A director who keeps making films, but he is in need for a career comeback.
As film fans around the world wait for upcoming films. Next year, we have Roland Emmerich’s space extravaganza Moonfall hitting screens world wide. But, what does this film mean to film fans and audiences who love his work?
Let’s discuss,
This film comes at an important period in his career. He is a director that has developed a niche and set of traits that he uses since he begun working in the industry. Usually most of his films contain a lot of action and can be either based on a science fiction plot full of aliens, the end of the world scenarios and historic adaptations.
Lets see some of these examples down below and take your pick for your favorite.
Independence Day (1996)
The film that shot him to world wide acclaim. To this day, the film has positive sense of charm and action spectacle throughout. However, the performances really make the picture stand. Notable performances include Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman. Its a real shame the sequel completely missed the mark.
The Patriot (2000)
This time Emmerich tackles history with a strong performance by Mel Gibson and the film introduced audiences to a young star Heath Ledger. This film is rather thrilling and this is for good reasons.
Like in his previous work, Emmerich likes to blow stuff up but with real practical sets and effects. You feel that realism in this film and the story this time around resembles more of a period epic. It’s a long ride but one that earns its run time.
2012 (2009)
This film is very Emmerich for all the good and bad reasons. The film is stuffed with characters explaining the plot as well as a lot of humour that mostly falls flat on its face. The terrifying nature of the world coming to an end is undermined by questionable dialogue and a film that felt very Hollywood.
Yes, the film has its moments of brilliant spectacle and showed Emmerich’s talents for this ability, but as a whole, the film didn’t work as much as I wanted it to do. Having said this, it’s a true example of everything that Roland Emmerich likes to do in films.
White House Down (2013)
This may be Emmerich’s funniest film to date, whether or not it’s was intentional, doesn’t really matter at this point. The film takes the B movie plot to a whole new layer of stupidity and guess what…I really enjoyed White House Down. The chemistry between Tatum and Fox was a nice combo of peanut butter and jelly.
To me, the best part about this film is the action, a very clever blend of CGI and practical effects, that gave off a cool blockbuster finish. The action was a lot of fun and the film flies by at the speed of lightning. So strap in. With this said, the film carries a similar problem that his films have, which is the humour and dialogue.
These two elements are not the films strongest selling point but may be he is’nt trying to. However, most critics and audiences disliked the film.
Midway (2019)
This time around Emmerich is making one of the decades most expensive independent productions, with the aim of blending remarkable history with his love for explosions. The end result is actually rather enjoyable if you know what you are getting into.
The theme of patriotism is over-stuffed, but the action itself is very enjoyable and the film shows the tactics from both sides, including the US and the Japs. The film also has Emmerich’s most impressive casts to date, including Patrick Wilson, who will be returning in Midway. However, the film underperformed critically and financially.
Roland Emmerich has directed several more films but these films are good examples of what he can produce in each genre and style of filmography.
Now onto his next release…
Moonfall (2022)
The opening five minutes have been released…take a peak.
Plot: In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation,
NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is.
After consideration, Emmerich has made a few films that critics have liked, but has’nt impressed audiences and critics for some time. With this film being one of the most expensive independent films of all time, the bar has been raised and so has the expectations.
The writing department comes from a slightly unconventional background. One of the writers is Harald Kloser who has composed music for most of Roland Emmerich’s work, including The Day after Tomorrow and White House Down. However, he has 4 writing credits to his name including 2012 and 10,000 BC. The two central characters seem to be Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry.
The other writers include Spenser Cohen and Roland Emmerich.
The film is set to be released in 2022, which will be the year of films such as Indiana Jones 5 and The Batman.
The film will be shot by Robby Baumgartner, who also lensed the underrated The Geust (2014). Hopefully his visual eye can be on par with such science fiction films like Gravity, but that is a high bar to set.
In the field of his previous works, this film seems to borrow Sci-Fi elements from Independence Day but the plot mirrors more towards 90’s classics such as Deep Impact (1998).
As a fan of his work, I hope this brings a sense of cinematic explosive fun that he has come accustomed to.
Author Bio
Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football.
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