Moon

Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Genre: Sci-Fi
Year: 2009
Run Time: 97 Minutes
How: DVD

When Zowie Bowie directs a film, you know its gonna be just as out there as his notorious father, and Moon does not disappoint. Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell, the sole employee at one of Lunar Industries Helium-3 mining facilities on the far side of moon. Near the end of his 3 year work contract, the only company Sam has had, aside from the occasional recorded message from his wife, has been the mining bases artificial intelligence, GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey). GERTY is reminiscent of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyessy, in an eerie, criminally insane sort of way, and its emoticon faces don't do much to change that perception.

Two weeks before Sam is supposed to return for earth, while he is out maintaining on of the harvesters, he begins to hallucinate. Sam's rover crashes into the harvester and Sam is knocked unconscious.

Sam wakes back at the base, with no recollection of the crash or how he got back. GERTY tells him he is not allowed to leave the base until a rescue team arrives. Sam gets suspicious and tricks GERTY in to letting him outside. Sam takes a rover to the site of his crash, only to find something that will alter his perception of reality, but I don't want to give it away.

Duncan Jones's vision is a unique one. Exploring the effects of extended solitude as well as the ethical questions that may arise with advancing technology. He definitely evokes Kubrick which is never a bad idea. This is the type of sci-fi film that is all to rare these day. The kind that shies away from massive explosions, and equally massive budgets . One that delves into the human psyche and our interactions with artificial intelligence as our comprehension of what is real. Rockwell puts on a powerful performance, as a man on the brink, questioning his sanity, and determined to get back to earth. Moon is a smart movie that will keep you trying to understand what could be going on until the end.

Rating: 8.2/10