Title: Moonfall (2022)
Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Budget: $138-146 million
Box Office: $58.9 million worldwide ($19.1million U.S. and Canada)
Watched via: VOD rental
IMDB synopsis: 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.
Head of NASA, Jo Fowler (Berry), former astronaut Brian Harper (Wilson), and loveable conspiracy theorist KC Houseman (Bradley) depart on an impossible mission to save the Earth from being destroyed by the moon.
Roland Emmerich (Universal Soldier, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, etc.) directing another disaster movie, this time where the moon is suddenly on a collision course with Earth. Add in Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, and John Bradley and you’ve got, what on paper should be, the ingredients for a fun popcorn disaster flick. If only we were that lucky…
Within the first 10 minutes you know you are in for a long ride. The writing is absolutely awful. This leads to awkward performances from Wilson, Berry, and Bradley. It isn’t that either of them gave a necessarily “bad” performance. Instead, it is almost like they each were acting in three different types of movies. The entire first act of Moonfall is a lot of word salad and square pegs trying to be forced into round holes. On top of the writing/acting, the effects are equivalent to those in any of the numerous Sharknado films. No, I am not expecting to see a realistic moon crashing into the Earth. However, I am not expecting glaringly awful green screens either.
Nevertheless, there is fun to be had with Moonfall, even if that fun consists of unintentional laughter. For me, this moment came at about the one-hour mark. As our heroic trio is preparing to launch into space, it becomes a race against an incoming tidal wave. The shuttle then blasts through the wave as it ascends into space. This was where I decided to just try and have fun with the remainder of the movie, despite all of its flaws. While I cannot say that this approach was a smashing success, I can say that it made the remaining ninety minutes much more bearable.
Currently, Moonfall is available to rent on demand for $5.99 across all major platforms (Apple, Amazon, Vudu, Redbox, etc.). But do not go and do that. If the desire to watch Moonfall strikes you, you are better off just waiting. In fact, wait until you can stream it on a major platform that you already subscribe to. But even then, don’t just watch it on a whim.
Moonfall would probably best be experienced with friends and copious amounts of snacks. Set up a virtual or in-person watch party and you can create your own MST3K commentary.
Have you seen Moonfall? If so, what did you think? Give your thoughts on it in the comments below or by reaching out on social media. Let me know, “I’ve Scene That!”