K.C. Houseman once dreamed of becoming an astronaut, and whilst he never ventured into this prospective field of work he never stopped looking into the science of it all. A shock discovery whilst looking at restricted files through some illegal methods leads him to seek out anybody who will listen to his crazy theory - the moon is in fact a megastructure and something has caused it to malfunction! But can he find a kind ear, and what can be done about the potential catastrophe the world could be about to face?
Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry and John Bradley star in this Roland Emmerich epic about an advanced technological race attacking the moon. Astronauts carrying out a mission in space are faced with an enemy like no other, a fluid foe who is made up nano technology. One of the team is killed and the other two members make it back to Earth, but nobody seems to believe the story. Unfortunately Fowler, played by Halle Berry, was knocked out whilst the whole debacle was taking place and with only Harper; Patrick Wilson's character, able to give an account of the situation he finds himself in hot water. Not only is he not believed, the only proof it ever happened has disappeared too. The movie then picks up years later with K.C. posing as a janitor to enter the office of a government official in order to contact somebody at NASA in a bit to retrieve data from recent research of the moon. After he comes to the realisation that there's a potential apocalypse incoming he seeks out the help of disgraced astronaut Harper, who happens to be booked in as a guest speaker at an event for school children. Initially the space enthusiast isn't believed, and so he takes his findings to the internet, which just erupts! As the truth begins to see the light of day a select few are chosen to assess the situation and come up with a solution to the problems at hand.
When I initially saw the trailer for this movie I actually imagined it being more of a comedy, but in true Emmerich style this is another blockbuster sci-fi disaster movie. It's definitely in his comfort zone to bring us entertaining movies about the world ending, extra-terrestrials and all of the things that your average joe probably hasn't given much thought to. But when you make a movie like this it really gets the viewer thinking about what they know and if what they know is even correct. I always find myself believing the science within his movies and that's not to say it's correct, but the stories are often realistic. I'm a bit of a conspiracy theory fan and this just found me a whole new topic to delve into! I really love a story that makes me think, and that's exactly what this does, it plays to it's strengths for sure. I liked the casting outside of Michael Pena who I thought was neither necessary nor a good pick. All of the supporting cast worked well with the spotlight few, and I really enjoyed seeing Patrick Wilson in something a little bit different since his last ten years have mostly been dominated by the Conjuring universe (and aquaman but that wasn't really an outstanding role!). The premise of the movie was great and as unlikely as it is to happen I think you could make this into a movie franchise.
All in all I found it enjoyable, only a few niggles in regards to pace of the movie or certain timelines perhaps, whereby I thought it was all either super fast or very slow, and didn't seem to mesh as well as it could have. Overall recommend a watch, especially if you like sci-fi, conspiracies or a catastrophe movie.
Review by CB
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