As seen at the 2009 SXSW Film
Festival: Duncan Jones’Moon is about as
avant-garde and intrinsic as a movie with a big-name lead and
modest commercial viability can get away with, and it’s all the
more commendable for pushing this boundary as far as it’ll go.
This a tough movie to review, though, because critical common
law has established that it’s a sin to spoil the driving force of
the plot in the final two acts. Working to ensure your
movie-going experience is just as fresh as mine was, I’ll only
divulge the basic premise. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an
astronaut near the end of a three-year tour working on the dark
side of the moon harvesting Helium-3, a rare element in nuclear
fusion that humans have used to solve Earth’s energy crisis.
He’s glad he’ll soon be done, as the separation from his wife
and young daughter has been emotionally tasking. The only
“person” to keep him company all day is the talking,
emoticon-displaying computer he works with, named GERTY (voiced
by Kevin Spacey). But before Sam makes his return voyage, he’s
involved in a game-changing Land Rover accident. He survives,
but something very peculiar happens, causing Sam to question his
very existence and the frighteningly advanced technology around
him.
Again, I dare not reveal the plot-point that makes the movie
what it is, especially because other reviewers have done such a
good job in keeping the secret safe. What I will say is that the
movie achieves everything that thought-based science-fiction
(the gold standard of which remains 2001: A Space Odyssey)
should: it considers the pitfalls of modern technology, makes
itself socially and politically relevant through allegory, and
provides a credible representation of what the future might be
like. Star Wars fans beware: there aren’t any
intergalactic battles fought here. Instead, nearly all the
action rests internally in Sam Rockwell’s protagonist, who
spends the majority of the movie trying to make sense of what’s
going on around him, usually only one slight step ahead of the
audience. Rockwell nails the performance by playing intense and
smart, but never shying from the humanity of a man who becomes
involved in a situation that at once defies humanity and
encompasses it. So too does Kevin Spacey, whose recognizable
voice initially seems like a misstep on storywriter/director
Jones’ part, but clicks on a meta level when one considers how
intertwined celebrity and technology have become.
That Jones set a detailed, credible stage was just as integral
to Moon’s success as the performances. He made sure to
use all the real science he could, and it shows in the movie’s
authentic feel. Jones also made a conscious choice not to use
any CGI, meaning all of the visual effects were physically
orchestrated. As a result, Moon is not only visually
appealing, it’s also that much more believable, making
its inferences about the future effectively disquieting. While I
must complain that the film gets awful tedious for those of us
who aren’t big on sci-fi as it gets more and more abstract—no
matter how thoughtful it may be—those who enjoy the genre will
struggle to find a better movie all year.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 3.19.2009
Screened on:
3.14.2009 at the Paramount Theatre
in Austin, TX.
Moon is rated R and runs 97 minutes.
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