most odd is the fact during the hardcore CGI scenes, things are on point for the most part. For example, when we are given a glimpse of what is essentially perceived as the “enemy”, it looks fantastic. And the other big time action sequences and in particular the final act, are a joy to experience. This is part of why it is so hard to fully criticize this film.
THE VERDICT
If you can ignore the more glaring issues especially early on, Moonfall brings enough Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow action to the table to warrant a trip to the theater, while offering a satisfying final act sure to please audiences willing to give it a chance. Is this movie incredibly flawed in all of the most important categories that can make or break a movie? Absolutely. But for all of it’s downfalls which I talked about at length above, this is still an entertaining movie that is best to be seen in theaters. The negatives seem to fade into the background by the end of the movie, and for me, that is a win. With the last month or so lacking in worthwhile theater releases, it may be worth ignoring the consensus from critics and giving Moonfall a try so that you can form own opinion. Just do what I did and go in with tempered expectations.
TED TAKES RATING - 6.3/10
Moonfall is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.