Director Roland Emmerich brings the moon to earth in this Sci-Fi epic that delivers in its magnitude and scale with its worlds colliding and expanding on crackpot theories. It falls short, however, in making viewers care about its main characters. The film wants to engage the audience in its main characters' family affairs but would have faired better leaving those aspects out and leaning heavily in its outer space mystery of why the moon's rotation is getting closer and closer to earth.
Moonfall follows Astronauts Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) after an incident by which an entity attacked them in space, resulting in the death of one of their colleagues. Subsequently, Brian's career goes down the tubes following a NASA inquiry that ruled that the incident was his due to his negligence, while Jo's career excels because she goes against Brian's word. Then, K.C. Houseman (John Bradley) enters the picture; he is a conspiracy theorist who, through improper channels, discovers the moon is approaching the Earth. Since no one listens to him, he puts this information out via social media, forcing NASA to act hastily. From here, there are space missions galore, and the moon is explored to try to figure out why the moon is coming ever so close to earth.
Now as to whether the physics work in this movie is beside the point, though they are probably not accurate. Where this movie becomes engaging is the CGI landscape and the concepts put forth by the moon entering our atmosphere. The look of the gravity tidal waves, the chunks of lunar rock hurdling through the air, and roving droves of people looting and taking full advantage of a planetary crisis make this movie an immersive experience. Another strong point are the main characters. Patrick Wilson as Brian, the down on his luck former astronaut, is cool and relatable and really steps up to the plate while maintaining an everyman façade. Halle Berry also delivers a solid performance as the acting director of NASA who's trying to rekindle a friendship she never meant to destroy.
Concerning the film's shortcomings, some tangential relationships feel shoehorned in and could have easily been left out in favor of more of a focus on the main plot, that while outlandish, is rather intriguing. When Sonny Harper (Charlie Plummer), Michelle (Kelly Yu), Tom Lopez (Michael Peña) and Brenda Lopez (Carolina Bartczak) are on screen, moviegoers may find themselves counting down seconds until the main protagonists return. Also, to have Michael Pena in this cast and use him the least of all the big names seems to be a weird choice, and he could have been better utilized than a stepfather for Charlie Plummer to hate. Another gripe is the reveal of what is going on with the moon. Some things are better left to mystery, but what happens is the audience gets a 10-minute explanation about the moon's importance and nothing is left to ponder as it is spoon-fed to the viewer.
Moonfall isn't a film to garner critical acclaim or to win any major awards, but as one of the most expensive independent movies to date, it is a fine movie for folks who enjoy a grand epic of planetary proportions.