The moon has shifted out of orbit and is on a collision course to Earth. Can disgraced astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), NASA director Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) and conspiracy theorist KC Housman (John Bradley) save the world? 

What can I say about a film like Moonfall? For any of you who regularly read my reviews (a rarefied breed) you probably already know that I did not really enjoy this. But I promise I head into these films hoping they will be lots of fun and Moonfall does have some sporadic moments in its far too long run time of 130 minutes. So let’s talk about those first before I get into my frustrations. 

Firstly, kudos must be paid to Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson for being able to deliver the lines in this script with all the gravitas that their seasoned careers give them. Honestly I think the lines are supposed to be ridiculous and the fact that they are delivered with such conviction helps sell that even further. 

Secondly, I loved how in the final third the script decides to wholesale emulate so many science fiction film and literary ideas all at once that it is impossible to keep count. 

And finally I enjoyed how the impact of the moon falling out of orbit resulted in literally every type of disaster they could think of being beset upon the Earth. I am sure scientists would have some fun picking the bones out of the realistic nature of them, but heck that is absolutely not the point. 

On to my gripes then and my first and biggest issue is one that I find is the case with a lot of these high concept disaster movies. My perception is that the best approach to a story that is as preposterous as this would be to rattle through the set up in such a way it gives you little time to reflect on that preposterousness. The quicker you can wow us with gravity waves and lots of stuff blowing up the less time we have to worry about how stupid everything sounds. But Moonfall does not want to do this. It starts with a prologue scene a decade in the past before setting up each of our characters broken families and the children they would die for. It then goes on to give us extended investigation and conspiracy to set up the story. But it is all so tedious! 

Which leads me to the fact that one of the main characters who is championed as one of the saviours of the Earth is a conspiracy theorist who just happens to be right. Based on the absolutely no evidence he has for anything he says. Now that felt a little weird to me in the current world we live in. John Bradley who plays the man in question is actually a lot of fun. He is the clear comic relief and he does a great job, listen out for his cat’s name as an early example. But what he is actually adding to the mission is next to nothing and why Brian Harper likes him is frankly bizarre. 

So then we arrive at our Earth based humans in peril. Literally no one will care about them to the point that the inevitable self sacrifice that takes place is a completely damp squib of a moment. 

So no this one was not for me. But I am sure that plenty of people will get a good kick out of the high concept, the heroic self sacrifice and the special effects on display.