| Moon | |
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The answer is, pleasingly, a resounding 'yes'! A far cry from it's action-packed cousin, Moon is set on a mining base on the dark side of the moon. Supervising a dig for fuel to power an ever-more-demanding terrestrial population, lone worker Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) plods his way through his three-year contract without major incident. That is, until he starts having strange hallucinations. These visions make him suspicious of other occurrences: is the satellite link to Earth really down? Are the messages from his family real? Pretty soon we find out what is really happening, and about the lie that Sam is living. From this uncovered truth Moon takes us on a strange and compelling journey through futuristic ethics which somehow addresses abstract conundrums through characters who are both recognisable and accessible to us ordinary folk from the past. What's more, this is one of few films to imbibe the lessons of the legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey without simply descending into homages and and lame interpretations. Moon creates an unbearable isolation, and a space that shuns the usual shininess of space-age technology for a grubby work-station that makes the set as believable as it is tense and moody. Kevin Spacey pops up to give the film the name it needs to draw American audiences, but really only adopts a minor role as the voice of robotic controller GERTY. The personality assigned to this machine by HAL-esque lenses, a 'smilie' expression monitor and a mumsy way of caring for its charge are so well combined that Spacey's role truly is marginal. But that is certainly more a praise for the production designer than a criticism of the great man himself. If anyone among the small cast of this film should be singled out for praise though, it is star Sam Rockwell. In a very difficult role which demands several levels of performance, and he delivers on every one. He is required to put his emotional acting through the paces on many occasions, and he always rises to them, he must seem detached and isolated, but yet infuses a likeability into his character that cannot fail to have audiences rooting for him throughout. The best thing about Moon, though, is that it is never fully predictable. You might see a twist coming 5 minutes beforehand, but there are so many little twists and turns that the sheer volume of plot developments will have you gripped. What's more, the way in which every development is built up is so entertaining, and the subsequent reactions so believable that anyone who anticipates more than their fair share of the plot will still be absorbed by the story unfolding. Overall this leaves a feeling of a perfectly weighted movie. It is not so complex as to frustrate, but retains enough intrigue to keep you guessing what's going to happen right to the end. Rating: **** Starring: Sam Rockwell, Robin Chalk, Matt Berry, Kevin Spacey, Kaya Scodelario, Dominique McElligott Director: Duncan Jones Release date: 17th July 2009 Run time: 97 mins Certificate: 15 Review by Michael Edwards
Like this? Have a gander at our Star Trek review for more sci-fi fun, or even see if you're tempted by somerare indie classics of the genre in one of our earlier Lost in the Vortex outings. OR you can even read our interview with director Duncan Jones, hurrah! |
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