April 23, 2022 Mark Pacis

Moonfall – 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Moonfall is the latest in Emmerich’s brand of disaster films that include such classics as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. The apocalyptic premise of Moonfall involves the moon falling out of orbit, leading to a conspiracy theory about aliens building the moon. In true Emmerich fashion, Moonfall isn’t trying to be anything other than a big, dumb disaster film. It knows what it is and wholly delivers on its promise—it’s a big film with a lot of destruction to boot. Of course, that’s to be expected. However, aside from that, Moonfall doesn’t really bring anything else to the table.

Unfortunately, only half of the film delivers on the fun and destruct. The other half is just dreadful. Instead of focusing on the big, dumb fun that is the moon being a megastructure for aliens, half the film focuses on the side characters trying to survive other humans on Earth. These moments are uninteresting to watch and drag down Moonfall to become a complete and utter bore. The characters are written so poorly that although we’re meant to care for them, there just isn’t any development behind them.

At the same time, it seems as if John Bradley (HBO’s Game of Thrones) got the assignment. Bradley wasn’t afraid of being over-the-top while providing some emotional moments as well. On the other hand, the rest of the cast doesn’t seem that interested in being in this film. In other words, how can audiences get into the sheer ridiculousness of the storyline if the film’s cast can’t fully invest in it?

All in all, Moonfall is a messy and incomprehensible flick with not enough camp to make it go down easy. The campy moon moments are entertaining, but unfortunately, that’s the only good part of the film and only half of it. It’s a disappointing movie even by Roland Emmerich (and genre) standards.

Movie Rating: 2.5/5 atoms

Video

Moonfall hits Ultra HD Blu-ray with a Dolby Vision/HDR10 transfer and a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The brightness of the video transfer is high and vibrant, but the problem is that these areas are so bright that there’s a good amount of bloom in these areas. For example, most of the daytime scenes contain clouds, and most of the details here are gone. Thankfully, the bright whites didn’t affect the look of the blacks. With the Dolby Vision grading, the blacks showcase all shades of black. The color reproduction throughout is bold and consistent. The red and oranges emanate off the screen, while the lush greenery looks natural and striking. With the number of intricate details presented within the moon and the destruction of Earth, the video transfer displays everything clearly.

Video Rating: 4.5/5 atoms

Audio

Moonfall hits Ultra HD Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos and a core 7.1 Dolby TrueHD Master Audio track. This review will reflect Moonfall‘s Dolby Atmos track. Much like the film, it’s grand and loud. Right off the bat, as the film’s opening credits start rolling in, you begin to hear the kind of immersive mix that Lionsgate has in store for you. Using your entire Atmos speaker setup, the track widens the soundstage and envelops you within the apocalyptic chaos.

Of course, there’s a lot of anarchy in the film. So expect your speaker set up to go through a workout when the credits start rolling. With the amount of destruction in Moonfall, Harald Kloser and Thomas Wanker’s score fill up the soundstage during the quieter parts of the film. Thankfully, the audio mix emphasized the clarity of the dialogue. So even the chaos around you wouldn’t drown out the vocals from the cast.

Audio Rating: 5/5 atoms

Moonfall - Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson

Special Features

Moonfall‘s Ultra HD Blu-ray disc contains the following special features on the disc:

Audio Commentary by Director/Writer Roland Emmerich and Writer/Producer/Composer Harald Kloser
Against Impossible Odds: Making Moonfall
- An Aura of Believability
- Staging the Spectacle
- Shoot the Moon
Exploring the Moon: Past, Present, and Future
Dr. KC Houseman Speaks the Truth!

Features Assessment

The audio commentary with Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser is informative and engaging. The energetic pair divulges a lot of information about the film scene by scene. Unfortunately, they settle into the play-by-play way too much. The most interesting tidbit is how they filmed the movie during pre-vaccine COVID times.

“Making Moonfall” is a collection of very polished featurettes where we see more of the consequences of the changes during their pandemic-mandated production. In this hour-long feature, you’ll find plenty of interviews and numerous behind-the-scenes footage. Additionally, “Exploring the Moon” is a half-hour feature about the science of the Moon and the history of lunar exploration. Finally, “Speaks the Truth” is a small collection of promotional videos of KC Houseman (John Bradley) peddling his megastructure theories to anyone who would listen on the Internet.

Special Features Rating: 3/5 atoms

Overall, Moonfall is a lackluster disaster film from a director who built his career on the genre. Despite a minor brightness issue with the video transfer, the video and audio are spectacular. The bonus features include a bevy of quality pieces despite their low quantity.

Overall Rating: 4/5 atoms