MOON is one of those little gems that if you blinked you missed it in theaters. First time director Duncan Jones effectively directs this sci-fi film that borders on a masterpiece. Simple, poignant, gritty, and transcendent in a way, this film has everything you could want. And it was a low budget independent film.
It’s remarkable how much it pulls off with so little. The effects are minimal and generally not impressive. There are few sets as well, but the ones it has are effective and great to just look at. There is one actor on screen throughout the entire film, with a couple minor exceptions.
MOON is the story of Sam Bell, a man stationed for three years on the far side of the moon to watch over the machines that harvest helium-3, Earth’s primary energy source. Sam, played very effectively by Sam Rockwell, mans the station by himself with his ever trusty AI, GERTY (voiced by an appropriately monotonous Kevin Spacey).
With two weeks of his three year term left, Sam goes out for a routine check on one of the harvester machines…and crashes. Next thing he knows he’s waking up again inside the station…but something’s not right. I don’t want to ruin what happens next, as it is best experienced as Sam experiences it, and what starts out and mind boggling confusion eventually shapes into a concrete story of self-sacrifice, life, and death. All this within a simple, yet effective sci-fi film.
A few notes: To those less patient, the film does move slowly, and it’s the characters themselves that carry the film, as opposed to effects or action. At one point, too, Sam’s reaction to a mind-bending revelation seems odd and out of character.
But if you want a thought-provoking space film in the vein of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, you won’t be disappointed.
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