The Movie: Moonfall
The Director: Roland Emmerich
The Cast: Halle Berry. Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Carolina Bartczak, and Donald Sutherland
The Story: A mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it.
The Review:
Roland Emmerich makes gigantic spectacle movies where either all of humanity or the entire planet or sometimes even both are in danger of being completely destroyed. Movies like Independence Day and 2012 have raised the bar for what it means to be a big time summer blockbuster and, while the movies usually are received with mixed reviews, I always enjoy them for the sheer scope and scale of them, especially when able to catch them on the big screen.
Emmerich films always push the boundaries of what can be achieved within the world of special effects and this movie is definitely no exception as we actually get to see the moon on a collision course with the earth in glorious high definition detail. Of course all the earth shattering results are in place with gravity waves, earthquakes, and gigantic chunks of the moon itself putting people in immediate peril. The visuals are stunning to say the least and there is no shortage of science fiction elements added in, especially as the story moves into the third act.
Speaking of the third act, I'm not going to spoil anything, but it goes into what was for me an unexpected direction that I was very happy with. I love it when story tellers go deep into the world of science fiction because I love the endless possibilities even if it means things are going to get a bit weird. Bring me all of it, I'm here for it! Yes, this movie is cheesy, the dialog is pretty bad, the plot holes have plot holes, and there is so much wrong with the story if you feel the need to pick it apart but why would you waste your time doing something like that? Just enjoy all the explosions and have fun.
The cast for this movie is pretty solid with Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry filling the lead roles, John Bradley, Carolina Bartczak ,and Charlie Plummer filling supporting roles and, of course, filling the safe and friendly Mexican quota as the always does is the one and only Michael Peña. None of them stand out in any way but you know they're not supposed to. They're only in the movie because you have to have humans in the movie, otherwise I think Emmerich would be perfectly happy just blowing everything up.
With that in mind, I do have to say that the story isn't totally devoid of feelings or emotion. The director really does show the consequences of all the destruction and chaos on a very human level and not everyone survives so the danger is real. I guess the point is the movie is not just an empty shell with flashy lights, so even with all of its flaws, there is a bit of substance to the characters and story.
The Verdict:
Moonfall is the overly explosive, earth shattering mess you expect it to be and once again Roland Emmerich pulls out all the stops and I enjoyed all of it.
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