Moonfall movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Moonfall (not to be confused with the many books and other movies with the same name)

This goofy sci-fi disaster movie is now in theaters nationwide.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 2 hours

IN A NUTSHELL:

In Moonfall, 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. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Academy Award® winner Halle Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all — but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson, “Midway”) and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley, “Game of Thrones”) believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is.

Here’s a tip to enjoy this action movie: turn off your brain and just enjoy the ride. You’re probably going to laugh at how bad the movie is, which can actually be kind of fun. Get some popcorn while you watch it on the biggest screen you can. If you get a kick out of director Roland Emmerich’s epic disaster movies, here ya go. One of my favorites of his is Independence Day. This film has some elements of that movie but is nowhere near as good.

THINGS I LIKED:

Academy Award winner Halle Berry saves the world. We knew it would happen someday, right?
John Bradley is definitely the highlight of the movie.
If you love to watch destruction and mayhem, you’ll get to see a lot in a quick-paced film.
I appreciated the attempts at humor. Unfortunately, not all of it lands.
Gravity wave. Cool.
The last scene of the movie was pretty cute.
There are a lot of moments in this movie that reminded me of other highlights from previous films like Contact. Some would call it a blatant copycat while others will call it a respectful nod. What do YOU think? Comment down below!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

One of the characters states, “This is a whole other level of insane.” Yeah, that’s what some viewers are saying about this movie too. The plot is super silly with very little logic. There’s a lot of science talk, but not much of it makes sense or really seems plausible. Characters also make illogical decisions and consequences are often muted.
A lot of the dialogue is very weak, cliched, and so predictable.
The characters are super cliched and shallow. There is a laughable amount of overacting and a surprising amount of really bad acting moments. Ultimately, we just don’t really care that much about most of the characters and whether they live or die.
Some of the CGI looks really cool, but at other times, i’s disappointingly not.
The trailer gives away a lot of the story.
There’s a ridiculous side story about some rednecks that chase after some of the kids of the astronauts.
There is a TON of exposition in Act 3.
Michael Pena is always such a great highlight in action movies like this. Sadly, he was terribly underutilized and we didn’t get to see him truly shine.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

People in peril
Lots of destruction
Profanity
A character smokes a joint
High dead body count

THEMES:

Destruction of planet earth
Science
Government cover-ups
Hope
Connection
Artificial Intelligence
Family

INTERESTING LINES:

“The math actually checks out, so it’s happening.” – Jocinda ‘Jo’ Fowler (Halle Berry)
“The sands in the hourglass are dropping quickly for all of us.” – Jocinda ‘Jo’ Fowler (Halle Berry)