If you'd like to be surprised by the Moonfall film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer at all. But even if you'd like to get a taste, don't watch beyond 0:46, because it gives away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film.
Moonfall, movie (2022) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
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video © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
Article updated: 2023.019.09
The Moonfall (2022) is a futuristic fantasy disaster movie / adventure film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Moonfall, movie (2022)
Original title: Moonfall
Series: -
Setting: future fantasy Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: futuristic fantasy disaster movie / adventure, Style: sci-fi, futuristic fantasy, action, adventure, disaster movie, aliens, creatures
Release: 2022.02.03
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2022.02), first time
Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Moonfall, a futuristic fantasy disaster movie / adventure movie from 2022. It's about a group of astronauts trying to prevent the Moon falling onto the Earth. The Moonfall film is boring, I don't recommend the current cut of it to anyone.
Moonfall, movie (2022)
image © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
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Review (spoiler-free) - Moonfall, movie (2022)
I've seen some advertisements for the movie, and I like the the works of Roland Emmerich, so I was interested in watching this movie. I didn't watch the trailer, but I've seen enough promotional images to have a broad idea of the premise.
The Moonfall movie is about a group of astronauts trying to prevent the Moon falling onto the Earth.
The basis of the plot is interesting, but the actual story is confusing. The pacing is strange, there are plot-lines that just don't belong into the main story. Not knowing the characters makes it hard to feel engaged by their survival, so the plotlines about anything but the astronauts feel empty. There are no character arcs. There are multiple logical problems.
The cinematography is good. The locations are varied. The special effects look good.
The characters are empty shells, we don't get to know them, so it's very hard to feel any emotion towards their fates. The actors are okay for their roles.
The music (by Harald Kloser, Thomas Wanker) is okay.
There are plenty of good scenes sprinkled into the movie, but overall, it's full of boring and unnecessary scenes. I can imagine another cut of this movie that might be interesting.
Moonfall is a boring futuristic fantasy disaster movie / adventure, that I think only the most dedicated fans of the genre could enjoy.
My experience
I was not satisfied with Moonfall (2022). I prefer stories with well-thought, logical plots, and interesting stories, but Moonfall couldn't deliver that.
Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points). Moonfall is a long and boring film with a weak plot. With a tighter cut, it could be Average (2 out of 3 points).
Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Moonfall is boring and stupid.
Rewatchability: Average. I think it's mostly the surprise of the story that makes you feel interested. I don't think any viewer could would feel attached to the characters.
Chance of watching it again: No.
Chance of watching a sequel: I'd probably watch it, because I don't learn from my mistakes.
Moonfall, movie (2022)
image © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
Will you enjoy this?
If you like mystery movies, you might like Moonfall.
If you like science fiction movies, you should probably skip Moonfall, unless you are very good at suspending your scientific knowledge.
If you like space exploration movies, you might like Moonfall, although it's only one plot-line that directly deals with space.
If you like disaster movies, you might like Moonfall, although it's only one plot-line that directly deals with disasters.
If you like supernatural or fantasy movies, you might like Moonfall (although the setting is not supernatural, but the theme is close).
If you like scientific research stories (Andromeda Strain), you might like Moonfall, although the focus is not really on the research and investigation, things just happen.
If you'd like to get comedic moments in your movies, Moonfall will disappoint you, as it's mostly serious.
If you enjoyed the 2012 (2009), you might be interested in this story, as it's very similar.
If you don't mind illogical elements in your movies, you can enjoy this.
If you prefer visuals over story, you'll get rewarded by good looking scenes, but you'll also have to sit through a lot of boring one.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in futuristic fantasy stories, I think it's worth watching the Moonfall movie for the plot points, just skip the parts when you don't see any astronauts on the screen.
If you are interested in disaster stories, I don't think it's worth watching the Moonfall movie for the plot points, just read the summary, and the explanations of why the events would be impossible.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals definitely look better if you watch it in cinema.
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Moonfall, movie (2022)
image © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
Review with spoilers - Moonfall, movie (2022)
I didn't like the Moonfall movie.
