It’s simply too easy to make fun of certain ideas and join the crowd in berating celebrated directors that get a big head from time to time. But despite the big idea that is Moonfall, it does feel that Roland Emmerich swung for the fences and came up rather short for a few reasons. In a sense, using the moon as the means of humanity’s downfall, which is a scary proposition, became a means of explaining that no, we didn’t come from here, and our ancestors were smarter than we were, and…huh? There’s a way to glean what Emmerich is getting at with this story, but at the same time, it feels as though the main point wasn’t reached until way too late in the movie. The ideas brought to bear for this plot are interesting and intriguing, but when it comes to disaster movies, a lot of fans are bound to state that they’ve seen so much that a lot of what directors have to offer these days doesn’t feel like it’s going to be that shocking.
Like it or not, directors have a heavy burden on their shoulders to please the audience as well as themselves, and those that take care of the latter but don’t worry too much about the former have only managed to accomplish half of what’s needed to be successful. When looking at the story it does feel like it’s something that should have been able to enchant and impress the audience in a big way, but at the same time, it just feels as though there’s too much information missing, that there’s too much that’s introduced too late. Timing in a movie is extremely important, as the pace needs to be given the proper attention to keep the audience riveted and virtually incapable of getting up from their seat or looking anywhere else for the duration of the movie.
Granted, I’m just a student in a screenwriting course at the moment and might not understand every single point and procedure of a screenplay, but as a novelist, it’s not too hard to understand that in a movie, just as in any medium, the need to grip the audience and keep their attention is important. Obviously, it can’t be action-packed from front to back, as there does need to be some exposition and enough drama to make people feel as though they can relate to a part of the story now and then. But when it’s forced, when it’s contrived, and when the ideas are laid out in a manner that confuses the audience, things tend to fall apart. Once the audience is given a reason to look anywhere but at the story, the magic kind of dies down. It can be regained, but it becomes an uphill battle with each passing minute, and at some point, people might wonder why it’s worth the effort any longer. Disaster movies became a dime a dozen a long time ago, sad to say, and it’s been easy to pinpoint what’s going to happen, in broad strokes at least. Creating a story that will shock and amaze people is difficult at times, and while there are plenty of people who stand behind Emmerich’s idea, there are a lot of folks that are wondering how this idea unraveled so easily.
The idea behind the movie is kind of interesting at least since wondering about the origins of humanity and where we came from is a constant question that many people continue to ask. But one has to wonder how in the world the connections between the past and the present could have been given a better connection to tell a better tale. To say it was a flop in the theaters is putting it lightly, but perhaps this means that the movie will become a cult classic eventually since disaster movies are still given a certain amount of regard among movie fans and critics. But it does feel as though Emmerich might have become a little too comfortable in his status as a renowned director. Hey, it happens, people enjoy success a little too much and tend to believe in the hype that others feed them. This might not be the case with Emmerich, but after hearing how much he enjoys bad-mouthing other movies, there’s a certain guilty pleasure in knowing that he’s not perfect either.
All in all, Moonfall sounds like it could have been a fun idea had it been given a tighter structure and dealt with the story in a manner that might have ensured that it made a little more sense. As it stands, the idea is a good one that could use a bit of reworking, so perhaps in another decade or so, a reboot would be in order.
Roland Emmerich
Follow Us
