WATCH NOW
Roland Emmerich does it again in ”Moonfall”, only this time it feels like his heart is not quite into it. The German-born self-hating filmmaker has become a pilgrim of conspiracy theories, which is understandable since he has managed to make himself known as the ‘master of disaster’ thanks to movies like “Independence Day” or his very own global warming movie “The Day After Tomorrow” But where ‘s the roller coaster ride turned mass death feature thing that part of his glory came from? Like with ’2012’ Instead, we have ’Moonfall’, which makes eclipsing death seem less gruesome, pointless, and dreadful than watching it unfold on screen.
“Moonfall” shows what the world would look like if the moon stopped orbiting and crashed onto Earth’s surface. Earth’s gravitational pulled would be out of control and moon would be shedding shards as it neared. Emmerich so easily dismisses the reason why it would happen, and in resting half-baked science to support his claim – gives it a blend of ‘Transformers’ to give it a boost, that seems very conceptually interesting, but unfortunately, is just beautifully executed.
The movie’s premise was hardly impressive, and it would be best if someone compares it to Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” where a large planet is colliding with the Earth.
Instead of preparing the ground for other scientists as their mission prescribed, the American military has decided, “Well, we have got to nuke the moon,” and did just that. But American scientists have discovered something else. There is something inside the moon, and three people are supposed to save the day Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), an infamous astronaut, a NASA head and Brian’s fellow teacher and astronaut in the shuttle, Jocinda Fowl (Halle Berry), and a conspiracy theorist called KC (John Bradley), who believed for a long time that the moon was a megastructure. KC discovers a change of course, leaks it to the media, while NASA’s base assumption is that there are only three weeks left. His aim is to leave the earth in a shuttle at a base with no crew, and as the title suggests, he does so. Much like the rest of the movie, the premise feels uninspired and lazy.
All three of my heroes have their own connections that are just mundane enough to provide some grounded drama: there’s Brian and his ex-wife along with their two girls and his problematic son Sonny (Charlie Plummer) his ex-wife’s Jocinda and her son, her ex-husband and the foreign exchange student she makes babysit her kid (Kelly Yu); KC and his mother and his cat Fuzz Aldrin (delightful close up).
“Moonfall” is a lumbering, long locomotive of one cliche attached to another, co-written with Harald Kloser and Spencer Cohen, making time pass slowly despite all the juggling of these different one-dimensional relationships. The human stories are in fact, laden with cliches, which is detrimental instead of helpful, and so, instead of involving us more deeply, so telegraphed in the drama of their characters. Midway through the movie, this is how an angsty son and stepfather reunite: step-father – “I don’t hate you.” son – “You know what? I’ll take it.”
“Moonfall”, suffers from other more consciously cut corners, advertising a low budget and suggesting they could only afford so much destruction (his previous film, “Midway” with less successful looking phony constructs used in the more successful version). It is so clear that the movie’s Colorado is a sound stage with one tiny snowy road for constant repeated shots, you see how cramped the actors are and more specifically hear the contempt in Charlie Plummer’s lines.
Using fewer resources than his past blockbusters, “Moonfall” always seems stifled by its over-reliance on green screens and the underwhelming effort of its VFX teams. For someone having his vision on blockbusters, Emmerich is’nt all that bad. He managed to motivate innumerable disaster films straight to DVD, such as “2012: Doomsday,” yet still ended up producing a shoddy piece of eye-candy film junk with little motivation to do more.
Being a self-mocking and rather straightforward filmmaker, Emmerich’s sense of compassion can be revealed through the animated performances. In this case, it’s only KC who gets the exclamation points and is forced to scream about how the moon is a megastructure, only to eventually feel the awe of being right. (For someone living in the times of Space X and Elon Musk, KC gets to say, “I love Elon”). Everyone else deals in periods, when all they get is an exclamation point: you’ve never heard someone minimize “Oh shit, the moon considering the title of “Moonrise.” At this point, it was once bewildering how much he wished to reveal destruction, but now he is fed up with humanity.
It’s hard to take this film’s interpretation of the end of the world seriously with the careless attitude that the world is set to end. You can see anything that seems horrific in the background of a shot and the people in the forefront simply do not respond. “Moonfall” cuts very few seconds of action interludes in between the lethargic intervals that Emmerich usually puts in most of his films. Who knew we would like the destruction of the White House so much? The film somehow remembers that there is supposed to be an apocalypse and the fate of the world hinges on that, but it barely cares. To be fair, there is a ‘gravity wave’ at the center of the movie, which picks up carriers, tanks, and even whole oceans and tosses them about California, which is quite a show. But, if I’m being completely honest, it shouldn’t look this void when it’s set during the apocalypse.
The last segment was really Emmerich unpacking his imaginative prowess with the moon while weaving a narrative that deserves its own documentary, which thankfully gives a respite from the madness. If there are ventures further into “Moonfall,” that’s the best part about it and the little you will thank yourself for.
Clearly, the self-assignment Emmerich cares the most about is the one he treats with the most devotion and seriousness, as he completely stops caring about the human factor. Enthusiasts for when filmmakers indulge in their whackiest fantasies starring big Hollywood actors, may find this appealing, but the rest of us are clearly bothered. Ultimately, “Moonfall” is pathetic; it isn’t even entertaining as a stupid movie about the apocalypse.
To watch more movies like Moonfall visit 123Movies.
Also Watch for more movies like:
