Taking on the famed hippie generation of 1960’s Britain and a small significant event that took place in the ’60s, Moonwalkers is a fun energetic comedy (with moments of action and insane violence) that sadly falls at the final hurdle.
Unstable and erratic Special Agent Kidman (Ron Perlman) of the CIA is dealt the task of going over to England to convince world renowned director Stanley Kubrick to help stage the moon landing as a fail-safe for the possible, and likely, event that Apollo 11 fails to complete its mission. Things don’t quite go to plan for Kidman, whos mental health isn’t up to par following a stint in Vietnam and who meets luckless band manager Jonny (Rupert Grint) instead. Jonny sees his opportunity to con Kidman, who’s posing as a Hollywood producer, and takes the much needed cash on offer in the hopes of settling his debt with some dangerous London mobsters and to pay for his rather talent-less band to record an album. Surprisingly, Jonny doesn’t get away with the ruse and ends up having to help Kidman convincingly film a Kubrick-looking Moon landing within 7 days, or quite possibly face the deadly consequences.
Rupert Grint may not yet be on the same heights as former co-stars Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson since their Harry Potter days came to an end, but in Moonwalkers he takes one small step forward in the right direction. Alongside Grint is the show-stealing Leon (Robert Sheehan) – Jonny’s druggie actor room-mate. Jonny quite literally drags Leon into his daring scheme to con Agent Kidman out of his money by having Leon hilariously pose as Kubrick which, while initially works, all quickly unravels. Death at a Funeral writer Dean Craig gives us a wonderful comedy here and its delivered well by first-time director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet. The three lead roles seem tailor-made for each star – Perlman as the straight-laced no non-sense Agent, Grint, a the terribly under confident, lacking in any discernible skills band manager, and Sheehan as the completely unpredictable wacky Leon. While the film is unlikely to share the same spotlight as other star-powered comedies this year such as Bad Neighbours 2 or The Nice Guys, it definitely has the potential to be a cult-classic which could make a name for itself over the next few years.
Moonwalkers instantly wins you over with its fantastic premise playing off the idea that the Moon landing was, in-fact, a great American conspiracy, the twist coming in the form of it actually being a bunch of amateurs winging it rather than Kubrick himself. Unfortunately, while the plot is large and Perlman, Grint and Sheehan all shine bright, the story becomes rather thin and falls apart. The subplots are either forgotten about quickly or just completely pointless. The film falls into sporadic moments of violence that, while impressive and fun, were also largely unnecessary. And with the story leaning towards the thin side, this fun energetic plot ends up having nowhere really to go, resulting in an abrupt end that sadly leaves a blemish on what is a genuinely entertaining film. Regardless of this, Moonwalkers is still entertaining enough and, with a basic plot that is both unqiue and memorable, it’s well worth a watch.
Moonwalkers is available on DVD from May 30th
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