"Moon" Review - Written by Anthony T

Moon
Year: 2009
Director: Duncan Jones
Studio: Sony Picture Classics
Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 97 Mins.





Most recently, your truly managed to catch what I think is one of the top 3 films of the year, so far. It’s films like this that made me what want to write reviews, because it’s a film that people should see instead of the Terminator: Salvation’s and Transformers of the world. This sci-fi film actually has a story, unlike those films that only care about the big bucks that it’s getting at the box office.

“Moon” focuses on Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), a guy who has been faithful employee, to his company, as he has been living in a moon base, for the last three years. He spends his day alone, as the only thing he has interaction with is a talking computer, known as GERTY. Two weeks before he is set to leave the moon base, one of his routine extractions goes wrong. When he gets back to the base, Bell finds out that the company that he works for wants to replace him. If matters aren’t worse, the new person at the base is very familiar. He soon finds out that his life may not be his own.

After watching “Moon”, I couldn’t help to compare it another under appreciated sci-fi film called “Primer”. Both film have different premises and concepts, but what both films have in common is the way that they go against the typical sci-fi film of robots destroying each other or having endless amounts of explosion, instead it becomes a film that you can appreciate for the story, direction, and performances.

“Moon” is in the discussion for the best film of 2009. If you can keep my interest with the premise this film has and not looking at my watch during the film. That’s what separates the great films from the good films. Moon was truly a great film.

There were three people that made this film, the film that was. Let me first start with the director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie). It’s one of the best debut films that I’ve ever seen. His direction was amazing. One of things that he does very well, he directs a film that could be conceivably be described, as a film that doesn’t have a lot of action. But what keeps kept my interest, the way he moves the story though the scenes in space station, through the subplots and messages that this film brings up. Jones does that, by keeping the tension of the film at a high level, as the main character is figuring out these strange events that are taking place. That made it very entertaining. He also does a good job in the way that he directs Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. Jones did a great job making both performances from Rockwell seem different from each other. It’s another thing that makes this film great. Also, I liked how he directed Kevin Spacey, as his performance just keeps you guessing to if you can trust the ship’s computer.

The film’s screenplay written by Nathan Parker is very imaginative and original. The screenplay does a very good job focusing on the issues of corporate greed, cloning and space exploration. The issues are used as a backdrop to the film’s story, so that it creates tension with everything that goes on in the ship. It does not become one of those films that let the message take center stage, before everything else. Parker lets the subtexts of these issues become part of the backdrop, so that he is able focus on the main character’s state of mind. That becomes a major part of the film, because you need to tell a story while bringing out various issues. He does effective, as my focus was on the story and the situation at hand. That what’s makes movies with issues more effective.

But the key to this film’s success is the performance of Sam Rockwell. It has to be, as two of the three main characters, are played by one person. In order for this film to work, the performances had to be different and believable from each other. The performances are just great and convincing. It hard considering the roles that Rockwell played, as they felt like two different characters. The best thing about it was that both of performance gel very well with one another. It’s very tricky to pull off but this is definitely a testament to Rockwell’s abilities as an actor, as this is truly his best work yet. Hopefully it will get some consideration, come Oscar time.

I hope to see more from Duncan Jones, and Sam Rockwell in the near future, as they are both talents that people should keep their eye on. “Moon” is a very captivating film that will become a cult classic for years to come, as it’s the best science fiction film to come out, this decade.

Review Rating: Five Stars