This is an utterly absurd and ridiculous movie.
But you knew that already.
I mean, a disaster movie about a space mission to stop the moon from falling onto the Earth. You don’t get more absurd than that.
Now, if you had any doubts about its absurdity, even after such a description, you need only note that it was directed by Roland Emmerich, who is best remembered for directing Independence Day — and who has basically been directing it ever since.
Only his films have become increasingly bizarre and absurd as they’ve gone along, with ever greater disasters, ever bigger threats, and ever weirder fringe theories behind them.
At any rate, the basics are simple enough, and you’ve seen them in the trailer: moon falling on the Earth, it’s really an artificial satellite, the usual heroic space mission, all served up with an urgent countdown and the usual threatened military intervention.
Sound familiar?
It’s hard to miss all the shared DNA Moonfall has with Independence Day. And, I’ll note, this is the first of his non-Independence Day disaster epics which has managed to get that heroic last ditch space mission into the story.
But you get a pretty good idea just how absurd this film is when, in the climax, the moon actually crashes into the top of a mountain!
Right.
And this after the film already told us about the Roche Limit. Go figure.
But then, you have to admire a film which finds a way (admittedly mildly absurd) to send a space shuttle off into space. I mean, I doubt if it would be in any shape to be used after all these years, but it was mostly plausible!
Amazing.
The cast is basically…forgettable, with a moderately successful horror star and an aging female lead. The real standout is John Bradley, playing the eccentric Dr. Houseman. He is basically doing the Jeff Goldblum role only on steroids, as he is even goofier, and has a lot of very big reasons everyone has been ignoring him. Bradley makes him likeable, and even surprisingly convincing when he tries to explain his rather wacky theories.
Look, I hate to admit it, but this is a fun thrill ride of a movie. It is silly and absurd…no, very silly and very absurd, but it still entertains, no matter how dumb it gets.
And, let’s face it, it never slows down enough that you have time to keep track of all the idiotic things you’ve seen.
Look, you knew this thing wasn’t Shakespeare. You knew it was dumber than a moon-sized brick and basically over two hours of non-stop lunacy. You knew that as soon as they announced this film. It’s obvious.
But it does what it promises. It gives you a massive dose of brainless fun. It isn’t as deliriously fun as Independence Day, but that’s asking a lot.
However, it is as good an accompaniment for Popcorn as Hollywood has ever made.
Not that it is much more than that. But then no one really ever expected that.
Not even Roland Emmerich…
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