Remember when 1996’s Independence Day made director Roland Emmerich the hottest property in Hollywood? It didn’t last, as 1998’s big-budget disappointment Godzilla brought his career back down to earth.

Not that Emmerich subsequently committed a bunch of flops to multiplex screens, as he enjoyed occasional hits like 2004’s Day After Tomorrow and 2009’s 2012. However, the latter turned into his last real success, as more recent efforts like 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence and 2019’s Midway didn’t live up to expectations.

2022’s Moonfall did nothing to alter this trend. With a budget in the neighborhood of $140 million, this flick pulled in a shockingly low $43 million worldwide, a figure so bad that even the usual “COVID-19 dip” can’t explain it.

Conspiracy theorist KC Houseman (John Bradley) detects that the moon’s orbit begins to deteriorate. Due to his unconventional beliefs, he can’t get legitimate authorities to listen to him, but he eventually manages to get an ally with disgraced NASA astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson).

Given his own status as persona non grata, Brian doesn’t make much traction either, but as the effects of the moon’s approach to the earth become apparent, he and KC obtain greater impact. This leads Brian to once again pair with former NASA partner Jocinda Fowler (Halle Berry) to lead a mission to reverse the moon’s course and save humanity.

As noted earlier, Independence Day became the peak of Emmerich’s career, and Moonfall leaves the impression the filmmaker hasn’t changed much over the last quarter century. However, Emmerich did veer toward more “serious” fare with historical dramas such as Stonewall and Anonymous.

Nonetheless, Moonfall makes one feel Emmerich now prefers to party like it’s 1996. While not a remake of Independence Day, one can easily feel its influence.

To be clear, I recognize the ample flaws found in the latter. Goofy and without the slightest connection to reality, Independence Day displayed plenty of problems.

However, Independence Day came with more than enough excitement and action to overcome these issues. Toss in the ample star power of folks like Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum and you wound up with a consistently entertaining popcorn flick.

Moonfall occasionally feels like a remake of Day, as it comes with plenty of the same themes and sorts of action beats. It also shares some plot domains that I won’t share because they fall into the spoiler realm.

Again, this doesn’t become a literal reworking of Day, but it often feels like Emmerich desperately hopes to tap the same vein and burst out with another hit. Unfortunately, this just means that Moonfall often comes across as little more than a tepid ripoff of Emmerich’s own past.

While Emmerich’s style came across as brash and bold in 1996, now it just feels stale. Emmerich hasn’t found any new tricks over the last quarter century, so he goes down the same paths he followed in Day but with diminishing returns.

Actually, as much as I see a lot of Day in Moonfall, the film exhibits strong echoes of his other work as well. You’ll find generous helpings of 2012 and Day After Tomorrow here as well.

These reverberations ensure that Moonfall never even vaguely feels like its own movie. It just comes across like Emmerich’s attempt to rehash his past, without creativity or anything new to say.

Perhaps this absence of freshness would offend less if Emmerich delivered a halfway competent film. Unfortunately, Moonfall becomes a massive mess of a movie, without coherence or anything that makes a lick of sense.

The entire story feels like a random collection of vaguely connected scenes, and the characters feel thinner than notebook paper. Emmerich stages action without logic and packages this into a loose conglomeration of idiotic sequences, each one dumber than the last.

The actors don’t help. We get a decent cast, but none of them exhibit much real spark, as they act down to the terrible material.

As a long-time fan of silly action movies, I wanted to like Moonfall. Unfortunately, the end product becomes a long, boring exploration of clichés and ridiculousness.

Moonfall appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. I expected a brand-new big-budget flick like this to look positive, and this Dolby Vision edition of Moonfall did.

Overall definition worked well. Virtually no softness emerged, so we got a tight, accurate image.

The vast majority of the flick offered tight, accurate delineation. I saw no shimmering or jagged edges, and the image lacked edge haloes or print flaws.

Like many modern flicks, Moonfall opted for a fairly teal palette, with more than a little amber tossed in at times. I would’ve liked something that deviated from the norm, but within its parameters, the hues seemed positive, and the 4K’s HDR added impact and range to the tones.

Blacks were deep and dark, while shadows showed nice clarity and smoothness. HDR contributed dimensionality and power to whites and contrast. Across the board, the movie looked quite good.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt consistently pleased with the appealing Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Moonfall. The soundscape used all the channels on a frequent basis, and this led us to an exciting sonic experience.

The various speakers provided lots of information that filled out the movie and blended together in a seamless manner. This formed a dynamic soundscape with a lot to offer. The material created an engrossing sense of place that really excelled.

In addition, when the story moved toward more traditional sci-fi/action sequences, these prospered. The speakers blasted the information at us in a dynamic manner.

In addition, audio quality seemed strong. Music was bold and full, and even with a lot of looped lines, dialogue remained crisp and natural.

Effects appeared lively and vivid, with clear highs and deep lows. I felt pleased with this impressive soundtrack.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with the same Atmos audio.

As for the 4K’s Dolby Vision image, it boasted nice improvements, as it seemed more vivid and better defined. This turned into an obvious upgrade.

As we move to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Roland Emmerich and writer/composer Harald Kloser. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at music, story and characters, various effects, cast and performances, editing, and related domains.

Prior Emmerich commentaries varied from mediocre to awful. This one leans toward the latter direction, but that doesn’t become an endorsement.

Kloser and Emmerich cover a decent array of domains and we learn a little about the movie. However, the track feels fairly dull for the most part, so don’t expect much from it.

Two featurettes follow, and Against Impossible Odds runs 58 minutes, 40 seconds. It delivers notes from Emmerich, Kloser, executive producer Carsten Lorenz, set decorator Ann Victoria Smart, stunt coordinator Patrick Kerton, supervising art director Felix Lariviere-Charron, production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli, SPFX supervisor Guillaume Murray, director of photography Robbie Baumgartner, space shuttle advisor Bjanri Tryggvason, key stunt rigger Martun Williams, visual effects supervisor Peter G. Travers, key concept artist Johannes Mucke, and actors Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Carolina Bartczak, Kelly Yu and Charlie Plummer.

“Odds” looks at the project’s origins and development, story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, shooting during a pandemic, stunts and action, attempts at realism and various effects.

The first chapter of “Odds” leans toward fluff and praise, but matters improve when the program digs into the technical aspects of the shoot. Skip the initial segment and enjoy the rest.

Exploring the Moon spans 26 minutes, 29 seconds and involves Jet Propulsion Laboratory research specialist Laura Kerber, NASA Chief Historian Brian Odom, USC Professor of Physics and Astronomy Vahe Peroomian, Planetary Society chief scientist Bruce Betts and NASA astronaut Victor Glover.

As expected, this show offers the history of the moon as well as aspects of space exploration. It delivers a pretty good overview.

Under Dr. KC Houseman Speaks the Truth. we get four segments that fill a total of seven minutes, 49 seconds. In these, Bradley performs in character to tour “Dr. Houseman’s” theories about the moon. They offer a clever promotional exercise.

The package also includes a Blu-ray copy. It includes the same extras as the 4K.

With Moonfall, Roland Emmerich tries to reclaim prior glories. He fails in an absolute and complete manner, as this becomes a persistently moronic and boring attempt at sci-fi action. The 4K UHD boasts, excellent visuals and audio plus an erratic but often informative set of bonus materials. While this becomes a great flick to show off your home theater, the movie itself fizzles.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of MOONFALL