Moonfall

Since Moonfall's script could not have been devised by even the most consummate conspiracy theorist, there can be no doubt that the filmmakers are not serious. In my opinion, this is a deliberate contribution to the category of not perhaps intentionally stupid, but logic-ignoring and the most insane fear-mongering B-movies of the 50s, 60s or 70s, which pretended to be serious, but were mainly concerned with entertaining the audience and packing cinemas. This is exactly the feeling I had, much stronger than in all of Emmerich's previous efforts. I like his work, but the films that stand out interestingly are 10,000 BC and Midway, which I liked the least by far. Why? Because Emmerich wanted to deliver a serious story on the one hand and a big visual effects spectacle on the other, but the combination didn't work. At the same time, a serious story without lavish effects can certainly be made (The Patriot, Anonymous) as well as overblown visual effects spectacles that don't take themselves seriously, whether they're about saving or destroying our world or another, or just a proper 80s school action flick (the, in my opinion, underrated White House Down). This time he dispensed with the need for any seriousness altogether, coming up with a wacky but really unorthodox plot that allowed him to destroy a bit more and differently than what and how he had been destroying so far. The plot is heavily condensed, a couple of days go by without warning between several scenes, during which something important happens that other films would spend more time on, and meanwhile the giant moon is approaching the Earth, constantly rising and setting, doing doggy stunts with gravity that make many scenes really crazy and funny. For example, the naivety with which they travel back and forth from Earth and solve individual problems is almost Meliés-like. You watch it with a smile, see how nice it looks, enjoy the truly original design of the monster... If I like the naive films that this reminded me of, then I have no reason not to like Moonfall. (02/04/2022)

The moon has deviated from its orbit and will collide with the Earth in a few weeks. Only two former astronauts and one annoying conspiracy theorist can save the world, but they have no idea what awaits them in space. Roland Emmerich rips himself off and makes another disaster movie, but one that is a shadow of Independence Day or 2012. It's just not very entertaining this time around, which makes how stupid it all is stand out that much more. (02/03/2022)

I admit I enjoyed Moonfall and I had a dumbfounded smile on my face during all the derailed craziness. However, you have to approach it as a total no-brainer (especially when listening to the dialogues). It was a pleasant surprise that John Bradley's character, who I was most worried about after watching the trailers, ended up being the movie's highlight. I enjoyed the plotline with him, Patrick Wilson, and Halle Berry. However, Moonfall also features a forced parallel plotline with family members on earth, which weighs it down, so it drags, and those moments were a stumbling block for me. Scenes with horribly written, uninteresting, unlikable, and even horribly acted characters (I do not want to see Charlie Plummer in anything again, ever) turned a stupid, if entertaining, guilty pleasure into a painful embarrassment. (04/12/2022)

It has a bit of an Independence Day 2 feel. I like Emmerich, he handles the VFX attractions well, but the rest is noticeably inferior to the competition. I found everything here to be incredibly rushed forward (it's quite a ironic that Don't Look Up was able to present the threat in a much more interesting, exacerbated and intense way), which is a shame, I believe with a strong background this could have been very good. At the same time it's a shame that Emmerich had to mix in artificial intelligence and aliens, in other circumstances I would have welcomed it, but here the threat of the moon alone would have been enough to give the whole thing a more serious feel. It's cheesy and quite entertaining, but it's a shame that the destruction itself takes a while. 5.5/10. (04/05/2022)

A mix of Independence Day and 2012, but it can’t hold a candle to either. Sure, this is primarily light entertainment, or classic Emmerich, if you will, though even lighter than usual because it’s worse than even Godzilla in character work, dialogue and level of stupidity, and that's saying a hell of a lot. Surprisingly, even the visual effects flourishes don't dazzle to any extreme, and the once so inventive wizard has fallen into the average green screen, where he greases up one unimaginative make-up scene after another. What would Elon do? I'm sure he wouldn't have made this occasionally funny travesty. (05/15/2022)