Moon 44

{{Infobox film

| name = Moon 44

| image = Moon44poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Roland Emmerich

| producer = {{plainlist|

Dean Heyde
Roland Emmerich

}}

| story = {{plainlist|

Roland Emmerich
Oliver Eberle
Dean Heyde
P. J. Mitchell

}}

| screenplay = {{plainlist|

Dean Heyde
Oliver Eberle

}}

| starring = {{plainlist|

}}

| music = Joel Goldsmith

| cinematography = Karl Walter Lindenlaub

| editing = Tomy Wigand

| studio = Centropolis Entertainment

| distributor = CineVox (though Warner Bros.)

| released = {{film date|1990|2|15}}

| runtime = 98 minutes

| country = West Germany{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b79ee6ecf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202035325/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b79ee6ecf|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 2, 2020|title=Moon 44 (1989)|work=British Film Institute|access-date=3 February 2020}}

| language = English

| budget = $2.5 million{{cite book|title=The true Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman: My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and other movie heroes|last=Armstrong|first= Vic|year=2011 |publisher=Titan |pages=238}}

}}

Moon 44 is a 1990 English-language West German science fiction action film directed, produced, and co-written by Roland Emmerich. It stars Michael Paré, Lisa Eichhorn, Malcolm McDowell, Brian Thompson, and Dean Devlin.

The film is set on a futuristic mining site on Moon 44, where convicts and teenage technicians are partnered. An undercover agent (Paré) must discover what has happened to missing corporate shuttles.

It was produced by Centropolis Entertainment, and released in West Germany on February 15, 1990. In the United States, the film was released direct-to-video. It received mixed-to-negative reviews.{{sfn|Prouty|1994|ps=: "No page number in the book. Review is dated "February 11, 1991""}}

Plot

By 2038, all of Earth's natural resources have been depleted. Multinational corporations have taken control of the galaxy and rival companies battle each other for access to mining planets. A major battle is for Moon 44, a fuel mining operation in the Outer Zone. It is the only installation still controlled by the Galactic Mining Corporation. Moons 46, 47 and 51 have recently been overtaken by the Pyrite Defense Company's battle robots. Galactic Mining had its own defense system, helicopters capable of operating in the violent atmospheres of the moons, but it was cancelled as too many pilots died while in training. The company sends new navigators to Moon 44 to assist the pilots. However, there is still a shortage of pilots, so the company is forced to use prisoners. Galactic Mining regards its fleet of mining shuttles as even more important, so if the base is attacked, the shuttles are ordered to leave the crews behind.

Galactic Mining hires Felix Stone, an undercover agent, to investigate the disappearance of two shuttles that went missing under mysterious circumstances. Stone travels to Moon 44 and meets chief navigator Tyler, who suspects the shuttles were stolen by somebody after they modified the flight computers. The mining operation's defence director, Major Lee and his assistant, Master Sergeant Sykes are the prime suspects. Stone later catches Sykes reprogramming a mining shuttle shortly before its departure. Sykes attacks Stone with an axe, but is quickly gunned down by Lee, who then refuses to hand over the modified computer to Stone, citing "company orders".

Having concluded his investigation, Stone prepares to leave, but the mining operation is attacked by a Pyrite Medusa-class battle cruiser. Major Lee sabotaged the alarm systems and then orders all of the mining shuttles to return to Earth. Stone manages to single-handedly shoot down the entire first wave of enemy attack drones, while prisoner O'Neal stays behind to destroy the remaining drones as Lee's actions at the base are discovered.

Lee tries to sabotage the last remaining mining shuttle, but he is trapped in an elevator by Stone and blown up by his own bomb. The others return safely to Earth, where Stone informs the Galactic Mining chairman that Lee was bribed by Pyrite to redirect the mining shuttles to a planet in the Outer Zone.

Cast

Michael Paré as Felix Stone
Lisa Eichhorn as Terry Morgan
Dean Devlin as Tyler
Brian Thompson as Jake O’Neal
Leon Rippy as Master Sergeant Sykes
Stephen Geoffreys as "Cookie"
Malcolm McDowell as Major Lee
Jochen Nickel as "Scooter" Bailey
Roscoe Lee Browne as Chairman Hall

Production

Filming took place primarily in the Swabian town of Sindelfingen utilizing old factory buildings as shooting locations.{{Cite book| last1 = Bock | first1 = Hans-Michael| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_Z4kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA359| title = The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema| last2 = Bergfelder | first2 = Tim | date = 2009 | publisher = Berghahn Books| isbn = 978-0-85745-565-9 | page = 11| language = en}} Production took place over the course of ten weeks from December 1988 through February 1989 primarily utilizing a warehouse that belonged to director Roland Emmerich's father that was used for his furniture business.{{cite web |title=Moon 44 (1991)|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/83925/moon-44#notes|website=TCM |access-date=June 10, 2025}}{{cite magazine |last=Wagner|first=Chuck|date=January 1998 |title= P.N.A. The Cusp|url=https://archive.org/details/cinefantastique_1970-2002/Cinefantastique%20Vol%2029%20No%209%20%28Jan%201998%29/page/n50/mode/1up?view=theater|magazine=Cinefantastique|location= |publisher= Fourth Castle Micromedia|access-date=June 9, 2025}} Packing materials for the furniture were incorporated into the set dressing and according to Michael Paré the spaceships were made of styrofoam packing. Additional filming took place at the Ennis House in Los Angeles, California, as the Galactic Mining corporate office.

Emmerich secured financing on the film by preselling distribution rights to foreign territories.

The film was shot by cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub and scored by composer Joel Goldsmith. It was filmed in color with Dolby Stereo sound.

Moon 44 is the first collaboration between Devlin and Emmerich. Emmerich ran out of money before he could shoot an important establishing shot, so he improvised using mirrors and the production crew as extras.{{cite book|title=Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998|last=Fischer|first=Dennis|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2011|isbn=9780786485055|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7msrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171}}

Release

Moon 44 was released in West Germany on February 15, 1990.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/moon-44_ea43d4a73e685006e03053d50b37753d|website=filmportal.de|access-date=August 17, 2016|title=Moon 44}} The film was released direct-to-video in the United States on January 24, 1991.{{sfn|Prouty|1994|ps=: "No page number in the book. Review is dated "February 11, 1991""}}

Reception

In a contemporary review, Variety referred to the film as "boring, uneventful" and "feeble sci-fi effort from West Germany".{{sfn|Prouty|1994|ps=: "No page number in the book. Review is dated "February 11, 1991""}}

Time Out wrote that "the film looks nice but unoriginal ... the model work is okay but laboured; the acting is stunningly mediocre."{{cite web|title=Moon 44: Movie review|url=http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/73478/moon-44.html|work=Time Out Film Guide|publisher=Time Out|access-date=30 June 2012|author=SFe}} TV Guide rated it 1/5 stars and wrote, "It's eye-filling, to say the least, but there's not much tension or sense of danger."{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/moon-44/review/128602/|title=Moon 44|author=|work=TV Guide|access-date=2 February 2016}} Kim Newman of Empire rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "The plot unravels in unwieldy dollops, and, despite some adequate special effects (for the time), the whole thing is really a bit of a bore."{{cite web|url=http://www.empireonline.com/movies/moon-44/review/|title=Moon 44 Review|last=Newman|first=Kim|work=Empire|date=January 2000 |access-date=2 February 2016}}

Upon viewing Moon 44, producer Mario Kassar was impressed enough to invite Roland Emmerich to Hollywood and ended up hiring him to direct Universal Soldier.