Fantasy fail

In Moonfall, currently playing in theaters, the moon slips out of orbit and begins spiraling toward Earth, threatening to destroy the planet. The movie is equal parts science-fiction fantasy and disaster film, but ultimately it doesn’t succeed as either.

Conspiracy theorist KC Houseman (John Bradley) is one of the first to warn about the disaster. He enlists disgraced astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) to help him get the word out, and the two of them eventually get a hearing with NASA honcho Jo Fowler (Halle Berry). When the moon starts getting closer, the world gives up hope, and our three heroes must, on their own, fly to the moon on a space shuttle they retrieved from a museum.

This plot is quite silly, and the film doesn’t pretend to worry about scientific realism. Whether a museum piece can survive space doesn’t matter in a movie in which small children—but not adults—get sucked up by the approaching moon’s gravity. And how can we still see daylight when the moon is so close it’s scraping the tops of tall buildings?

None of this would matter if the movie were entertaining. It’s not. The writing is a hodgepodge of clichés from better movies, and the actors deliver their lines with unconvincing growls. Moonfall’s conclusion sets up a sequel that I hope never descends on us.