Search - Moontrap on DVD

Craig S. (InnerMacro) from WAUSAU, WI
Reviewed on 9/15/2023...

A NASA expedition recovers alien tech from an ancient spaceship with the expected ramifications.

From a pure marketing standpoint, the casting of Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell ensured that this movie would be sought after by diehard Trek and Evil dead fans. That being said, Koenig is sooo typecast as Chekov that it’s really hard to get plot immersion. The model-building crew did their homework on studying the lunar expeditions from the 60s, but it seems hard to believe NASA would still use all the same equipment decades later, especially when the opening of the movie shows the Space Shuttle from the 80s. The quality of the special effects and dialogue declines as the movie progresses: beginning with a promising concept, slowly descending into the ‘cheesy’ category, and finally into ‘stupid’. The ‘Intrepid’ shuttle launch and crew appear to suffer no adverse effects from G-Forces upon leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.

SPOILERS: The idea that an alien race had to wait 14,000 years to get their hands on the tech from a 1960s lunar lander to complete their ship is idiotic. The fact that the lander is apparently equipped with an explosive detonator, and that it would have enough explosives to destroy a massive alien star vessel, adds insult to injury. Using the submachinegun-looking weapon to leverage Newton's Law to get clear of the blast in time is asinine when considering the gun never had that effect when used countless times previously.

In summary, only diehard Trek or Evil Dead fans need seek this movie out, and even then, you may be annoyed that Koenig and Campbell were wasted on this unsatisfying movie.