If I had to choose genres that I consider to be the best, sci-fi would be near the top of my list in a sort of love/hate sort of way. I say this because in order for a science fiction movie to be good, they either need to have a really inventive story, or they need to have a huge budget for all of the things that don't exist in real life. It can be, but isn't necessarily the case, that the films are best if they have both of these things.
Moonfall clearly has a very big budget as well as some very big names in the cast. The story appears to be quite inventive at first but then it kind of spirals into something quite impractical and dare I say, dumb, towards the end. It ticks a lot of boxes as far as entertainment is concerned and for the most part I think that sci-fi fans will enjoy it. The general public who doesn't have an affinity towards the genre might not feel the same way though.
Remember 20 years ago when it seemed that every 3rd big-budget film was some sort of "doomsday" film? Well I think that Hollywood took a break from that for a little while... just long enough for us to forget that they overdid it and then came out with this in 2022. They spent an astronomical amount of money on this film, mostly on CGI, and it shows. The crazy scenes that take place in space look real and this costs a lot of money apparently because as close of estimates as we can get from Lionsgate, this film may have lost upwards of $100 million.
The movie begins with some astronauts doing astronaut stuff on a satellite when they are abruptly attacked by some mysterious black stuff that nearly kills all of them. They manage to make it back to earth when Brian Harper is able to skillfully land the shuttle back on Earth even though most of the gear was damaged or broken. As you would expect nobody believes his side of the story and he is stripped of his position and NASA blames him for the incident and dismisses his side of the story about what happened.
The mystery incident is never investigated because the agency needed a fall guy to save face or something. I can't tell for sure but this did seem like a likely representation of what NASA or any other organization of its type would do if something went horribly wrong in space and no one was around to witness it.
What happens next is that it is determined by some conspiracy theorist that the orbit of the moon is decreasing rapidly and is heading on a crash course with Earth. This role, which I honestly could have done without and serves as a sort of "comedy relief" is played by John Bradley who you might recognize from his role as "Samwell Tardy" in the Game of Thrones series.
He's hyper-intelligent, quirky, really loves cats, and is someone that the government wont listen to even though he is right. Eventually they come around to his ways and agree to shove him in a rocket-ship even though he receives zero training and his job could have been done by hundreds of people far more qualified for the duties he is assigned.
I'm avoiding talking about what the actual "menace" is in this story for the sake of avoiding massive spoilers but let's just say that the problem with the moon is probably not what you are expecting and to some, it will seem a bit stupid. I know that I found it as such particularly when things start happening that violate all that we know about space such as audible explosions happening in an oxygen-free environment. At one point the crew exits their landing craft without protective gear and welp, not only do they not immediately explode due to lack of gravity and atmosphere, but they just walk around and talk as if they were on a sound stage somewhere in Canada, which as it turns out is exactly true.
Sci-Fi nerds like me tend to pick apart films like this for their scientific inaccuracies or as I call them, "massive holes in the plot" but if you can just let that go I think that the absolutely incredible CGI makes up for a lot of it. It stays entertaining because of this even though I doubt the producers were terribly entertained by the huge amount of money that this project ended up losing for them. Since there were multiple studios involved to various financial degrees, this is considered one of the most expensive independent films ever made.
Should I watch it?
This is a tough one to offer advice on. While the CGI is some of the best I have ever seen in a film I am one of those guys that doesn't believe that CGI can compensate for a lack of a good story and acting. I normally feel quite the opposite actually. I am probably giving this one more points than it actually deserves because of the fact that I want sci-fi movies to do well so that the studios will make more of them. That being said, it is precisely because of films like this that the industry tends to stay away from them unless they are super-hero oriented.
I think that for the right sort of nerd that this will be reasonably entertaining if for no other reason than the visual effects and the amount of times that you can say "that is NOT how physics works!" during the 2 hours of runtime.
Most people are probably not going to enjoy this one and I can totally relate to why that is because to use the words of one of the stars of the film, John Bradley, the story is "batshit crazy." Who knows, that might be exactly what some potential audience members are looking for.
This film is not on Netflix but I am sure you can figure out other ways of acquiring it.
