As with ‘The Hurt Locker’ it is far from trendy to knock ‘Moon’. Sadly, and once again as with ‘the Hurt Locker’ it is also very difficult to do so – there is very little for the diligent contrarian to latch onto when trying to criticise a compact piece of science fiction combining lush visuals, a good story and an understated but moving core performance.
Any spoilers kick in pretty early for this film, so a neutral synopsis is by necessity brief: Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is the sole human operator of an energy-mining station on the dark side of the moon. His only companion s a sentient computer assistant GERTY . Bell is in the last two weeks of a three year mission, for the duration of which faulty equipment has kept him isolated from Earth save for occasional recorded broadcasts. Jumpy with cabin fever, Sam ticks down the days until his journey back to his wife and baby daughter.
The tone, both in a visual and narrative sense is purest retro - the intent is a harkening back to the school of minimalist working-man’s sci-fi predominant in the 70s and early 80s. This is the world of ‘Silent Running’, ‘Dark Star’ and both the first two ‘Aliens’. There are visual cues to ‘2001′, and the basic design cues of such sci-fi is to take the gleaming white surfaces of Kubrick’s epic and imagining what they would be like after being lived in and used by a bunch of slobby, blue-collar space workers.
If you are a fan of this approach, ‘Moon’ is note-perfect homage. Sam slouches around in t-shirts (with a raggedy beard for the first reel), the hi-tech A.I. robot is plastered with post-it notes, the minimalist living quarters is awash with rubbish and covered with photos of family left behind: the soulless gleam of ’science’ and ‘technology’ sullied with the messy irregularities of humanity. This, perhaps, might be the theme of the movie itself – to say any more would certainly ruin it.
Also note-perfect is the central performance of Sam Rockwell. Rockwell has long been one of the most enjoyably understated actors in contemporary Hollywood. His milieu is that of the slightly odd, slightly alienated loner which he has portrayed in a body of work ranging from ‘Lawn Dogs’ to ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ via ‘Charlie’s Angels’. No-one does hurt and vulnerable hang-dog like Rockwell, but he also has a manic edge (see his turn as Zaphod Beeblebrox in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’). Here he gets the chance to essay both, and the result holds the whole film together. Pretty much his only support in this comes from a Kevin Spacey cameo, channelling Hal-9000 as GERTY.
It’s impossible to say any more about a film that is so easily spoiled. Do yo like low-key but very good science fiction? Good, now buy or rent ‘Moon’. You won’t regret it.
