Moon Review

The final film of the day, and very close to being my favourite was Moon, the debut film from Duncan Jones is a brain-bending Sci-fi movie starring Kevin Spacey and an increasing number of Sam Rockwells. The film charts Sam Bell’s (played by an on form Sam Rockwell) final few weeks on the moon mining Helium-3 before coming home to Earth. A series of events unfold on the moon leading Sam to the conclusion that things are not what they seem. For a debut film Moon is an incredible movie and if it weren’t for District 9 would probably be my favourite Sci-Fi film of the year. The isolation on the moon is expertly portrayed and directed, and Kevin Spacey does an excellent turn as the on-board computer. The pacing is a little slow by modern standards but absolutely spot on (the external shots were a little slow-paced, but they had to be – it’s the moon after all) for classic Sci-Fi. I think the bleakness of the moon could’ve been slightly better exposed in these shots by being silent (instead of the vehicle rumbling given the lack of atmosphere) but I can see how that might have put some viewers off given the length of some of the shots.

The film is not without it’s flaws and if you’re a fan of Sci-Fi you might find all the influences – particularly 2001 go a bit too overboard, but it doesn’t detract from the film. The only thing I thought that was a little off was the computer, which without giving too much away had a sudden change of heart mid-way through a scene that changes the film’s outcome considerably. The change was somewhat unexplained and could’ve possibly been managed a little better. Some elements, such as the advert for the Lunar mining company at the start made me wish that something similar had been done in one of the Alien films. Speaking of Alien films, I felt that the isolation of the lunar base was reminiscent of David Fincher’s portrayal of the prison colony in Alien 3 as much as the isolation of the Discovery approaching Jupiter in 2001. Sam Rockwell appears to have made the transition from comedy to serious actor very well – I loved him in Choke but felt he lacked the opportunity to shine, something here he does very well in different ways.

Moon makes for a formidable debut by Jones and I await his next film with baited breath. Definitely one to watch.