Customer Reviews

Moon (2009)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

Don't read the spoilers for this film. If possible, don't read anything about it. Just watch it. I liked everything about this film: the premise, the script, the directing, the acting, the pace. Sam Rockwell does an amazing job. Every couple years a great indie SF film comes out, for example Primer, and Moon is exactly that. Futuristic, yet plausible in a sick kind of way. One of the best of the year.

Once in a while, a movie will stand out in my mind long after I've seen it. I saw Moon months ago, but I can still picture myself, sitting on the living room couch, frowning slightly at the television screen as I tried to figure out what, exactly was going on. You might think, reading this, that I didn't enjoy watching Duncan Jones' mesmerizing film. On the contrary, I loved it. It was confusing, yes, but it was so in the way that a carefully constructed puzzle or riddle is confusing at first and then, as you stick with it, as you concentrate and listen and watch, it becomes clear. And rewards you.

Moon is a mystery but it is also a science fiction film. Sam Bell, played by Sam Rockwell, works alone in a largely automated mining camp. His only companion--shades of 2001: A Space Odyssey--is a talking computer named GERTY and voiced by Kevin Spacey. It's a fairly simple situation, as far as sci-fi movies go--and things become more complicated only after Sam suffers an accident at the mine.

I won't tell you anything more of the story. I won't diminish your reward.

Moon is carefully constructed, the work of a patient filmmaker. Jones (son of David Bowie and formerly known as Zowie Bowie) demonstrates a maturity in his story telling that is sorely lacking in the works of many more experienced film makers. Moon is quiet, it builds slowly and with confidence, and it is imminently worth your time.

I am excited to have discovered an intriguing new voice in film. With Moon, that voice is little more than an insistent and important whisper, so far, but judging by the trailer for his next film, Source Code, Jones is quite willing and able to make himself heard.

This film restores my faith in the future of science fiction; it's not about action and instead uses the genre to provoke and explore facets of the human condition that would otherwise remain unknown. Visually it is a film that returns to the style of 1970s science fiction and even employs the craft of the master modelmaker of ALIEN's Nostromo and blends them with restrained CGI and a masterful soundtrack by Clint Mansell. All of these aspects reinforce a film that holds its own with essentially one actor, Sam Rockwell, who delivers an engaging and strong performance throughout.

What a sleeper of a sci-fi movie! It's way cool, way intense, way intelligent, way well acted and way Spacey--Kevin that it who plays the voice of Hal...I mean, Gerty.

Basically, it looks like Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey but it's so much more than that. You actually feel like you're on the moon with some terrific scenes of the lunar surface. The light and shadow they work in is simply amazing.

Then there's Sam Rockwell's tour de force playing the lone astronaut sent to the moon to man a "mining" operation up there. I won't spoil it for anyone but he plays his roles (yes, that's with an "s") far beyond anything you've seen in any evil twin story.

Then there's Kevin Spacey's voice. You'll have flashbacks to 2001's Hal but in a better twist he's a helpful robotic voice.

The extras too are exactly what you'd want in a DVD. Besides a couple of commentary tracks, we get the rundown on how they created the visual effects (mainly from models and it shows giving the picture a far grittier realism).

There's also two Q&A sessions where you'll be confused as to whether they cloned the director Duncan Jones. In the better Q&A at NASA's Space Center in Houston we get far more the nuts and bolts of the film. In this one DJ looks like a roly poly grad student.
In the Sundance Festival Q&A with various members of the production crew there's someone channeling Sam Rockwell's character complete with beard and it's DJ. You'll do a double take but that laugh gives him away. That Q&A seemed so much like the usual--dumb questions from moviegoers. Did nothing for me but contrasted with the NASA Q&A it was fun to watch.

That's not all. You also get a 28-min. film called Whistle about a contract killer who hits his marks with the help of laser technology...and it has a nice twist. Having said that, the no-lipped actress who played the killer's wife was sheer awful in her role. Could they not have cast someone better?

To add to one of the previous reviewers comments one technical flaw I noticed was that in spite of the reduced gravity on the moon the characters still moved as if on Earth. The other flaw was that Sam takes one of the two rovers out for a jaunt and ends up crashing it. Later in the movie the previously empty bay is now restocked with an undamaged rover. Now, in light of the quality of the movie the couple of small flaws can be overlooked.

The movie presents an interesting twist in which you wonder if Sam is having a mental breakdown caused by his extended isolation or is something more sinister at work.

Moon is well shot and directed, the storyline follows a logical progression which is both involving and entertaining and yet manages not only to be smart science fiction but examines the human condition admirably.

this film is fantastic.

if you are a fan of films such as ...

alien
2001
blade runner
silent running
outland
solaris

then i believe you will enjoy what 'moon' has to offer.

congrats to all who worked hard on this 5 million dollar independent sci-fi feature .....

Moon is one of the finest science fiction films of recent years. From its lovely special effects work, largely done with real models, to its script and characters. Sam Rockwell gives an extremely good performance in the lead role. And just when you think you know how things are going to end up, Moon surprises you by going further. Excellent and highly recommended.