Sitges 2024: Spanish Stuck-on-the-Moon Thriller ‘Luna’ is a Disaster
by Alex Billington
October 12, 2024
Spain, we have a problem. I don’t enjoy writing negative reviews and I don’t feel good about bashing films. I try to remain positive and talk about what I love. But sometimes there’s a movie that is just so terrible, so miserable, such a waste of time and talent, that it is necessary to write about just so that the film industry can learn from their mistakes. I doubt they will. They will continue making bad films like this one. But at least I expressed my frustration and dissatisfaction in hopes that maybe they would spend money on better projects next time around. Luna (which translates to simply Moon) is a Spanish science fiction thriller film directed by filmmaker Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas. Because it’s an entirely Spanish production made mainly for Spanish audiences, the film had its world premiere at the 2024 Sitges Film Festival in Spain/Catalonia. It’s bad. Like, really bad. Luna is one of these awful films that makes me want to actually stop anyone about to watch it and implore they do not waste any time or money on it. Alert, alert – avoid this film at all costs.
Luna features a script written by Jorge Navarro de Lemus (of Ego, Lobo, El Molino) and it’s directed by Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas (also of Ego, Lobo, El Molino). I’m a bit worried that this already their fourth film together and somehow they’re still allowed to make more? Aside from the movie having that annoying streaming sheen, it’s so cheap and excruciating to sit through that I’m surprised it’s not being dumped on DVD. It’s not even good enough for streaming. The concept for Luna involves a group of Spanish astronauts on a “recreational” trip to the Moon. Some rich asshole has paid for this space tourism voyage all so he can get a photo standing on the Moon while a comet passes by Earth in the background. While they’re up there, a piece of the comet breaks off and smashes into Earth, cutting off all communication (and destroying all life on Earth?? They never address this…). It isn’t an entirely original idea – The Cloverfield Paradox and 3022 and other indie sci-fi films have similar plots about Earth going dark. Luna isn’t doing anything new either, with awful dialogue where every single line makes you roll your eyes. Every character is insufferable. They all just whine and complain. None of them have any idea what to do. It’s all so stupid to watching this story.
Worst of all, Luna looks like it was shot in someone’s garage (and not in some cool indie way, in a “how can a movie look this bad” way). It’s extremely cheesy and cheap in every aspect, packed with exceptionally bad VFX. Not a single moment of this movie looks acceptable. The comet hitting Earth is some stock VFX shot that just happens off in the distance. A scene involving comet debris crashing down on the Moon near them features bland VFX that were made by elementary school kids using some “My First CGI Modeler” software leftover from the 1990s. The filmmakers inexplicably decided that every space tourist on this mission could have their own spacesuit (which makes no logical sense) so each character has a different spacesuit and they all look terrible. This isn’t any part of this film where anyone will actually feel an tension or worry or fear or concern for these people. I wanted it to walk out after the first 15 minutes, but I sat and suffered through the rest of it (only 94 minutes) just so I can report back that nothing happens at the end either – the script is so underwritten there isn’t even a conclusion either. The greatest relief is when the credits finally start rolling.
As a sci-fi geek, I always take the risk and try to watch any new (indie) sci-fi films with the hopes that maybe I’ll discover something unique and exciting. That’s not the case here. There’s not a single redeeming quality. I couldn’t be more disappointed. My frustration is not that the film is frustratingly bad, it’s that I’m sad I wasted 94 minutes of my own time sitting through this cinematic junk. It represents everything wrong with sci-fi filmmaking, from bad storytelling to annoying characters to horrible VFX and everything else. This is a mission everyone must refuse no matter how exciting it sounds. Just go out and enjoy the Moon from here…
Alex’s Sitges 2024 Rating: 2 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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