Starring two actors, Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry, who are obviously performing well below their talent level and pay grade carry this epic disaster film well beyond anything we really deserve right now. It's a complete and utter cheese fest that ramps up the destruction while Emmerich throws everything he can at the screen before it evolves into a science fiction spectacle that's totally worthy of the terrific visual effects and thoughtful moments about human kind's evolution and final Earthbound demise.
As a person that usually just enjoys these as guilty pleasures, Emmerich is easily in his best form here. Moonfall is made by a director that realizes he's beyond his prime and working against a theatrical climate that wants nothing but massive action set pieces, comic book heroes, and franchise films. Well, after his failed attempt to launch a full on Independence Day series, Roland is back trying to see if he can turn this supposed one off movie into some type of continued sci-fi brand. This is notably his best world ending movie since The Day After Tomorrow, even hijacking some noted scenes or nods from his own film here.
If you're looking for something that takes moon conspiracies, techno babble and likable characters and blends them into some puree of absurdity, Moonfall is here for your viewing pleasure. It's big. It's dumb. And it strips some of the best moments of his previous films to make a concoction worthy of your movie ticket dollars. Wilson and Berry are obviously in on the joke, taking turns with awful line delivery and melodrama amped to the full hilt.
Volcanoes erupt, skyscrapers fall,ocean waves drown entire cities, cars fly, humans make really bad decisions, and helicopters operate in zero gravity. This is Roland Emmerich on speed and strangely enough it actually works. In a time when we could all use a little bit of a joy ride through mankind's inevitable final doomsday, this director once again reminds us that watching a bunch of people vanquished by a massive object like the moon can actually be an entertaining watch.
No awards will be won by Moonfall, but Mr. Emmerich has found a new and interesting way to engage his audience for over two hours. A-list actors and dramatic superstars like Donald Sutherland snub their award winning careers to find a departure mechanism from our everyday lives. We've been ruled by a pandemic for over two years now that's stripped much of the fun from our lives. This is a return to form for the genre of disaster movies that's also mixes in some hard sci-fi for good measure. It was unexpected to say this, but this should be seen on the biggest screen and best sound system imaginable.
-CG