The beginning - the space accident - is actually good. It establishes the scene, the characters, and drops them into a tense situation they have to solve. I liked that. There's also foreshadowing at the end of the scene about the Moon. Unfortunately that was the last dramatically good scene in the movie.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the movie.
If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Moonfall film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will ruin the movie for you.
Promise of the first scene
In the first scene we see the launch of the Apollo 11. I assume the movie will have something to do with that, but I have no clue how will this connect to the plot.
The second scene shows us a team of astronauts working on a satellite, when something strange hits them, and we see something strange happening to the Moon. I assume this something will be of alien origin, leading to the plot.
Execution: We got something about the Apollo 11, okay. The second scene is the one establishing the story. I was satisfied with the promise, if I count the second scene as the promise.
Plot summary / Synopsis
We see the launch of the Apollo 11.
2011.01.12: There are astronauts, repairing a satellite. There's a female astronaut (Halle Berry as Jocinda Fowler) in the shuttle. There's a male astronaut (Patrick Wilson as Brian Harper), and another astronaut (Frank Fiola as Alan Marcus), repairing outside. Some problems arise in the electronics, then something strange hits them. The female astronaut falls unconscious, and the other astronaut drifts away, so the male astronaut gets inside the shuttle. After he stabilises the shuttle, he sees that something strange is happening to the Moon.
2013: We see that the male astronaut was punished for negligence during the accident. The male astronaut has a kid, and they are moving to New Jersey.
2021: The female astronaut also has a kid, but she divorced from her husband (Eme Ikwuakor as General Doug Davidson).
University of California: We see that a bearded guy (John Bradley as K.C. Houseman) steals astronomical data about the Moon. He notices some irregularities.
NASA: They notice that the Moon is orbiting closer to the Earth than previously. They call the female astronaut, who is one of their leaders now.
The bearded guy meets the male astronaut, to tell him about the Moon, but they throw him out. He also mentions that the Moon is an alien made mega-structure.
The son of the male astronaut gets into prison for driving under the influence of drugs. The male astronaut goes to the hearing. He talks to his ex-wife (Carolina Bartczak as Brenda Lopez), and her new husband (Michael Peña as Tom Lopez) about the situation.
The bearded guy has a mother who has memory problems, he visits her.
NASA: They realise that the Moon is going to fall on the Earth in 3 weeks. They prepare to send a team to the Moon, to inspect a large hole. They notice that the information about the Moon has gone public.
People all across the world panic.
NASA: They've sent three astronauts to the Moon, and they send a probe into the hole. The probe hits something. Something flies out of the hole, grabs hold of the shuttle, and kills the astronauts. The Moon changes trajectory again, trying to get back to its original place, but when the alien thing gets back inside, it stops.
The male astronaut goes to meet the bearded guy, who holds a meeting to discuss the situation about the Moon. Suddenly, flooding starts, so they escape to the higher floors.
NASA: The director decides to quit, and gives his job to the female astronaut. She gets access to secret library. She meets an old man (Donald Sutherland as Holdenfield), and finds it out that the NASA knew that something is not right with the Moon, the Apollo 11 mission has seen some lights, and they knew that the male astronaut was not responsible for the accident. He also talks about a potential weapon that could take out the alien thing.
The army wants to take over handling the Moon. The female astronaut pleads with them, but they don't listen to her. Luckily, her ex-husband is in the military command. She asks him about secret weapon, and he tells her that it's an EMP weapon. As the presence of the alien confuses electronic devices, she thinks of the old spaceships they have in the museum.
An army captain (Maxim Roy as Gabriella Auclair) locates the male astronaut in the flooded hotel, and they take him and the bearded guy to the NASA. The bearded guy confesses that it was him who leaked the information to the public, leading to all those deaths due to the riots. The male astronaut accepts the job if they get his son out of the prison.
