The paradox of apocalyptic thrillers, especially when adding irony to the mix, is that criticism and warning can turn into catharsis and, eventually, into frivolity. Written and directed by Sam Esmail (creator of the series Mr. Robot) based on the novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind belongs to the select club of films with that effect, like Don't Look Up or The Menu in recent years. The plot follows a couple (Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts) from New Jersey who, on a vacation with their children to Long Island, experience a series of disturbing events and the arrival of George Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter (Myha’la), the owners of the house they are staying in. Distrusting each other and cut off from the rest of the world, both families must confront what, at every moment, seems more like an existential threat. It functions as an entertaining and well-acted thriller that will give you a great time, although it is not as deep as it pretends to be.
You can say that Roland Emmerich is the father of disaster cinema. Although he was not the one to inaugurate the genre (‘War of the Worlds’ did that two years before the filmmaker was even born), it was the German who gave the popcorn cinema format for aliens invading Earth, earthquakes destroying the surface and a cold to kill - literally. In 'Moonfall', the feeling is that Emmerich takes everything that worked (and failed) in his career and puts it all into one story. After all, we follow the journey of astronauts (Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson) who face a monumental challenge: understanding what is happening with the Moon, which is leaving its orbit and starting to destabilize the Earth. From there, a dive into all the elements of this disaster cinema begins. Obviously, there is a lot out of tune: parallel plots that are not interesting, megalomaniac visual effects that do not convince, physical absurdities and so on. But in the end, there is one certainty: 'Moonfall' is very entertaining. You root for the characters, anxiously follow some catastrophes and so on. Technically problematic, yes. But the movie has heart. And that ends up being enough to keep us glued to the screen while the world (and the Moon) are collapsing in front of us.