There are few Hollywood blockbusters that have not worked less than expected in recent times and everything indicates that ‘Moonfall’, the return to the catastrophe cinema of Roland Emmerich, will not be an exception. At least that indicates his puncture at the US box office.
In its own way, it could be said that this type of film reached its peak with ‘2012’, still today one of the highest-grossing films of all time that is not part of a franchise or is an animated production. The Emmerich model has been losing pull among the public ever since and I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Moonfall’ was his last contribution to disaster movies.
not special anymore
Something that has against it is that this type of film has lost its category of event. It has reached a point where it seems that all these blockbusters are more than necessary and surely you have heard more than once refer to ‘Moonfall’ as a kind of great success of the films about the end of the world of Emmerich. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t invite you to be anxious to see it either.
I admit that I’m tired of ‘2012’, a much less entertaining film than it should have been and of which I only remember with some affection the brief appearance of Woody Harrelson. After the bad experience with ‘Independence Day: Counterattack’, I was afraid that the same thing would happen to me with ‘Moonfall’. I’m not going to say I was charmed by her, but there’s something refreshing about her complete lack of shame.
There is something curious that happens in ‘Moonfall’, and that is that Emmerich plays the trick of drama and nonsense at the same time. It’s like he wants to be ‘Deep Impact’ and ‘Armageddon’ at the same time, completely disregarding any scientific logic in the mission to try to save the Earth and at the same time focusing on its most tragic side for what seems completely inevitable.
That impossible mix is something that ‘Moonfall’ manages to balance with some fortune during its first two acts. The film then has enough energy so that one does not get bored and also pay a little more attention to their characterssurely for wanting to play the trick of having familiar faces that can raise the public’s interest in what happens on screen.
but yes compliant
The curious thing is that this also limits ‘Moonfall’, since its appeal as entertainment is never explored in depth, relying above all on the conspiracy theorist played by John Bradley, whom you may know more for his role as Samwell Tarly in ‘Game of Thrones’. It is also through him that it becomes clear that this new feature film by the director of ‘Tomorrow’ he is not so interested in verisimilitude as in spectacle, because for the rest he may have a slightly pimply dot with Patrick Wilson channeling his inner Chris Prattbut little else.
Something striking happens there too, since ‘Moonfall’ is probably not as spectacular as one would expect from a blockbuster with a cost of almost 150 million dollars. And it is that the presence of the visual effects is smaller during its first hour, trusting that its characters are the ones that engage the public.
Perhaps that is why it is then that everything is more dynamic. It’s not that it’s memorable -and I suspect there will be those who find it boring because they’re just watching the movie to see endless destruction-, but it’s also not stupid enough to take it as a joke or so grandiloquent that it becomes tiresome. This is something that is lost as the minutes go by until a point is reached where Emmerich takes a leap into the void without a net, being there where that cocktail of nonsense and drama that he proposes at all times works worst.
All in all, it is appreciated that someone is so daring as to try to sell to the public a series of ideas that in real life would be typical of some forum of conspiracy theory lovers. In fact, sometimes it gives the feeling that it is a disaster movie aimed at them while the rest makes them believe that it is another one of the genre.
There will be those who can see that as an extension of the craziest aspect of the film, but the truth is that it treats it with respect within the prevailing nonsense. All seasoned with a good display of visual effects but that feels too familiar. After all, there aren’t that many ways to show how our planet is collapsing either.
more is needed
‘Moonfall’ is a competent disaster movie, an acceptable hobby who wants to play the card of drama and excess at the same time. The problem is that we currently need something more than that. We want unparalleled shows and Roland Emmerich’s new is not quite so, making it clear that perhaps Hollywood has to rethink this type of cinema. The recent ‘Don’t look up’ phenomenon also points in that direction.