What I’m watching: a wacky old-fashioned bit of science fiction

Date: 2/15/2022

In theaters: “Moonfall”

When I first saw the trailer on Facebook, at first, I wondered if this was some sort of cheesy low-budget production. Then I saw there were an Academy Award winner (Halle Berry) and a dependable leading man (Patrick Wilson) and some very decent effects.

The premise, though, just seemed crazy. The moon is falling toward Earth and naturally putting our world in peril.

It’s not as easy as that, though, as there is an intelligence that is apparently guiding the moon to do what it’s doing, and our heroes have to figure out how to stop it or them.
For me, this is the kind of science fiction that is more attuned to the kind that one could read in pulp magazines of the 1940s. It’s not really based on any science, but instead on some fantastic speculative premise.

A film such as “The Arrival” is much more in line with actual science than this one. That statement is not a slam, just an observation that director and co-writer Roland Emmerich is more interested in a big loud story than anchoring his narrative in any sort of fact.

Emmerich is known in some circles as “the master of disaster.” His resume is filled with big epic movies. He has done the end of the world with “Independence Day” and its sequel, as well as “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012.” He also directed the 1998 “Godzilla” film and a historic drama, “Midway.” He also made one of my favorite adventure films, “10,000 BC.”

In “Moonfall,” Wilson is Brian Harper, a NASA astronaut who has been blamed for another astronaut’s death and the failure of a mission. The third member of that team, Jo Fowler, played by Berry, has ascended in NASA while Harper has had his marriage crumble and is living in poverty.

When a conspiracy expert K.C. Houseman, played by John Bradley, discovers the moon is shifting its orbit, he leaks the news to the press and NASA confirms it. Fowler is made the head of NASA and realizes that she needs Harper to fly a space shuttle to the moon to try to stop the moon from destroying the earth. Houseman is included in the crew as he is the leading authority on the science of planets that look like planets but are alien constructions.

I’ve said too much.

Yes, this is indeed cheesy science fiction. All that is lacking are ray guns and bug-eyed monsters from another world.

The moment the movie reveals the nature of the alien lifeform and the backstory, I chuckled a bit. It’s entertainingly outrageous.

My biggest criticism is the time spend on the various backstories of the three main characters. Each time Emmerich cuts from the central action to show us what ex-spouses and various children are doing, the film slows to a crawl. He could have eliminated some of this footage to pick up the pace of the film.

By the way, “Moonfall” is a record holder, as it’s the most expensive independent film made to date.

While an unqualified recommendation is something I can’t make, I will say that I enjoyed much of the film for its wacky storyline, great effects, and earnest performances. In the right mood, you might as well.

Time to catch up

Note: If you missed seeing the new version of “Nightmare Alley, it is currently available on Hulu. The Amherst Cinema is still playing “Licorice Pizza” as I write this column, and it is very well worth seeing.

Both films have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and “Licorice Pizza,” written by Paul Thomas Anderson, is up for a best original screenplay award.