The EMP weapon arrives for the mission, and two soldiers will accompany them to activate it. There's an engineer (Julia Thomas as Hannah Martin) and a navigator (Christian Jadah as Carl Saunders). They plan to switch off the electronics in the lander, arm the EMP bomb, then switch on the electronics to lure the alien, hoping that the EMP effect will kill it. Suddenly, an earthquake hits them, damaging one of the engines of the shuttle.
The female astronaut decides to send everybody home, and they quickly leave. Then they realise that they could make the trip even without the damaged engine, but for that to work, they have to leave in 30 minutes. The female astronaut, the male astronaut and the bearded guy get in the rocket. A giant flood reaches them, but the rocket is able to launch successfully.
The kids of the male astronaut and the female astronaut leave to get into a safe bunker. Their car gets stolen, but luckily the new husband of the male astronaut's ex-wife has a house nearby, and he's in that house. They try to reach the bunker by car.
Space: The rocket gets into space. They put the EMP bomb in front of the hole, then wait for the alien to get out, but it doesn't get close enough to the bomb. They deduct that the alien only attacks electronic devices if there are living organisms nearby. The male astronaut decides to get on the lander, to use himself as bait. They all get in the lander, but debris hits the shuttle that gets destroyed. They fly inside the Moon, and fly through the mega-structure, to find a white dwarf inside. As the alien starts chasing them, something takes over the controls of their lander, and a tractor beam pulls them inside the structure, but their lander is seriously damaged, and they all pass out. The alien tries to get inside, but its unable to get through the walls.
Earth: The car is too slow, the bunker gets closed, so the kids and the new husband try to reach the bunker on foot.
Space: The female astronaut and the bearded guy wake up to find the male astronaut missing. They get out of the lander.
The male astronaut talks to the keeper of the Moon. It tells them that humans had a space civilisation several billions of years ago, and they built the mega-structure of the Moon. They also made an Artificial Intelligence, that malfunctioned, and started to kill all organic life. They sent one of their mega-structures without passengers, because the AI only killed organic life on board of electronic vehicles. They mega-structure went to our star system, created the Earth out of debris, then seeded it with their DNA. There are thousands of AI swarms that search for life. The keeper tells him that he must use the lander to lure the AI swarm away. They also repaired their lander.
Space: The astronauts get inside their lander, and start to lure the AI swarm.
Earth: The Moon gets into the atmosphere of Earth, causing massive destruction. The army wants to start shooting it with nuclear missiles, but the ex-husband of the female astronaut refuses.
Space: The bearded man gets inside the rover, to be the one who activates the EMP bomb. They leave him behind. When the creature arrives, he activates the EMP bomb. The lander gets out of the Moon just when it touches the Earth, so they fall onto the Earth.
Earth: A helicopter arrives to pick them up. Then the helicopter also finds their kids, so they reunite.
Most of the surface of the Earth is probably destroyed by this time, and the handful of humans left on Earth will have a hard time surviving in the new environment.
The inside of the Moon: We find it out that the keeper scanned the mind of the bearded guy, and recreated his personality in its system.
The setting
The story is set on an alternate / fantasy Earth, in 2021.
In this universe, the Moon is actually a mega-structure, built by precursors of the humans.
Moonfall, movie (2022)
image © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
The creature - the AI swarm
The AI was created billions of years ago by the progenitors of humans. The AI rebelled, and started to fight the progenitors. AI swarms seek the organic life around the Galaxy, to purge them out.
In 2011, an AI swarm found the mega-structure of the Moon, and breached its hull.
It spends its time around the white dwarf, to leach the energy out of it. If an electronic device approaches the Moon, it gets out to check it. If there are lifeforms on board, it destroys them.
The mega-structure - the Moon
The Moon is actually a mega-structure, built by the precursors of humans.
It's a micro-sized Dyson sphere, that has a white dwarf trapped inside to power the structure. This white dwarf probably makes the gravity of the mega-structure around 350,000 G. Probably that's why they need a lot of power to disguise the real gravity as 0.17 G. When the AI swarm sucks energy out of this anti-gravity device, the Moon starts to fall on Earth.
They've built them to act as habitats for their species, so there are turning rings with fields of produce, that also act as gyroscopes to stabilise the structure.
