top of page

Moonfall Film Review (No Spoilers)


'Moonfall' Lionsgate


Director, Roland Emmerich (The Patriot, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) is no stranger to developing stories regarding earth shattering events, and this is another piece to add to the puzzle. With a "non-Conjuring" on screen performance from Patrick Wilson (The Phantom of the Opera, The Conjuring, Insidious) alongside co-star Halle Berry (Catwoman, Gothika, Die Another Day) you're immersed into a fast-paced, out-of-world experience with Moonfall.


Synopsis:


"The world stands on the brink of annihilation when a mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit and sends it hurtling toward a collision course with Earth. With only weeks before impact, NASA executive Jocinda "Jo" Fowler teams up with a man from her past and a conspiracy theorist for an impossible mission into space to save humanity."


What You See, Feel, and Hear


This is an exceptionally fast-paced story. From start to finish you feel like you're running through the script and you can't stop. With a very complex and peculiar storyline you typically expect a buildup of detail along the way to fully comprehend what's happening. However, this film does the opposite. Without a story that allows your emotions to develop with characters, or with the relationships between the characters themselves, you're left trying to attach yourself to some piece of the story in order to feel invested with what was going on. Unfortunately, it's easy to turn to flaws with the special effects. From clear green screen distinction and video game graphics you reflect on the film and start to understand the difficulty of expressing authentic fear, sadness, or compassion with the acting performances.


There were quite a few familiar names from this film with Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson sitting at the top of that list. Halle Berry gives a "confusing" performance as her emotions seem out of place, unauthentic, and unconvincing. Alongside the rest of the story, Wilson's performance feels rushed and unlike his previous performances, he doesn't share or express deep emotion even though the stakes have never been higher. One bright spot of acting was John Bradley (Game of Thrones, American Satan, The Brothers Grimsby) who provided a comedic performance with a backstory that you hang onto more than the main story itself.


This is a digitally dominant film. While most stories focus on relationship building, character development, and plot diversity, Moonfall showcases CGI over every other aspect.


My Take


I didn't enjoy this film. I believe it was poorly made in every aspect that you think of film; Acting was far off the mark, the visuals were expensive yet easy to separate, the score was unnoticeable, and the story was all over the place. With reputable names in front of and behind the cameras I expected a lot more. I simply describe this film as an "expensively terrible" experience.


Grade: 3.8/10

bottom of page