Moon | Review
Plot Synopsis: It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive. Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. But, Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago. Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans.
Pros: This film, being the directorial debut for Duncan Jones, is pretty solid. The film explores the theme of solitude, as well as life. What kind of life is important? Are clones considered human beings? Or are they considered property? Experiments? Are their lives important? Sam Rockwell does a great job at making his character interesting and at making us care about his character and the situation/dilemma he’s in. The film also makes a great job at being suspenseful; the film’s suspenseful throughout its entirety. Sam’s smiley-faced robot companion, and only companion on the Moon, GERTY (the acronym isn’t explained in the film), voiced by the amazing Kevin Spacey, is very suspicious. However, what robot isn’t suspicious in any science-fiction film? I’m glad Duncan Jones didn’t make GERTY into a cliche robot persona.
Cons: Some may find the movie completely boring and stupid. It all depends on how you view the film. I like the suspense, and one-man-show, and the eerie setting. The film is long for having just one actor on screen the entire time, but the suspense made the length of the film not a problem to me.
