DIRECTOR: Roland Emmerich
PRODUCERS: Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser WRITERS: Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser & Spencer Cohen
PERFORMERS: Halle Berry Patrick Wilson John Bradley Michael Pena Charlie Plummer
Kelly Hu and Donald Sutherland
From aliens coming to annihilate humanity to global warming effects to end of the world prophecies and white house takeovers, Roland Emmerich has done it all. He's been the master of disaster since the early 90's and here, he reminds us why. This next entry in his resume, however, is unlike anything I've ever seen before on a visual scale and a viewing pleasure for eye popping popcorn entertainment.
Moonfall is quite an unexpected pleasure I've had so far, this new year. Despite never having seen the trailer, or any promotional material for it, I have to say when I found out that Emmerich was directing it, it got me excited and pumped up. After 2012 (2009) it was said that he was done with directing disaster films, I guess the genre wasn't quite done with him yet. I had always wondered, especially as kid, what it would be like to go into outer space. A place where there is no vacuum, no air and no sound, just thousands of stars and planets and atmospheric sights to look at for hours. Those are things you don't get to experience on any other planet. I remember when Interstellar came out, that was a film that reminded me just how small we really are when we see our world from a far away distance. This touches on that as well as the film tells the story of a group of astronauts who race against the clock to save the earth from an artificial moon with a mean streak so big, that it takes on the likes of Independence Day and Transformers: Age of Extinction.
The acting was top notch, Halle Berry lead this film with a lot to offer. It's been a long time I've seen her in something like this since the early X-Men films and we all remember how canny she was in those! The two actors who stood out to me were Patrick Wilson and John Bradley and this is why: Wilson was someone you went on this journey of redemption with, he's estranged, he's jobless and the events that led up to his circumstances felt so impactful that you felt for him. You wanted to see him rise to the challenge and come out on the other side. Just rooting for him, no matter what the case was. Bradley, who better to play the smart one that no one listens to better than him? His character was more of a resemblance of Jeff Goldblum and Chiwetel Ejiofor, but unlike them he had a purpose and not just a job to do. His conviction was so powerful and transparent that you see it in his heart that you can't help but buy into it. I bought into every second of his presence, every minute of his on-screen moments. The last time I had that experience in a Emmerich film was John Cusack in 2012, that was good, but this was even better.
The effects were totally out of this world, visually stunning and eye popping. So much that I can only imagine what it would look like in 3D! I thought my eyes were gonna pop out at any given moment and there was almost nothing cheesy about the film's effects either. Some were a bit overdone and too animated, but nonetheless, absolutely breathtaking to look at. Especially the moon, that was like... WOAAHHH!!! Whoever came up with this must have been to space themselves or just a vivid imagination of what space would be like since we all have that thought. Emmerich really went all out on this one, topping all his films from the past. I saw nothing wrong with the way this was filmed or portrayed except for the time it took to bring everyone to the endgame. The build-up was my only concern, but the climax made up for that. Few things that went slow, but still entertaining.
When all was said and done, Moonfall left quite an indelible impression on me. And given the way it ended, I smell a potential sequel in the works, but I personally hope not since it's not needed. I only see this as a one picture story, not multi-picture like Star Wars or Star Trek. This isn't even either of those things so they shouldn't be treated like such anyway. If anything, it's about everyday people chosen to do an extraordinary thing for Earth and that's very rare. It's not every day you're chosen for such things not knowing if you're going to come back alive or die trying. That's what I liked most about this film, astronauts and scientists coming together reluctantly to save mankind while reshaping their lives for the better. I wonder what disaster Emmerich has cooked up for audiences next, whatever it is, it may be bigger and so much more than what this one was. Recommended for the sake of interest and worth a look!
MY RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5