Moon 44 (1990)

An unconventional corporate agent is given the task of shaping a group of violent criminals and technical wizards into a helicopter defense force assigned to protect a mining station on a remote moon.

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers:

Dean Heyde (screenplay), Oliver Eberle (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Paré, Lisa Eichhorn, Dean Devlin

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Paré	...	Felix Stone
Lisa Eichhorn	...	Terry Morgan
Dean Devlin	...	Tyler
Brian Thompson	...	Jake O'Neal
Malcolm McDowell	...	Major Lee
Stephen Geoffreys	...	Cookie
Leon Rippy	...	Master Sergeant Sykes
Jochen Nickel	...	Scooter Bailey
Mehmet Yilmaz	...	Marc (as Mechmed Yilmaz)
John March	...	Moose Haggerty
Drew Lucas	...	Riffle
David Williamson	...	Lt. Gallagher
Calvin Burke	...	Capt. Stojanowic
Andy Howarth	...	Guard Checkpoint
William Begatie	...	Pilot Taxi-Crane (as William Begatte)

Storyline

In 2038, Earth's mineral resources are drained, there are space fights for the last deposits on other planets and satellites. This is the situation when one of the bigger mining corporations has lost many mineral moons except one and many of their fully automatic mining robots are disappearing on their flight home. Since nobody else wants the job, they send prisoners as a last resort to defend the mining station. Among them, internal affairs agent Felix Stone, assigned to clear the whereabouts of the expensive robots. In an atmosphere of corruption, fear and hatred, Stone gets between the fronts of rivaling groups and locates the person committing sabotage.

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Plot Keywords:

planet | moon | robot | corruption | undercover agent | 

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Taglines:

In the Outer Zone... you need a friend.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1990 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Intruder

Filming Locations:

Ennis House - 2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centropolis Film Productions, Overseas FilmGroup

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Moon 44 (1990) is the first orchestral symphonic score written by composer Joel Goldsmith. Prior to this he had only written electronic scores to such films as The Man with Two Brains (1983) among others.

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Goofs

It is interesting that the defense force on Moon 44 chose helicopters as their primary vehicle. Most planetary moons have very little atmosphere - an environment in which helicopters (which rely upon air/gases for their lift) would be completely useless. In a possible defense of the filmmakers, Moon 44's atmosphere is portrayed as dense and mist-like, possibly similar to that of Saturn's large moon, Titan, which could theoretically support aerodynamic flight.

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Quotes

Cookie: And then, I was everyone's friend.

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Connections

Referenced in HBO First Look: The Making of 'The Day After Tomorrow' (2004)

User Reviews

Bad start for hit directors

Moon 44 is a bad start for director Roland Emmerich and nobody-actor turned producer Dean Devlin (who later team up with one another to make the blockbusters: Stargate, Independence Day and Godzilla).

The plot of this movie is really weak... It's 2036, and Earth's resources are gone. Mankind is now out in space mining moons somewhere for resources. However, it seems that even the big ol' universe doesn't have enough resources to sustain us greedy, and wasteful humans. The supercorps that run the mining operations have to literally battle each other for the goods.

To defend it's last territory, Moon 44, one company resorts to hire convicts to pilot helicopters (helicopters? on a moon?) yes, helicopters, to protect their mining robots from theft, even though the ships are stolen IN SPACE while their on transit to Earth. Makes a whole lotta sense doesn't it? Since no reputable pilot wants the suicide job of defending the base, the convicts are given the opportunity to do the job for a reduced sentence.

One convict is actually an undercover cop (Michael Paré) and his job is to infiltrate the mining complex and expose a traitor who is reprogramming the robot ships to never make it back to Earth. Because everyone involved is a potential suspect, it makes the cop's job more difficult.

The movie is filled to the brim, with bad acting, lame dialogue, dry characters, cheesy special effects (even for a 1990 film it looked more like something from 1980) and there is even some homoeroticism thrown in for good measure.

Avoid Moon 44 at all cost, and stick to Emmerich's blockbuster hits.