YMMV / Moonfall

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The Spaceship Moon hypothesis, which claims that the Moon is hollow and an alien spacecraft, is an actual conspiracy theory, which once Roland Emmerich read a book on decided to base a movie around.
• Awesome Music: The end credits theme, Luka Kloser's "One More Time". Even if it doesn't have anything to do with the movie - her father wrote the score, snuck the song into the credits and decided to keep it once it saw approval from test audiences.
• Critical Dissonance: Panned by critics, but audiences were more forgiving, deeming it entertaining in spite of the disjointed plot. This did not save it from becoming a major Box Office Bomb, however.
• Fandom Rivalry: A hilariously one-sided one with the gigantic Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom after Roland Emmerich, when hyping the movie, decided to take pot-shots at Marvel for being formulaic, which many found a hilariously oblivious criticism to come from a man whose films are known for being Cliché Storm after Cliché Storm with little variation of the formula. Suffice to say, the result was bringing a lot more negative heat to this film.
• Memetic Mutation: You will find quite a couple jokes regarding the Advertising by Association listing Godzilla (1998), particularily speculations that they were hoping people forgot exactly which Godzilla movie Roland Emmerich did.
• Money-Making Shot: Literally, as one shot of the Moon coming up from behind the Earth was crucial to sell the film to investors in Cannes and raise over $100 million.
• Nightmare Fuel: The way the swarm brutally dispatches the astronauts investigating the moon. It doesn't just take over their shuttle, it also brutally impales them right through the helmet.
• Pandering to the Base: The movie features a recurring Chinese character called Michelle who is absolutely inconsequential to the plot and seems to exist solely for the purpose of attracting a broader Chinese audience. Given that Moonfall was at least partially funded by Tencent, it's hardly surprising.
• So Bad, It's Good: A common assessment by those who liked the movie, as it manages to be even more of an absurd Cliché Storm than the usual Roland Emmerich disaster movie, with a plot that takes itself way too seriously, and an abundance of forced human drama moments.
• Spiritual Adaptation:
  • The moon crashing into the Earth sounds very similar to the premise of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Considering there's a reason why the moon is like this, it also brings Metal Black, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Dead Moon, and Eschatos in mind, with the ancient A.I. being similar to GAMP from Xevious.
  • The reveal that the moon was actually made by ancient advanced ancestors of humanity, alongside other reveals about the moon being a Superstructure has lead certain people to call this a "faithful" adaption of Halo.
• Spiritual Successor: To Independence Day and its sequel.
• Tear Jerker: Tom, Doug and K.C. sadly don't survive. Tom dies giving his oxygen tank to one of his daughters, Doug is killed in a nuclear bunker collapse, and K.C. sacrifices himself to stop the swarm. Averted somewhat when K.C.'s consciousness is restored by AI, bringing him back to life so he can keep protecting the moon.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: Whenever the movie cuts to Jo and Brian's family on Earth. The only thing it makes up for is a pretty awesome car chase with the carjackers.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: There's no denying that what the film lacks in realism, it more than makes up for in budget. The surreal scenes of desolation as the moon approaches, the flooded Los Angeles area, and finally the moon itself all look spectacular.

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