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'Moonfall' Ending Explained: What Is The Swarm And Why Is The Moon Falling?

After a mysterious force pushes the Moon out of its orbit, it threatens planetary annihilation.

Source: IMDb

Moonfall is a sci-fi disaster film from Lionsgate. It tells the story of the destruction of the Earth at a never-before-seen scale and as the title suggests, it is brought about in the scenario when the Moon ends up falling after a mysterious force pushes it out of its orbit, threatening planetary annihilation. It stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, and Donald Sutherland. 



 

This film comes from the creators of other hit end-of-the-world films like Independence Day, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and Stargate. This action-packed film was theatrically released on February 4, 2022. It, unfortunately, did not do well at the box office. It has received mixed reviews and here's what you need to know about the film:

Moonfall Synopsis

The film begins in 2011 as astronauts Brian Harper, Jocinda Fowler, and newcomer Marcus are on a space expedition to fix a satellite. They are suddenly attacked by a mysterious black swarm that ends up killing Marcus, while Jocinda, who was inside the Space Shuttle loses consciousness. Brian makes it back to safety and sees a storm on the surface of the moon. After bringing the shuttle back to the Earth, he is hailed as a hero but NASA dismisses him when he tries to explain to them about the swarm. Jocinda is unable to confirm this and he is fired.

Source: IMDb

Ten years go by and a conspiracy theorist, K.C. Houseman, discovers that the moon is moving closer to the Earth. He first shares it with Harper who dismisses him which forces him to publish it on social media. NASA discovers this occurrence as well and sends up a team to find out more about it. But the crew are killed by the same black swarm.

What Is The Black Swarm?

Fowler who is now deputy director of NASA learns that there was a lot discovered during the Apollo 11 Moon landing. There were abnormalities recorded on the surface and it was also found that the Moon was actually hollow inside. A way to kill the black swarm was also devised at the time but was abandoned due to budgetary reasons. Jocinda decides to revive it and put an end to the destruction of life on Earth.

Source: IMDb

The moon moving closer and closer to Earth causes various cataclysmic disasters such as tsunamis, gravitational abnormalities, and atmospheric dissipation. Jocinda assembles a crew comprising of Houseman, herself, and Brian to tackle the problem. They learn that the swarm gets its energy from the Moon's white dwarf which was what was causing the huge structure to hurtle towards Earth. Moreover, they also discover that the Moon is actually not a rock but an ark made by the Earth's much more technologically advanced predecessors. The swarm turns out to be rogue artificial intelligence devices that had become too strong and lost control. It responds to electronic activity in the presence of organic life. 

Source: IMDb

Moonfall Ending Explained

On Earth, the President of The United States orders a nuclear attack to deflect the trajectory of the Moon. But the Air Force Chief of Staff General Doug Davidson who was previously married to Jocinda refuses to do it. The space crew's families are all fleeing the natural disasters as they come together to run for the hills. The people have started fighting amongst each other for survival.

Source: IMDb

The crew has to use an EMP device created by a military program code-named ZX7, in an attempt to kill the swarm. Houseman uses the EMP to lure the swarm away from their shuttle. He has to detonate the device to kill the swarm. In the process, he ends up getting killed. But he also kills the swarm, allowing Jocinda and Brian to escape. The power gets restored now and brings the Moon back to how it was before. The Moon stops moving towards the Earth and the destruction of mankind has been averted. Jocinda and Brian come back to Earth and reunite with their families.

We also see something mysterious happen. The Moon's operating system has somehow stored a copy of Houseman's consciousness. It then appears to him as his mother and cryptically says: "We should get started." And the movie comes to an end, suggesting that there just may be a little more adventure left to be told in a follow-up movie perhaps.