Disaster movies have always thrived on one simple promise: Go big, then somehow get even bigger. Few filmmakers understand that formula better than Roland Emmerich, the director behind end-of-the-world spectacles like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. By the time Moonfall arrived in 2022, though, Emmerich wasn’t just trying to top himself — he was practically trying to launch himself into orbit.
That’s exactly why Moonfall has become such a strange kind of modern favorite. Four years later, the movie’s sheer commitment to chaos, nonsense, and go-for-broke sci-fi insanity has helped it earn the kind of reputation most polished blockbusters can only dream of. Now, that beautifully unhinged experience is even easier to revisit, because Moonfall is now streaming free on Fawesome.
The film stars Halle Berry as former astronaut and NASA executive Jo Fowler, Patrick Wilson as disgraced astronaut Brian Harper, and John Bradley as conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman, whose oddball theories turn out to be a little more useful than anyone expected. The supporting cast includes Michael Peña as Tom Lopez, Charlie Plummer as Sonny Harper, Kelly Yu as Michelle, Donald Sutherland as Holdenfield, Eme Ikwuakor as Doug Davidson, and Carolina Bartczak as Brenda Lopez.
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So, How Bad Is ‘Moonfall’?
Collider’s review stated that Moonfall sees director Roland Emmerich once again leaning into the global destruction spectacle that has defined much of his career — but this time the formula feels tired, repetitive, and far less impressive than his previous disaster epics. Ross Bonaime adds that the premise is as ridiculous as it sounds, and to the film’s credit, Emmerich seems aware of that absurdity. As the moon drifts closer, it looms ominously over the planet like a slow-moving horror villain. Its shifting orbit causes massive disasters — tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions — creating the familiar sense that global catastrophe is imminent.
“But even compared to Emmerich’s previous apocalyptic action films, Moonfall is more rinky-dink and on a smaller scale than we’ve seen from him. Films like Independence Day and 2012 had a massive scope to them, and even a film like White House Down showed that Emmerich could make an enthralling action film with a smaller focus. Yet Moonfall is the type of film that requires that sort of insane, over-the-top production, and it never quite reaches that point.
Moonfall, unfortunately, becomes a mixture of Emmerich’s usual clichés that are starting to show their age, a script that only occasionally embraces the insanity of this idea (even though the third act goes all-in on getting mind-numbingly stupid), and a scope that doesn’t do this story justice. Maybe it’s just time for Emmerich to finally leave the world alone.”
Moonfall is streaming now on Fawesome.
- Release Date
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February 4, 2022
- Runtime
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120 minutes
- Director
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Roland Emmerich
- Writers
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Harald Kloser, Spenser Cohen, Roland Emmerich