“Moonfall” Hits Somewhere Between “Armageddon,” “Sharknado” [Review]

“Moonfall” is one of those epic disaster films that knows exactly how serious it’s trying to take itself. Which, to be clear, is not at all. When films think they’re being high-concept and really profound, yet as dumb as a brick, they’re painful to sit through. But then the whole premise is less goofy than most Q-Anon conspiracy theories- and it wear’s its heart on its sleeve- it’s hard not to find something charming about the whole effort.

For this particular Roland Emmerich disaster scenario, The Moon is a massive artificial megastructure. Something has gone terribly wrong with it’s power source, causing it to start losing it’s ability to keep its distance from Earth. Coastlines and cities are being wiped out left, right, and center. Our cast of characters have to work out a way to stave off total destruction of the planet. The why and wherefore are part of the fun along the ride, and it starts at tinfoil-hat level of loopy, and goes right off the rails of logic from there.

Sure, it’s great to see them run to pull a space shuttle out of the museum, dust it off, and prep it for launch in the span of a day or so (any any Shuttle fan will know the abject impossibility of the concept). But again, it’s just breathe deep and go with the ride here.

“Moonfall” is enjoyable in the same way that “Big Ass Spider!” and “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” are, because they don’t strive to be anything more than what they are. It’s why the “Transformers” films keep struggling. Because they try to be part of some larger meaningful character-driven piece, but instead are just insufferable.

Rather than spending vast fortunes on special effects, they clearly spent a moderate fortune, which again helps it embrace the cheese.

SCORE: 6.5 out of 10

“Moonfall” is currently in theaters now.