The structure is made of a material that's so strong it takes years for an AI swarm to break though.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one.
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Moonfall film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline. There are some flashbacks to ancient humans, but those might be just projections by the machine.
There's no single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution. The movie ends with hints of a potential sequel.
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Things I liked
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
I haven't seen any other works of the writer (Spenser Cohen). I'm not sure how much influence he had on the script, but after this, I'm wary of his future works.
From the writer (Harald Kloser), I have seen 10,000 BC (2008), 2012 (2009), and both were acceptable. This was worse.
From the writer (Roland Emmerich), I have seen a couple of movies. Das Arche Noah Prinzip / The Noah's Ark Principle (1984) was bad. Moon 44 (1990), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 10,000 BC (2008), 2012 (2009), and Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) were okay. Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), and Godzilla (1998) were good. This one was better than the The Noah's Ark Principle, but worse than any others.
I have seen some works of the director (Roland Emmerich). Das Arche Noah Prinzip / The Noah's Ark Principle (1984) was bad. Moon 44 (1990), Universal Soldier (1992), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 10,000 BC (2008), 2012 (2009) were okay. Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), and The Patriot (2000) were good. This one was better than the The Noah's Ark Principle, but worse than any others.
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Moonfall, movie (2022)
image © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
Analysis of the story - Moonfall, movie (2022)
I didn't like the story, and the accumulation of minor and major problems prevented me from enjoying Moonfall.
Problematic elements
Long scenes: Many scenes have extra seconds to add some padding to the movie. A tighter cut would make this more interesting.
Unnecessary scenes: There are some scenes that I don't feel belonging to the plot.
- The 2013 scene, with the family moving to New Jersey.
- The bearded guy visiting his mother.
- The kid getting into prison scenes, including
- The car chase
- The hearing
- Brian dumpster diving to find the papers.
- Most of the flooded hotel scenes, including
- Saving the bearded guy from the flooding water.
- The "Moon is full of weed" scene.
- Talking in a bathrobe.
- The truck pushing the ship - it's ridiculous
- The kids getting to the bunker scenes, including
- Getting away from the flood
- Calling daddy
- Stealing their car
- Finding the husband
- Reaching the bunker
- Leaving the lander - they almost immediately get back anyway
Putting the blame on Brian: What exactly did he do wrong? Let's assume it was really just a meteor that hit them, and not an AI swarm. How was a meteor striking them his fault? Shouldn't it be someone else's fault, who didn't notice the meteor on a space radar before it hit the satellite?
The director quitting NASA: I find it hard to believe that someone who had worked hard to get to that position would just give it up due to some inconveniences.
The secret weapon: How does the ex-husband instantly know about the secret EMP project? Does he know everything? That project has been abandoned for 50 years. If they show us scenes of dumpster diving, they could have at least indicated that he had to search the files.
Brian's actions: When he finally comes to the realisation that the Moon might really changed the orbit, why does he go to the loony conspiracy theorist, instead of one of his former colleagues at NASA? Why is it so important for him that he's ready to dive into a dumpster? What stakes does he have in all of this?
Locating Brian: How does the military know where is Brian?
The stowaway: Why does Brian insist that they should take the bearded guy?
EMP weapon: It's great in theory, but there seem to be huge electric discharges inside the mega-structure, so the creature would be probably shielded against it. Also, if it's able to cross interstellar distances, it's probably able to survive radiations stronger than the device humans could come up in the 1970s.
The ship pushing truck: When they do that, there's should be an alarm sounding, to avoid the exact situation we see in the movie.
The bearded guy knows it better: How come that he knows NASA stuff better than the NASA guys?
Sending everybody home: This move was just as irresponsible as the previous director throwing the towel in. This means she would just leave everybody to die, without trying anything.
Cold start in 30 minutes: I'm pretty sure that a rocket needs more time to prepare for launch.
Leaving the EMP bomb: I find it implausible that the army would just leave their secret weapon, and fly away.
The bearded guy on the rocket: It takes a lot better physical state to remain in one piece during the launch.
