Moon Details

MOON

GOOD PLOT

WELL FILMED

SEEMS TO GIVE A REALISTIC VIEW OF WHAT LIFE ON THE MOON WOLD BE LIKE

[Highly rated reviewer]

Was going to do a David Bowie joke, but I'll get on with the review...

Sitting back to absorb Duncan Jones's melancholic toned Moon, its hard to ignore his obvious affection for the cynical pre-Star Wars science fiction of the 1970s. Drab sterile surroundings, pale skin, matted hair, banal work schedules, vacuum packed dinners and the obligatory HAL-like companion are all present and correct.

Putting aside the subtle references to its genre fore·bears (and there are a lot more if you care to look), the story concerns a lone astronaut Sam Bell (Rockwell) who, assigned to maintain a lucrative Helium-3 mining operation on the Moons surface, is reaching the end of his three year stint. The mining itself is largely automated and he has fallen in to a state of deadening boredom and loneliness. The promise of returning to his beloved wife and daughter being the single thread of hope that has kept his lucidity in check.

But all that time alone has had its toll leaving Sam a jaded, twitchy mess and an onset of waking dreams and strange visions sets in motion a dangerous accident and the emergence of a terrible secret...

To say much more about the plot would be a disservice to its considered pacing and intriguing twists. There is nothing spectacularly new here, but its all delivered in such a compelling style you will find yourself drawn in to the story, so long as you have the patience to let a film unfold at its own pace. Yes, this is a very slow story but I would say its subdued tone and lack of bombastic action heightens the sense of isolation and proves that even on the broad canvas of science fiction, less can be so much more.

And of course Sam Rockwell deserves a mention. Being the sole human on screen for almost the entire runtime is not an easy task and the multiple demands of the role he plays here requires an actor of considerable skill and calibre. He delivers a exceptional performance that, alongside Choke and his unfairly overlooked role in The Assassination of Jesse James, should mark him out as one of the finest character actors working at the moment.

High concept adventure this ain't, but rather its a tale of lost identity and hard science in a cold universe. If you long for grown up science fiction that is more interested in ideas than laserbeams, reach for the Moon.