Moon (2009) [Blu-ray]

Moon is the best sci-fi movie in a long time. Duncan Jones, son of David (Bowie) has scripted and directed a wonderful thinking man's space movie. Sam Rockwell, playing the only resident of the moon, handles pretty near the entire movie and captivates you every step of the way. Kevin Spacey voices the computer, Gerty, an obvious homage to Douglas Rain's voicing of H.A.L. Spacey does a fantastic job, and Jones adds the touch of emoticons -- when Gerty says something, his screen displays the appropriate smiley, frowny, or what-have-you. Sometimes these emoticons reveal things that Gerty himself didn't want to communicate. Indeed, Gerty's motives will be questioned the entire movie, thanks partially to Spacey's creepy voice.

Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell, an employee of Lunar Industries over 100 years from now. Poverty on Earth no longer exists thanks to the Moon, and its ample deposits of helium3, which is used in fusion reactors. Sam maintains the equipment and gathers the helium3 from the giant harvesters scouring the surface of the moon. He then sends the helium3 home via capsule. There is no real-time communication with Earth, however, only recorded messages, due to a faulty satellite. Bell is feeling horribly lonely. He has been on the Moon for 3 years and his contract expires in 2 weeks. All he wants is to see his wife and child again. Paranoia and strange hallucinations are starting to set in.

All this sets in motion a story that twists and turns, and weaves information skillfully. Threads and clues are left for the viewers, who must question everything they see on screen. Sam too will question reality, question his surroundings, his existance, and his purpose. Sometimes stirring, sometimes mindblowing, Moon is never boring. Imagine that -- a real sci-fi movie that still has you on the edge of your seat! Are you listening, Michael Bay? The only lapse, and the only flaw with this movie was that there was sound outside. When Sam goes to the surface of the moon, there was sound which is impossible. That is my only complaint.

The idea of mining helium3 on the moon is based on real science. Indeed, astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, the only geologist to go to the moon, discussed the idea in an issue of Popular Mechanics. It had been written about in many science books as well as a way to finance colonization and exploration. Truly, this movie is the sci-fi fan's dream and the many ideas presented (about many other topics that I will not spoil) will give you something to think about for months.

Truly, Moon is one hell of a story. Cudos to Rockwell for manning the whole movie himself, and cudos to Jones for this amazing script. The story is intricate. Every frame on the screen relays important information to the viewer about what is going on, and it is up to you to figure it out before Sam does. There is not a frame wasted, everything in this movie means something.

The sets and effects are simple but effective. This is the moon after all, not Pandora. I imagine that this is what it really looks like up there. It is certainly a convincing film.

Get Moon. Watch it tonight. You won't be disappointed. 5 stars.

==Edit August 2010==
I was given a blu-ray copy of the movie and recently re-watched. While I generally try to avoid re-buying films I already owned on DVD, it was a gift and it was well worth it. This movie is crisp and clear on blu-ray. I can only guess that the 1080p picture is as close to being there as I'll ever get!

Sam Rockwell does a wonderful job as Sam Bell, an astronaut spending three years alone as caretaker of an automated moon mining operation. Just as his contract is about to end, strange things begin to occur, and it leads the viewer on a wild journey through what makes us Human. His robotic assistant (Kevin Spacey) is terrifyingly remeniscent of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, in his almost human like emotions but dispassionate approach to his duty. The movie's small special effects budget allows the director to concentrate on that which is most important, storytelling. A second viewing is definitely required to really understand what is going on, but I've always liked second viewings. A must see for Science Fiction afficionados!

In a not-so-distant future, Earth's energy is being supplied through extraction of Helium-3 from the Moon. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, a space miner whose job is to make sure that the massive mining machines keep running and to ship the fuel they extract back to Earth. He's at the tail end of a three year stint, and can't wait to go home -- and Gerty 3000, his robot companion whose design and mission is a significant twist from that of Hal 9000 (of 2001 - A Space Odyssey), seems worried he is beginning to lose focus on the mission. It turns out Sam has much bigger issues to worry about.

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote that in an age of technology, where everything is treated as a resource, we ourselves become just another means to an end. We think of technology as our servant, but humanity itself becomes another means to an end, a cog in the globalized technological machine.

Director Duncan Jones has created a profound yet simple and small science fiction film that thematizes questions regarding the impact of technology on human life, how it affects human relations to each other, even what it means to be human. The film feels like a return to some of the most intriguing science fiction of the seventies and the eighties, films like Soylent Green, Silent Running, Alien, and Blade Runner, even if it is working on a smaller scale than the last few of these. (It's worth watching more than once for its inclusion of clever references to many of these films - the script and the setting include a number of subtleties, that are likely to be missed on first viewing.) The production team obviously made the most of a small budget, and managed to create a very realistic moon base, and very convincing machines and subtle use of special effects. Of course, the most impressive component of the film is the performance of Sam Rockwell, who almost singlehandedly carries the entire show, and gives a delicate and nuanced performance throughout. This is excellent independent science fiction. Highly recommended.