Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott

Directed by: Duncan Jones

Liberty Films

The Official Site of Moon

Discuss Moon on the boards!

I’m hesitant to say anything about Moon. Even to go as far as to say that the film is amazing. I’d prefer to avoid this if only because half of you will end up at, “Well this is the jacktard that thought Wild Hogs was good� and you’ll hold my poor taste against a movie that doesn’t deserve it. The real reason I’d rather avoid telling you anything good or bad is that the less you know about Moon the more you’ll enjoy it. I walked in not having seen the trailer or read the synopsis, knowing nothing beyond it being Sam Rockwell alone in space and I was completely taken by this haunting, quiet journey that subtly reminds us that not all sci-fi movies have to feature explosions, one-liners or light sabers to pack a punch.

Were it that easy for me to say, “Iiiiiit’s GRRRRREAT!� and you’d run off to the theater… we’d be done here. But if I must get into it… Giving away no more that the film’s trailer is willing to, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) wakes up on the moon. Day 1 of a 3-year mission to harvest natural resources as part of Earth’s corporate takeover of the closest bit of available real estate. By the end of the first week Sam comes across the rare but beautiful “moon traffic accident� where he rescues an injured astronaut. Of course the man he saves just so happens to look exactly like him.

This isn’t so much the film’s big surprise as it is the trailers. In the film, the reveal of double trouble is just the launching point for the speculation to begin.

Like any great episode of The Twilight Zone Moon goes right for the delusional paranoia, ably messing with your head, forcing you to ask all the right questions. Is the double a ghost? An evil twin? How long has he really been up there? Does Earth even still exist or is the moon base’s artificial intelligence computer (well voiced by Kevin Spacey and expressed via emoticons – so you can tell when he’s being sarcastic) perpetuating a lie to keep up the spirits of the moon’s latest permanent resident?

Dude, I told you to just go see it.

I was hesitant to say any of this because half the fun of Moon is asking these questions of yourself. You should allow a good mystery to unravel before you instead of just waiting for it to hit the bullet points of the trailer. The truth is that the trailer and the film are not without their fair share of predictability. Chances are that you’ll figure out what’s going on before the characters in the film do, unless of course you’ve already seen the trailer and have bounced all the possibilities through your noggin by now. Why do that to yourself? Why rob yourself of a good mystery? Especially a space mystery! I mean, how many of those are we seriously going to get in our lifetime? Moon should hold up either way. Good material can transcend predictability. With an outstanding performance from its sole performer (voices, flashbacks and video phones don’t count! Okay, they do but still… props to Rockwell for literally talking to himself for 2 hours) and an absolutely stellar score that eerily whisks you through what could have been a very silent, somber void of a film, Moon presents a solid vision that reminds us how strong this genre can be.

Rating: 8 out of 10 - Moon hit New York and L.A. this past weekend but should expand as the summer goes on. E sure and keep an eye out for it at your local art house theater because it’s certainly worth your time. It’s not perfect or revolutionary but it’s very well done and a nice refreshing change to what Sci-Fi has delivered to us on the big screen in the last few years.

Possibly. I would tend to pick up something like Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, a film that combines the deeper concepts of a film like Moon with the big explosions that I’ve sadly come to depend on a little. I’m a product of the flash, bang, boom generation and as much as I love it when a movie like Moon comes along and really surprises me, I’m more likely to rewatch the film that blows up a planet instead of the one that explores the deep dark secrets of the men and women patrolling it.

That said I’d love to see the film again and share it with my friends so it may find it’s way into my collection if only so I can share it with people and enjoy it myself every couple years.

This review originally ran over at Gordon’s site Movie Make Out because he had a hand in getting me into the screening. If you’ve sent he film and would like to discuss it over there it’s definitely a place filled with like-minded movie fans. You can also find over there a great top 10 sci-fi list sponsored by the site that I had my hand in creating. It was cool to have four different people find a true list made from very different perspectives. It’s shocking what got left off but I think it says a lot about the movies that did make the final cut.

In today’s comic Phil and I are carrying boxes. I drew us this way because this coming weekend we’ll actually be doing this when we haul all our merchandise into the Philadelphia Convention Center for Wizard World Philly the only place (for now) that you can get the official JLCM Philly tourcard of Irv and I reenacting a scene from the classic Philly=based movie Rocky. If you’re in the area be sure to swing by and say hello.

That’s it for now. Oh, except be sure to tune in tonight to the Triple Feature where we’ll be discussing Moon, the equally awesome Away We Go, the top ten sci-fi movies of all time and the disappointing remake of The Taking of the Pelham 123. Stay sexy.