Long farewells: If they have to leave in 30 minutes why do they spend so much time saying goodbyes?
The gravity: If the gravity is able to pull people into the air, most of the surface would just leave the Earth.
Flying without electronics: Although they should switch off electronics, we see electronic displays working, lamps lighted up, cellphones working. These are all electronics. The navigation used in the Moon lander also look electronic. The activator of the EMP is also electronic. Okay, the alien sensed the activator and the cellphone, but the lamp Brian was using during the scene is electronic.
- Also, as we later get to know, the AI wants to kill every organic life. Why does it leave them alive, when they switch off the cellphone? This doesn't seem very intelligent for me.
Flying into the Moon: Why does the alien let them in? They use electronics while flying, the whole time, and the lander has living crewmembers.
Running into the same robbers multiple times: What are the odds?
- The second time is very unlikely, especially as the robbers took their car, and went their way.
- The third time just seems impossible, as they were in a car, hurrying to the bunker, while the robbers didn't even know where were they heading, and there was also a storm around them, making it hard to see anything. How were they able to catch up to them?
Lack of protection: While they are flying into the Moon, and they prepare to get attacked, why don't they wear their helmets? (Edit: Yes, they don't wear them, so there could be another scene where the lack of Oxygen puts them in danger...)
Getting to the bunker on foot: They know that the bunker is closed, why do they want to go there? And if they do, why do they go on foot, instead of using their car?
The mutiny of the ex-husband: First, why doesn't they just shoot him? It's more important to save the life of others. Second, the whole thing is kind of pointless, as while he manages to hold back the launch of some missiles, the other countries probably already launched their own ones.
Human DNA: The progenitors who planted their DNA, first created single cell organisms in their likeness. Does this mean that the progenitors were single cell creatures? Something like an amoeba? It took a very long time for human DNA to develop in its current form.
The trajectory of the Moon: It was said that the creature only controls the Moon while it stays inside. However, when it chases the lander, it probably doesn't have this control, yet, the Moon still descends. (Edit: Reading the WikiPedia, it looks to me that the creators wanted to indicate that the creature leeches the energy of the super-structure, and that was what caused the falling of the Moon, as the engines of the structure were what kept the Moon in orbit. Probably due to it's extremely high gravity, because of the white dwarf stuck inside. So, when the creature is not around the white dwarf, the engines should be working, and the creature is not controlling anything.)
Floating inside the Moon: Why they are on the lander, they float. This is especially strange, as even the normal Moon has a gravity, and they said that the gravity of the mega-structure increased.
Activating the bomb: The bearded guy really takes his time to blow the bomb. By the time he comes to the decision, the AI swarm could have killed him multiple times.
Also, before activating the bomb, he should have switched off the electronics in the rover. That way, the life support would be working after the EMP.
Cell phone connection: It looks very unlikely to me that during all these catastrophes, there is still cell phone connection, especially without any working satellites.
Recreating the personality: When did they scan the bearded guy? The original plan was to use Brian as the bait, I'd assumed that the keeper would scan his personality.
Unanswered questions
- Why do the precursors keep the Moon around the Earth? After they've seeded their DNA, it would be more helpful to get to a safer distance. They could have still created a moon, to help stabilise the rotation of Earth, though.
- What happened to the new husband of the ex-wife? Did he die? He was there without Oxygen for a couple of minutes, but he could have survived that.
- What happened to the ex-husband of the female astronaut? We see rocks falling on the army bunker, but it's not clear what happens to him.
- What happened to the bearded guy? An EMP bomb doesn't explode like a regular bomb, it just shuts down unshielded electronic devices. So, he would be left floating in space.
- Did the AI swarm send a signal back to its buddies, to tell them about the mega-structure's location?
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Possibilities of improvement
- Cut the Apollo 11 launch. It's the next scene that establishes the story.
- Trimming the long scenes.
- Cutting the unnecessary scenes, I've listed in the Problematic elements.
How it could have been better?
Ditch the bearded guy. We don't need him in the movie.
