Conspiracy theories are fun. Short of the JFK assassination, I suppose few conspiracy theories have gotten the same level of insane conjecture as the idea that the United States never landed on the moon. One of the more amusing theories out there is that the American government, impressed with the level of detail in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, brought famed director Stanley Kubrick in to record a bogus video to disseminate to the masses as proof of our "accomplishment". MOONWALKERS, an independent black comedy from 2015, decided to take this concept and have fun with it. The movie is set during Apollo 11's approach to the moon. The American government wants to cover all its bases and have a Plan B in the event that something goes wrong. The CIA sends one of its agents, Kidman (Ron Perlman), to England with the plan of hiring Kubrick for the top-secret project but, thanks to unfortunate circumstances, he's mistakenly introduced to the manager of a failing rock band, Jonny (Rupert Grint). Seeing Kidman's suitcase full of cash, Jonny lies and promises to deliver Kubrick (in the form of his perpetually-stoned friend Leon, played by Robert Sheehan). By the time Kidman becomes wise to Jonny's lies, the money is gone and time is running out. Now Kidman and Jonny must work together to create believable moon landing footage while under the watchful eye of the CIA and the vengeful crosshairs of a disgruntled English mob boss. Prepare for drugs, hippies, and gratuitous violence.
Unfortunately, the biggest sham sold to the audience isn't that the moon landing was fake but that MOONWALKERS is a comedy. I've watched it again only just recently and I can't bring a single moment to mind where I honestly laughed. Maybe a chuckle here or there, but never a laugh and rarely a smile. It's just not that funny. Most attempts at humor in MOONWALKERS goes for the low-hanging fruit. The easy laughs. Leon's too nervous to pretend he's Kubrick. What's that? He's hyperventilating into a paper bag? No, he's huffing glue. Jonny freaks out that he's getting high before their big moment and tries to rejuvenate him by literally shoveling cocaine up his nose. Then we have the easy "fish out of water" gags where the stern, no-nonsense Kidman is forced into a situation where he's surrounded by free-spirited hippies. It's mostly an excuse for loads of nudity and people acting dopey while Kidman glares at them sternly. The director Jonny scores for the moon project is a German diva named Renatus whose latest accomplishment is slow-motion footage of a fat man jumping on a trampoline. It took him three years to complete. See? Laughs galore. There's nothing really clever in the attempts at humor in this movie. It all feels like cheap stereotypes we've seen hundreds of times before. The "black" in this black comedy are the occasional bouts of graphic violence that pop up randomly to spoil the cheerful vibes of this hippie crew of fools.
You see Kidman suffers from pretty severe PTSD. The very first scene of the movie is a flashback dream of Kidman in the jungles of Vietnam. He suffers from hallucinations of his mutilated friends and enemies from the war. He's haunted by the fact that he's an incredibly effective killing machine. So where trouble rears its ugly head, Kidman is there to bash its face in with a shovel (or his fist or whatever he's got handy). This brutal violence feels incredibly out of place in what otherwise is a relatively harmless, light-hearted hippie comedy and it's a little jarring every time it comes to pass. It feels like MOONWALKERS doesn't know what it wants to be. The tones clash. For an example of this sort of black action/comedy done better, go watch American ULTRA. This one seems to take the safe route through the comedy while ramping up the violence with the occasional exploding head. If I were to call out a single scene that might've bored me less than the rest of the movie, it'd be the obligatory acid sequence. You can't have a hippie movie without someone mistakenly dosed with LSD and that someone in this case is Kidman. It's always interesting to see how the director visualizes an acid trip and, despite everything MOONWALKERS does that falls short, I actually liked this sequence. So if you've got low expectations and some time to kill, throw on MOONWALKERS to watch Rupert Grint stumble in his post-Harry Potter career and Ron Perlman collect a paycheck,
Unfortunately, the biggest sham sold to the audience isn't that the moon landing was fake but that MOONWALKERS is a comedy. I've watched it again only just recently and I can't bring a single moment to mind where I honestly laughed. Maybe a chuckle here or there, but never a laugh and rarely a smile. It's just not that funny. Most attempts at humor in MOONWALKERS goes for the low-hanging fruit. The easy laughs. Leon's too nervous to pretend he's Kubrick. What's that? He's hyperventilating into a paper bag? No, he's huffing glue. Jonny freaks out that he's getting high before their big moment and tries to rejuvenate him by literally shoveling cocaine up his nose. Then we have the easy "fish out of water" gags where the stern, no-nonsense Kidman is forced into a situation where he's surrounded by free-spirited hippies. It's mostly an excuse for loads of nudity and people acting dopey while Kidman glares at them sternly. The director Jonny scores for the moon project is a German diva named Renatus whose latest accomplishment is slow-motion footage of a fat man jumping on a trampoline. It took him three years to complete. See? Laughs galore. There's nothing really clever in the attempts at humor in this movie. It all feels like cheap stereotypes we've seen hundreds of times before. The "black" in this black comedy are the occasional bouts of graphic violence that pop up randomly to spoil the cheerful vibes of this hippie crew of fools.
You see Kidman suffers from pretty severe PTSD. The very first scene of the movie is a flashback dream of Kidman in the jungles of Vietnam. He suffers from hallucinations of his mutilated friends and enemies from the war. He's haunted by the fact that he's an incredibly effective killing machine. So where trouble rears its ugly head, Kidman is there to bash its face in with a shovel (or his fist or whatever he's got handy). This brutal violence feels incredibly out of place in what otherwise is a relatively harmless, light-hearted hippie comedy and it's a little jarring every time it comes to pass. It feels like MOONWALKERS doesn't know what it wants to be. The tones clash. For an example of this sort of black action/comedy done better, go watch American ULTRA. This one seems to take the safe route through the comedy while ramping up the violence with the occasional exploding head. If I were to call out a single scene that might've bored me less than the rest of the movie, it'd be the obligatory acid sequence. You can't have a hippie movie without someone mistakenly dosed with LSD and that someone in this case is Kidman. It's always interesting to see how the director visualizes an acid trip and, despite everything MOONWALKERS does that falls short, I actually liked this sequence. So if you've got low expectations and some time to kill, throw on MOONWALKERS to watch Rupert Grint stumble in his post-Harry Potter career and Ron Perlman collect a paycheck,