Moonfall [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Roland Emmerich

Cast: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley

Release Date: April 26, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 4/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Academy Award® winner Halle Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson, “Midway”) and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley, “Game of Thrones”) believes her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is.

Please Note: Lionsgate Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Moonfall’ follows the catastrophic events that occur when an unknown force knocks the moon out of orbit, sending it on a collision course with Earth itself. As its expected impact with Earth nears, astronaut Jo Fowler (Berry) believes she has the key to stopping the threat, but as things begin to get worse and patterns randomly change with no seeming reason she is forced to enlist the help of her old fellow astronaut Brian Harper (Wilson) who along with conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (Bradley) may be the only hope for finding a solution to put the moon back on course before our world is eradicated, but the truth of everything may be far more than they bargained for.

Directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Midway) from a screenplay that he additionally co-wrote with Harald Kloser (2012) and Spenser Cohen (Extinction), Emmerich does a decent job at the helm of ‘Moonfall’ guiding along this somewhat silly and illogical tale with plenty of style and visually notable thrills. The cast includes Halle Berry (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum), Patrick Wilson (Midway), John Bradley (TV’s Game of Thrones), Michael Peña (The Mule), Charlie Plummer (Words on Bathroom Walls), Eme Ikwuakor (TV’s On My Block), Carolina Bartczak (X-Men: Apocalypse) and Donald Sutherland (Ad Astra) along with more, many of which deliver fitting performances in each of their respective roles and help to make the experience at least tolerable, but unfortunately none of them are quite able to save this troubled film.

‘Moonfall’ initially shows promise of an enjoyable disaster flick with plenty of mindless thrills and a substantial threat on display to keep things exciting, but after a somewhat encouraging first half it finds itself dwindling and losing steam due to some overly ridiculous and almost idiotic revelations and a seeming desire to borrow from various other films along the way in order to find exciting ways to keep things moving at a breakneck pace. Unfortunately by the time it settles into itself for an action-packed conclusion things have gone so far off the rails that it becomes somewhat hard to really find yourself caring about how it wraps up, leaving more of a bad taste to remember it by than the notes of its promising start and the various talented cast members who do what they can to make it at least relatively entertaining.

Some exciting disaster sequences combined with a solid cast and a handful of other positive elements in its favor do help ‘Moonfall’ to be at least relatively fun and visually satisfying throughout much of its duration but none of it ever manages to be quite enough to save the film from its own ridiculous choices and an almost painfully silly last third. If you’re a dedicated fan of director Roland Emmerich’s work or just love a fun disaster film regardless of the logic (or lack thereof) behind it, then you may have quite a bit of fun with this one, but I would strongly encourage renting a copy before dropping the money on a blind purchase to be safe.

Overall, ‘Moonfall’ is an exciting, visual spectacle with a solid cast that serves up plenty of mindless destruction and action but struggles to find a logical place for the story to go, instead delving into some curious and almost baffling answers to explain the event. It ends up becoming so ridiculous that it’s hard to swallow, detracting from the positive first half and resulting in a fairly disappointing ride as a whole. If over the top disaster films are your guilty pleasure and you don’t mind when they reach exceedingly ridiculous levels or if you’re a diehard fan of Roland Emmerich’s similar, albeit often superior offerings then you may find a lot to enjoy about ‘Moonfall’. If you’re already on the fence about this one to begin with I would recommend just skipping it. For those who want to give it a chance I would strongly suggest renting it before purchasing a copy.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Moonfall’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks spectacular and delivers a clean, sharp and magnificently detailed presentation from start to finish that’s complemented by rich, deep blacks and vibrant coloring throughout and never suffering from any unexpected issues along the way. It holds up flawlessly throughout and never allows any black crush to be noticeable, always keeping everything onscreen looking remarkably detailed and clean every step of the way. The Dolby Vision color grading only improves upon the already impressive presentation, really sealing the deal and providing a nearly perfect visual experience across the board. Overall, this is a phenomenal 4K Ultra HD presentation that should absolutely thrill fans of the film as well as newcomers.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is equally outstanding and provides a clean, crisp and hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send spacecraft, debris, winds and a great deal more consistently whipping throughout the various speakers while never resulting in any dialogue or other simultaneously occurring audio elements to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a magnificent Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that more than delivers throughout and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Moonfall’ includes some noteworthy extras. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer/Director Roland Emmerich and Writer/Producer/Composer Harald Kloser’, in addition to the multi-part Behind the Scenes feature ‘Against Impossible Odds: Making Moonfall’ (running approximately 59 minutes in length altogether) which explores various aspects of bringing the film to life and includes interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes content and more. Also included is a look at the moon in our history with ‘Exploring the Moon: Past, Present and Future’ (running approximately 26 minutes), and 4 Episodes of the faux viral video series ‘Dr. KC Housman Speaks the Truth’ (approximately 8 minutes total).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 4/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

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‘Moonfall’ Arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD on April 26, 2022 & is Now Available to Own on Digital from Lionsgate Home Entertainment

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