Movie Review # 498: Moonfall (2022)

Hey everyone! Today, we are reviewing yet another movie! Yes, just think that we have two more reviews until we hit the 500th review. Let me tell you that you may, or may not be surprised by what I review. For now, we talk about a science fiction film that was just released around the beginning of this month. Starring Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, and some other people, the movie is Moonfall.

Plot: When the moon begins to get out of orbit, and gets so close to Earth that it causes the water tide to rise, it is discovered that there may be some life forms on the moon that may have caused the moon to get to that point. So now, it is up to two astronauts, Jocinda Fowler (Halle Berry), and Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), and a conspiracy theorist named K.C. Houseman (John Bradley) to travel to the moon, find the source of the chaos, and bring things back to normal once and for all.

Well, there’s no doubt that Moonfall was certainly a decent film. However, the film is probably not one of the best sci-fi films out there. First of all, the film can feel a little cringeworthy, and have a New Age undertone with the whole thing about aliens creating the moon (at least in this movie). I mean it works better with say Lord Of The Rings having good wizards, or Disney having certain animated films that had either Greek gods living on Mt. Olympus, spirits of humans, and animals living in the Northern lights, and things like that. But here’s the thing! In those cases, those stories were clearly either trying to be fantasy stories, or be mythology stories of some kind, you know? But here in Moonfall, one just wonder, “Was this film trying to be a mythology, or fantasy sort of sci-fi story too, or was this film actually trying to take things like God out of the equation this time around?” Just something to think about, yes? Even then, this film also suffers from quite a few cliches, particularly with one of the characters being a teenage delinquent, who was okay, but not the best. Outside of the main characters Jocinda Fowler, Brian Harper, and K.C. Houseman, and a military general none of the other characters seem to leave too big of an impact on the audience. Plus, there’s a point where Moonfall tries to cram in certain villains at one point, and, well, let’s say it doesn’t seem to work out quite as well as one would hope. In addition to all this, there were also points where Moonfall seemed to be a little too fast-paced, especially in the beginning. As for the story, though creative at points, let’s just say that you may sometimes find yourself saying that you’ve enjoyed science films like The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon, Gravity, or films like those more than Moonfall.

But is this film bad? Of course not. The visuals are definitely really good. This is specifically the case when you see meteors at different points in this film. Also, as mentioned before, there were at least very few standout characters, especially the main ones. In addition to these, the action is also really suspenseful, most notably when any characters end up having to be in life-threatening situations for one reason, or another. Some of the plot twists are also well done. As for the story, though not the best, does of course have it’s high points throughout this film.

And that’s my review for Moonfall. Though it is not a decent film, I’m not sure if it’s one of the best out there. Sure, it is good enough to be watched again for a few times more. Beyond that, however, you might want to maybe just go back and rewatch something better like Armageddon, or War Of The Worlds, or some film like those. I would say still see Moonfall at least once, for the good things that are in this film!

Final Grad: C+