There is the nucleus of a good movie in Moonbase, the 1997 sci-fi thriller from director Paolo Mazzucato and screenwriters Brian DiMuccio and Dino Vendini. It doesn’t score high in the originality sweepstakes, but it is one of the vast breed of films that could be summarized as, “Die Hard on a…” In this case, it’s Die Hard on the moon. There is a band of bad guys with a charismatic leader who invade and occupy a confined space. They hold people hostage. There is one unlikely hero that can save the day. Well, at least, this flick teases the one hero. What viewers get is more of an ensemble effort, but that’s just a small detail. It’s the big stuff that dooms this flick.
It’s the future, and waste disposal is a big deal. On the far side of the moon is a space age garbage dump manned by a small group of technicians. They are led by John Russell (Scott Plank), a typical action protagonist who is tortured by some past event. The other techs are Randy Vasquez as Masani, the facility’s resident horndog; Stack Pierce, in his last film, as the grizzled company veteran who has seen it all; John Philbin as Lucas, the rookie; That Guy actor Kurt Fuller as Deckert, the slimy character; and Anna Carli as Sophie, whose major contributions to this flick look as if they were left on the cutting room floor.
Everything is running smoothly until the facility receives a garbage shipment from L4, a maximum security prison in orbit nearby. Unbeknownst to all, a group of murderous prisoners has stowed aboard using makeshift spacesuits. When they land on the moon, they take the techs hostage. Their plan is to seize the next supply shuttle and escape back down to Earth. They are led by Stark (Robert O’Reilly), a man of indeterminate origin, 
whom O’Reilly can’t pin down, trying out every Eastern European accent he can. He is joined by a sidekick, Mina (Gretchen Palmer), and a bunch of other nameless prisoners who never question Stark’s plan, no matter how much it craters. They serve as convenient fodder.
As for Stark’s plan, it goes awry. The garbage dump no longer has a supply shuttle. They receive drops. But that problem disappears immediately. A different shuttle from Earth is on the way carrying space marines, and Russell’s ex (Jocelyn Seagrave), whose mission is to recover some super-destructive warheads that were secretly stored at the dump. Now, if Stark and his gang can kill all the marines, they have a way back home. The professionals are dealt with, and it’s up to a rather disengaged Russell and company to save themselves.
See, there is a decent idea for this flick. But, everything was given short shrift. I didn’t find any information about the budget online, but it couldn’t have been more than a couple of million bucks. The costumes are bargain basement, as is the cast. The special effects are not so special, although the kitbash model work showed care and attention. The sets and locations are about as generic as they come. It’s one of those sci-fi flicks that takes place entirely in a bunker. A lot of filming was done in a basement or some place similar. There are scenes that take place on the surface of the moon, and the good news is, this flick shows how difficult it is to fake the moon on a soundstage, and thus is useful in refuting moon landing conspiracy theories. The entire movie is very dark and grey, covering up some of the cheapness, but then also serving to point out that cheapness to veteran b-movie mutants. It’s not as bad as Dark Descent, but it resides in the same neighborhood.
Some quite entertaining movies have been made with similar ingredients. Moonbase isn’t one of them. Its deadly sin is sloth. It lurches from one scene to another, and never gathers much momentum. The character with the most life in the movie is Deckert. It’s not a good sign for a movie when a That Guy actor steals most of the spotlight from the Hans Gruber-like antagonist. It was on O’Reilly to carry this movie, and it was beyond his abilities. The rest of the cast can’t really shoulder that much blame, although Scott Plank has an apt last name.
A movie this boilerplate shouldn’t be so dull. It’s almost as if no one involved had any enthusiasm for the project — even the seasoned professionals. Moonbase falls way down into the lower half of the Watchability Index, displacing Night Club at #455.