Moon (2009)

Moon takes place in a future where humans no longer rely on energy that hurts the environment. Instead, we hurt the moon's. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell who is the only person working at a lunar drilling site on the dark side of the moon. The only thing he has for company is a computer named Gerty (amusingly voiced by Kevin Spacey) who is something of a cross between Jarvis and HAL 9000. Living without contact for three years has taken its tole on Sam mentally and physically. Even the communications with his family and the company are not live-feed. While nearing one of the digging machines, he crashes and wakes up in an infirmary some time later, without any memory of the accident. After noticing some strange things going on around him, he eventually wanders out to the crash site and finds his body is still there. He ends up rescuing himself and finds out there may be a very strange explanation for what has been going on in the lunar facility and that he may not be allowed to leave.

Sam Rockwell's performance really sells the film, as the audience is as trapped as he is on this lunar station. Essentially playing two versions of himself, he is convincing and effective in making the two shades of the same person seem distinguishable. There are even a few pretty humorous moments throughout the film, mostly involving Sam arguing with himself and Gerty. This film marks the feature length film debut of director Duncan Jones (who previously made a short in 2002 called Whistle), and it is a very memorable debut. The visuals are quite impressive and the station where he lives feels not only retro (like the set of a late seventies/early eighties sci-fi) but claustrophobic and very enclosed, not to mention completely lacking in color. Everything within the station is monochrome and neutral, making even the surface of the moon more varied by comparison; a guy could lose his mind being trapped in a place like that. The visuals are especially commendable considering the limited budget of the film, and there are many CG sequences showing off the moon’s surface terrain and the vehicles used to drill and travel around it.

There is only one real issue I had with the film and that had to do with this one particular question that was never asked. At one point it becomes clear that Sam is getting worse physically to a point of a complete biological breakdown. Yet not once does he seem to ask Gerty what is wrong with him or how much time he has left. It is implied at various points throughout the film that he is running on a very limited amount of time, but it is something that the character never seems to bother asking about or even considering. The film ends without ever really explaining clearly why his body seems to be degrading. While this adds to a lot of the mystery that the plot already has surrounding the company and the way it works, it seemed like such an obvious problem that Sam never really addresses. This minor issue (mostly my own nitpicking) aside, Moon is an excellent sci-fi thriller that marks the debut of a promising director.