Killing Moon (1999)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Admirable film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Yet another predictable made for television thriller which seems to have been churned out in a hurry and on the cheap, judging by the sets (all two of them), the rubbish computer-generated plane which appears in a couple of long-distance shots, and the total lack of action or excitement. The direction is bland and unimaginative, the cast unappealing and the characters are of the dullest, politically correct nature you could imagine.Three main plot strands have been mixed into one to make this bomb. Firstly, a disease-of-the-week thriller premise taken from OUTBREAK; secondly, an aeroplane disaster movie taken from TURBULENCE and many others, and thirdly, a government conspiracy thriller taken from about a hundred others. Even William B. Davis (the Cigarette Smoking Man from THE X-FILES) shows up to drive the point home, and could well be described as "Coffee Drinking Man" in this film.The effects of the virus are predictably gruesome but not particularly shocking. Penelope Ann Miller once again proves herself to be a talentless actress, re-using the same stupid 'wide-eyed' shtick that she essayed in THE RELIC, and is the subject of some cheap exploitation when she spends a twenty-minute scene bent over a desk in a low-cut top. Daniel Baldwin - why? Why is he here, in this film? He serves no purpose and is completely extraneous to the plot. Worse still, he proves himself to be an even worse actor than his brother Stephen (if that's possible) and his greasy, slick hair-do is positively disgusting.The typical television movie type cast fleshes out the rest of the roles, while the film hurriedly throws in as many clichés as it can (even that old "short straw" routine again). This film will have you in howls of derision when one kid manages to hook up with the ground control team on her laptop computer via a modem made of iridium while everyone else on the plane is unable to communicate because their phones have been jammed. KILLING MOON is only worth watching to be laughed at - as a serious film, it fails completely.

One of the best things about this movie is that it centers around the outbreak of an unknown illness that is suspected to be caused by a virus. So, of course, they get the CDC involved. The great thing is that everyone, including the doctor, refers to it as the Center for Disease Control. Even the woman in the film who is supposed to be from the CDC does not know that it's the CenterS for Disease Control.They couldn't even spring for a real uniform for the Navy officer. He looks like he should be getting your bags out of the back of your taxi or opening a door for you.The acting and the script are horrible. There are a couple of good performances (like that of the actor portraying the pilot), but the only serve to highlight how bad the rest of the performances are. There are many moments of tense confrontation, minus any tension.Low-budget is one thing. That explains the horrible sets and confined feeling of the movie. But surely someone could have made the dialogue more believable.

I am a sucker for impending disaster movies and there are tons of enjoyable titles out there. This, however, definitely isn't one of them.I have to admit I sort of knew I was in for a bad movie, but it still managed to exceed all my expectations. They sometimes say having starred in an adult film isn't exactly gonna help your future career as an actor. Well, I dare say having had a role in this horrendous waste of celluloid could well be more hurtful to your resume and I bet Alec Baldwin regrets ever signing up for it and has left it out of his. One can only guess why he chose to participate. Really, about everything in this movie stinks. The script was probably written by a lobotomized rodent, it's so full of plot holes and utterly idiotic reasoning I just can't believe someone actually was paid to write it. In fact, it's so lame it almost becomes funny. The 'stunts' and special effects are way below par, even for a B-film. All actors, none excluded, come across like it's each scene's first rehearsal. All the 'scientific' content (computer stuff, cell phones, the virus related 'medical' information) is complete crap.** Minor Spoiler, but really, you knew this at the start ** Halfway through the film the idea is launched the infested plane should be crashed into the ocean, and I sincerely shouted 'YES! Please!' when the suggestion was made. Please trash the plane and all actors in it. There are bad films, and then there is this. An insult to anyone's intelligence. Someone should be punished, I'm thinking medieval torture here.I read elsewhere the company that spawned this film have created only a handful of flicks, their IMDb scores combined average about 4.3. I think that's rather high even for this horrible film.If you decide to watch it, it may be most fun to first load up a crate of beer, share the experience with a few good friends and have a contest: who can spot the most flaws, worst lines uttered, plot holes and such. Have a lot of paper, some pencils and a sharpener ready! You could hand out bonus points for who spots which actor is -based on his/her performance here- most likely never to be cast again.

In the annals of movie-making, "Killing Moon" ranks up there with such turkeys as "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman." Besides being cursed with a Baldwin in the cast (in this case, Daniel), the movie also suffers from an almost unintelligible script, Ed Wood type cheapo sets, wooden acting and a director (John Bradshaw) who must've come down with the same "mysterious disease" that infected some of the airliner passengers so boringly depicted in the picture. Some truly outrageous dialogue is spoken in this movie, and "you-gotta-be-kidding-me" situations are blandly acted out. Really, HOW many interesting variations of "The High and the Mighty" are there? My advice? ONLY watch this flick if you have a terminal case of insomnia.