Ditch the kids. They might get mentioned, but in their current version the creators don't know what to do with them.
Drop the "escape from the disaster" scenes, unless the writer could come up with something engaging, and create attachment to the escaping characters.
Do something with Kelly Yu. She looks good on the screen, her acting feels natural, yet she just tags along as a fifth wheel.
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Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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Moonfall, movie (2022)
image © UK Moonfall LLP (Centropolis Global) & Centropolis Entertainment
Uses for the film - Moonfall, movie (2022)
Plot
- The Moon is an alien mega-structure.
- An evil alien creature starts controlling the Moon to fall on Earth.
- Astronauts are sent on the Moon to kill an evil alien.
Scenes
- The scenes where the Earth is getting destroyed by floods, meteorites, storms, can all be used to depict natural catastrophes.
- The insides of the Moon can be used to show the insides of a futuristic mega-structure.
Designs
- The Moon lander and the Moon rover looks good.
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Getting through the guards: There's an important person, whom an interested party wants to reach. The defender sets up the playing area, with the important person in the middle, and some bodyguards deployed anywhere on the playing area. Then the attacker deploys their forces, who all try to reach the important person. The important person cannot leave the area. The bodyguards can capture the attackers with a successful close combat attack, and they can block their way. The attacker wins if they are able to touch the base of the important person. The defender wins if they capture all of the attackers.
Innocent civilians (harder for the players): There are innocent civilians randomly deployed around the playing area. When the attackers approach, they start to move randomly. Roll for every civilian model (d6): 1-3: They move towards the nearest exit. 4-6: They move in a random direction. When they reach an exit point, they leave the game.
Civilian groups (easier for the players): The civilians get together in distinct groups. You only have to roll once for each group, and they move together.
Disaster strikes: The battle is fought normally, while some disaster starts to happen around them. Before the game, roll a d6: 1-2: Flooding, 3: Earthquake, 4: Meteorites, 5: Gravitational anomaly, 6: Roll twice, and apply both results.
Flooding: Water starts to get inside the playing area from one direction. Put water tokens on the flooded areas. The flood moves with one area / turn speed, on gound level. Higher areas are unaffected.
Earthquake: Roll at the beginning of the turn (d6): 1-4: Minor quake: Choose a random point. Choose another random point. Create a line between them. The areas that this line touches are struck. Roll for every model, as if they have been hit. If they would get damaged, they fall to the ground. 5-6: Major quake: Choose a random area. The whole area opens up. Every model inside has to roll for skill, otherwise they fall into the hole.
Meteorites: At the beginning of the turn, roll d6, that's how many meteorites will fall. Roll a d6 for each meteorite, on 1-5, it's a small meteorite. Roll a 3 cm diameter landing point randomly. Any model touching the marker is hit. On a roll of 6, it's a large, 10 cm diameter meteorite.
Gravitational anomaly: A gravitational anomaly moves through the playing area. Randomly choose an edge, and the anomaly moves towards the opposing edge with the speed of one area / turn. Roll a d6 for each wave: 1-3: Lower gravity. Models can jump twice as far, and from twice as high, without getting hurt. Heavy equipment doesn't hinder the models. 4-6: Higher gravity: Movement is halved. Falling causes double damage. Heavy equipment halts the movement of the model, unless another model helps in.
Reaching the vehicle: There's a vehicle they want to start with a specialist crew. An enemy wants to stop them from doing so (either killing or capturing them). The defender sets up the playing area, with a command centre on one side, the vehicle on the other side, surrounded by a wall, and an open area between them. The specialist crew of three starts in the command centre. The defender has security guards deployed anywhere on the playing area. The attackers can enter from any edge. The attacker can capture a crew member with a successful close combat attack. A captured crewmember can be freed by any models with one action. If the attackers don't use ranged weapons, the security guards of the defender are reluctant to shoot at them - when they aim on an attacker, roll for skill, or a d6: on 1-3, they shoot, on 4-6, they just try to scare them with warning shots. The defenders win if all of the crew members reach the vehicle. The attacker wins if they stop at least one crewmember.
