Neil deGrasse Tyson says “Moonfall” beats “Armageddon” in violating more laws of physics per minute
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Neil deGrasse Tyson isn't exactly over the moon with how the laws of physics are being applied in modern-day filmmaking.
For years the persnickety astrophysicist has adamantly argued that the 1998 blockbuster Armageddon — which saw Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck stop an asteroid from crashing into Earth with a big drill and a nuclear bomb — had earned the not-so-coveted title of violating "more laws of physics (per minute) than any other film in the universe." But now he's passing the crown to another movie that he says is even less scientifically accurate.
"That's what I thought until I saw Moonfall," Tyson admitted on Thursday's episode of The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM. "It was a pandemic film that came out — you know, Halle Berry — and the moon is approaching Earth, and they learned that it's hollow."
If Tyson's synopsis wasn't enough to raise eyebrows, he further explained that the 2022 movie reveals there's a "moon being made out of rocks" inside the hollowed-out moon, and "the Apollo missions were really to feed" the creature rather than taking one giant leap for mankind.
"I just couldn't," Tyson said, placing his hands on his temples. "So I said, 'All right, I thought Armageddon had a secure hold on this crown, but apparently not.'"
Written and directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow), Moonfall follows former astronauts Jocinda Fowler (Berry) and Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), plus conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley), as they attempt to defend Earth from the rapidly approaching moon and the murderous aliens inhabiting it.
Reiner Bajo/Lionsgate Halle Berry in 'Moonfall'
Tyson, the author of such books as Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and Death by Black Hole, went on to say that in the case of both Armageddon and Moonfall, there's actually a pretty simple solution for dealing with a projectile hurtling toward Earth.
"All you gotta do is just nudge it," he said. "If you nudge it like 1 centimeter per second to the right — in space there's no friction, so it'll just keep drifting to the right. If you do that early enough, then you can have the asteroid pass in front of the Earth rather than hit the Earth, or you can slow it down so that it'll pass behind the Earth. Two ways you can adjust it."
He compared the outlandish cinematic methods to remedy the problem to the temporal paradox of the Terminator movies, wherein "I want to kill your parents so that you're never born."
"Really?" an exasperated Tyson said. "All you have to do is prevent your parents from meeting each other, or have them have sex 20 minutes later than the other one. That will create a different zygote and you won't be born. So the movies, in some cases… they get hyperbolic on their solutions to problems."
Watch the video above for more from Tyson.
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