Roland Emmerichhas become an expert at destroying the world. At this point, it’s almost more shocking when one of his films doesn’t demolish a major world landmark, or present the destruction of millions in some global catastrophe. In good films (Independence Day) and bad (10,000 B.C.), Emmerich likes to watch the world burn. But after decades of finding new ways to almost end civilization, Emmerich has now brought the moon into his ominous plans, a harbinger of doom that looms over Earth, coming closer and closer, threatening to cause the end of mankind. But believe it or not, there are only so many ways one can wreck the Earth, and after making a career of this kind of demolition, Emmerich can’t help but fall back on his same old tricks withMoonfall. The moon might be involved in the equation this time around, but on Earth, things are looking pretty familiar.
As the name implies, the moon has been kicked off its orbit by an unknown force and is now heading to collide with Earth. With only weeks to go before our planet is obliterated, former astronaut and NASA executive Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) gathers a bare-bones team to save the world, including her one-time astronaut teammate Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), and anElon Musk-obsessed conspiracy theorist K. C. Houseman (Game of Thrones’John Bradley), who foresaw this collision before anyone else. Together, this crew not only has to save the world, but also figure out what the hell is going on with the moon, and naturally, answer the question: how does the moon fall?
To its benefit, Emmerich - who also co-wrote the film withHarald KloserandSpenser Cohen- tends to understand just how ridiculous this concept is. As the moon gets closer, it almost seems to appear to the people of Earth like a serial killer in a horror film, looming in the horizon and ready to destroy. The change in the moon’s orbit causes flooding, earthquakes, and volcanoes to erupt, making it an indication to the humans of Earth that if the moon is appearing close to them, that means some Emmerich-level shit is about to go down.
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Yet even thoughMoonfallembraces its ludicrousness, it’s hard to get past the even sillier screenplay. Berry’s Fowler seems to exist only to make declarations like “everything we know has gone out the window,” or “your rules don’t apply anymore.” This is a type of character that can certainly work in this type of absurd story—and has worked in previous Emmerich stories—but ends up stiff and moronic here. Similarly, Wilson is decent as this type of generic sci-fi hero protagonist, even though he seems sort of exhausted by the role, while Bradley is certainly the standout here, although this concept that the conspiracy theorists are correct is a notion Emmerich could engage with before, but feels like a fine line to walk in 2022.
But this returning to ideas that Emmerich has explored again and again is possibly the most damning aspect ofMoonfall. Almost every character or scene seems like it was copied from a previous Emmerich film. Wilson’s Brian often seems like a composite of past Emmerich protagonists who are smart but aren’t reaching their full potential, while Bradley’s character is like a more grounded version ofRandy Quaid’s alien abductee fromIndependence Day.
Moonfallis full of these types of retreads, from a hotel flood that borrows heavily fromThe Day After Tomorrow, to the bland ensemble of characters that helps show the world falling apart while searching for safety.Moonfall’s sprawling ensemble includesCharlie Plummeras Brian’s son Sonny,Michael Peñaas Sonny step-dad, andDonald Sutherland, who appears for the sake of explaining moon conspiracy theories in one scene, before disappearing completely. Plummer, Peña, and the rest of the supporting cast don’t have much to do beyond filling in the broad characters that Emmerich includes in all his end-of-the-world films.
But even compared to Emmerich’s previous apocalyptic action films,Moonfallis more rinky-dink and on a smaller scale than we’ve seen from him. Films likeIndependence Dayand2012had a massive scope to them, and even a film likeWhite House Downshowed that Emmerich could make an enthralling action film with a smaller focus. YetMoonfallis the type of film that requires that sort of insane, over-the-top production, and it never quite reaches that point.
Moonfall, unfortunately, becomes a mixture of Emmerich’s usual clichés that are starting to show their age, a script that only occasionally embraces the insanity of this idea (even though the third act goes all-in on getting mind-numbingly stupid), and a scope that doesn’t do this story justice. Maybe it’s just time for Emmerich to finally leave the world alone.
