Director: Duncan Jones
Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
Year: 2009

In the span of a week, I have watched two of the most amazing Science Fiction films in a very long time and I have to say, I love the way Sci-Fi is reinventing itself. Or perhaps reinventing itself is not the right way to put it but rather, more bravely doing what it originally set out to do. Somewhere in the recent past, science fiction gave the impression that it became fodder for the nerds and completely dismissible as high tech fantasy with very little to say. It was a hard argument to counter given that in fact a lot of the stuff out there was indeed crap.

It became almost expected that the moment you said science fiction a person would roll their eyes in disgust. And expressions such as “Oh, I don’t watch science fiction, I only watch movies with content” became pretty common place. I had to twist the arms of a couple of friends to watch Sunshine, only because they did not like the fact that it took place in space. But movies like that one, like Serenity, like Children of Men are changing the way we see the genre and are bringing credibility back to it. District 9, a movie I previously reviewed gave us an example of an action pact, smart sci-fi dealing with some pretty interesting dilemmas and this film, Moon, has put on the table the equivalent of a thinker’s sci-fi film.

Though inevitably, lines will be drawn to 2001: A Space Odyssey, one can rest assured that the cinematic pretentiousness of the Kubrick film is nowhere to be seen here and the concept itself heads in a different direaction. In fact, everything seems to have been scaled back and though it is, broadly speaking, a slower paced film, it runs with an thrilling undercurrent that does not allow you to rest easy during its lulls. I am hesitant to give to much of the plot, given that this film is largely enjoyed by the plot twists it tosses without trying to put to much emphasis. It does not so much uncover its surprises so much as toss them at you as if they were a given that you should have known all along. It is this presentation that allows us to focus on the ethical points that are brought up and which are frankly on the forefront of our current technological advancement. These are not questions for us to ponder about the future, they are questions that very well we might have to face soon.

As far as the plot goes, the movie revolves around a single miner, stationed in the moon, working for Lunar, capturing large amounts of energy that are launched back to earth in pods and which have allowed us to power up a large chunk of our planet cleanly. Sam (fabulously played by Sam Rockwell; Choke, Snow Angels) is in his last two weeks of duty and after that he will finally be able to go home and meet up with his family once again, hopefully to patch up a few apparent rocky spots that started before he was even stationed here. The film takes place in the last two weeks, which might seem like a short amount of time, but which stretch into a nightmarish lifetime when Sam’s mind starts to come unhinged and all that he knows to be reality is brought into question, relying only on GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey; American Beauty, The Usual Suspects), a computer programed to help Sam during his deployment.

The film does not answer all of one’s questions and enigmatically it leaves some things open for discussion, that make for some pretty interesting post-watching debates. An intelligent, well written script serves as the foundation for what looks like a low budget film but which is delivered like a gem. Do not go into this film expecting big budget explosions, sets and graphics. In fact, one of the odd things about this film was its miniature feel which seems to strike during the outside shots in the moon with the rover. It takes a little getting used to, mostly because we are so accustomed to what Hollywood feeds us, but if you are capable of looking past that little oddity, you will find that film is a very rewarding, thrilling, important film, not only in it’s genre but in general.

My only regret is that I caught it so late in its run and my advice to you is go online right now and check for any theaters that might be playing this in your city (it is not going to be many, given its indie status). If it is playing nearby, do what you can to try to catch it in the silver screen, I assure you it will be very much worth your while.

Rating:
Comment: Some language, brief nudity and adult situations.