Generic crewmembers (easier for the defender): There are three roles, A, B and C. The defender has 6 models, that can be appointed to any of these roles. This is kept secret from the attacker. All three roles must reach the vehicle to be successful.
Flying transport: If flooding is added, the addition of a flying transport can be useful to the defender player. To make it more interesting, it can only hold two passengers at once.
Collecting the crew: There are multiple buildings in the playing area, the crew members are randomly put in them. After the flood hits, the ground level becomes unusable. The flying transport is required to collect all of them into the command centre for debriefing before they can launch.
Movie accurate situation: The above scenario, with Flooding added. The crew has to reach the vehicle before the flood does.
Three way fight: There's one enemy, and two friendly sides, who both want to defeat the enemy with their own methods. Prepare the playing area together. The enemy side wants to defeat both opposing sides. One side wants to use one kind of weapon of mass destruction. The other side wants to use another kind of weapon of mass destruction. The two friendly sides can't attack each other directly, but they can block movement and line of sight. The enemy wins if they defeat both sides. From the allies, that side wins that is able to use the weapon to take out the enemy leader.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Astronauts: Human-sized futuristic humans in protective suits.
AI swarm: Giant tentacled creature. Probably a Cthonian, painted in metallic colours.
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Similar stories - Moonfall, movie (2022)
Novels
David Weber: Empire from the Ashes series (1991, 1993, 1996): The Moon is a mega-structure, built by the precursors of humans, who fled to the Earth, because evil aliens want to destroy intelligent life. The mega-structure needs a human volunteer to defeat its enemy. The evil aliens are antagonistic because of an Artificial Intelligence turned evil, and make them act destructively.
Movies
2012 (2009): There's a series of catastrophes that struck the Earth. Humans try to survive. 2012 is very similar to Moonfall in many aspects.
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Frequently asked questions - Moonfall, movie (2022)
Is the Moonfall film based on a book or comics?
No, Moonfall is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Moonfall film a remake or reboot?
No, the Moonfall film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is Moonfall a horror movie?
Although there are some thrilling scenes in the Moonfall movie, it's more of a disaster / action movie than a horror movie.
Is there a post credit scene in Moonfall? Does Moonfall have end credit scenes? Does Moonfall have a post credit scene?
No, there's no post credit scene in Moonfall.
What happens to the Moon in Moonfall?
In Moonfall, the Moon starts to get closer to the Earth, with catastrophic results. It turns out that the Moon is an artificial construct, but an antagonistic Artificial Intelligence nanoswarm took over it, and wants to destroy the Earth, using the Moon as a wrecking ball.
Where can I see Moonfall? What is Moonfall playing on? What streaming service is Moonfall on? Where can I watch Moonfall online? Is Moonfall available on Netflix? Is Moonfall on Amazon?
As of 2022.10.17, Moonfall is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, HBO Max, Microsoft Movies.
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Resources - Moonfall, movie (2022)
Official
Moonfall: Official website.
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Information
IMDB: Moonfall (2022): Database article.
WikiPedia: Moonfall (film): Database article.
Letterboxd: Moonfall 2022: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Moonfall 2022: Database article.
TVTropes: Film / Moonfall: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Moonfall film (2022)
Mark de Graaf (for Mark's Remarks): Moonfall: Review article about the Moonfall film with no spoilers.
Reviews with spoilers - Moonfall film (2022)
: Review article of the Moonfall movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
David Ehrlich (for IndieWire): ‘Moonfall’ Review: Roland Emmerich’s Joyless Spectacle Is One Small Step for Bland, One Giant Leap for Bland-kind: Review article of the Moonfall movie, with spoilers.
Jay and Mike (for RedLetterMedia): Half in the Bag: Moonfall: Slightly humorous review video with spoilers.
The Critical Drinker: Moonfall - A Man-Made Disaster: Review video of the Moonfall movie, with spoilers.¤
Analysis - Moonfall movie (2022)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Moonfall.¤
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Buying the product - Moonfall, movie (2022)
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Have you seen the Moonfall film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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