Shadows on the Wall

Moonfall

dir Roland Emmerich
prd Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser
scr Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Spenser Cohen
with Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Charlie Plummer, Michael Pena, Kelly Yu, Zayn Maloney, Carolina Bartczak, Eme Ikwuakor, Kathleen Fee, Ryan Bommarito, Donald Sutherland
release US/UK 4.Feb.22
22/UK Lionsgate 2h10

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Merrily destroying the world yet again, disaster movie maestro Roland Emmerich veers even further from reality than usual, embracing a bonkers conspiracy theory about the moon. Thankfully some deliberate silliness amid the stupidity keeps us entertained along with the outrageous effects sequences, as big stars emote for their lives in the usual melodramatic subplots. Yes, it's extremely corny, but there's some fun to be had along the way.

Disgraced after an incident in space 10 years ago, astronaut Brian (Wilson) is contacted by science nerd KC (Bradley), who notices that the moon is out of orbit. But he's also sure it's an alien-built megastructure. Then Nasa gets involved, and Brian is reteamed with former partner Jocinda (Berry) to launch a desperate mission that involves descending into the moon to take out the aliens inside. Meanwhile on Earth, their children (Plummer and Maloney, respectively) and ex-spouses (Bartczak and Ikwuakor) are scrambling for safety amid various freaky gravity-wave disasters, plus the usual panicky human violence.

Everything feels sloppier than Emmerich's usual tightly wound approach, with plot threads that barely hold together, predictable action and effects work that never provides the payoff imagery. But there's never a dull moment, as new chaos continually introduces itself, although the space romp inside the Death Star is far more exciting than the rather plodding adventure on the ground. Meanwhile, the premise slides from witty character building to sciency mumbo jumbo to flat-out fantasy nuttiness.

The adept actors have little to do beyond delivering appallingly silly declarations as "mounting moon terror" grips humanity. Berry and Wilson have just enough gravity, as it were, to get away with this, while Bradley is only asked to provide comical relief. Each has a cursory personal issue to deal with in the most simplistic way imaginable. Plummer provides some nicely edgy snark, while Pena (as his stepdad) gets to be both annoying and heroic. And of course everyone gets to have a moment of selfless courage.

If all of this was delivered tongue-in-cheek, the movie might have been a camp classic. But Emmerich always takes these crackpot theories far too seriously, which this time weighs down the movie. Even with all of this crazy conspiracy-mongering, the most unbelievable thing on the screen is the appearance of Donald Sutherland in a cameo, explaining the "truth" about the original moon landing. It's so idiotic that it's almost genius. And if we're laughing at the film rather than with it, at least we're having a good time.

themes, language, violence 4.Feb.22

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