Psychedelic sci-fi? Glam rock goes off-world? No: wordy and overwrought like a radio play in space.
Moon (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:157
Fresh:140
Rotten:17
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Boosted by Sam Rockwell's intense performance, Moon is a compelling work of science-fiction, and a promising debut from director Duncan Jones.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language.
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:17-07-2009
Synopsis:
It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a...
It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive.
Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sarang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer.
Suddenly, Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago.
Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans. --© Sony Pictures Classics
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Director: Duncan Jones
Director: Duncan Jones
Screenwriter: Mark Bowden, Nathaniel Parker
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Reviews for Moon
Not even the marvellous Sam Rockwell (all two or more of him) can quite make up for the lack of dramatic impetus. You watch it and you keep thinking: Oh no, I can't cope with all this acting!
A minor masterpiece. Quite simply Moon, given its minuscule budget - around £2.5million - is a cinematic miracle. The film is one of the best examples of thought provoking sci-fi that we have seen in an age.
An impressive directorial debut with a smart, absorbing and well-acted film that’s not just for geeks.
Enjoyably trippy, brain-bending stuff, but the most satisfying thing about Moon is that it marks a return to the notion of science fiction as a genre fuelled by big ideas rather than big special effects.
Intelligent, resourceful and elegantly made, Moon marks a mightily impressive low-budget debut from director Duncan Jones.
An indie sci-fi movie? That's what the director Duncan Jones has put together, to mostly inspired effect.
An eerie, disturbing and moving film, but not without occasional bursts of humour, Moon is a refreshing antidote to the dumb action-orientated futuristic fodder has dominated cinemas in recent years.
Make no mistake: Jones is a uniquely exciting prospect, whose cerebral, creepy and riveting Moon carves out his own elevated flight path.
Pitched at the other end of the sci-fi market from Transformers 2, this is too quirky and cerebral to be a hit, but it's more than a space oddity.
Moon is a gripping sci-fi tale, but also has a lot of heart and humanity.
The film is not entirely logical, but it raises pleasing questions and looks beautiful.
Jones, as writer and director, has fashioned a good-looking, claustrophobic piece despite his limited resources.
Fans of speculative and conceptual sci-fi and classic storytelling should take this trip to identity’s dark side. The direction is elegant, the acting impeccable. Take the trip.
This is a defiantly British film. It’s one we can be proud of – in moderation.
Moon could do with a heftier dose of weird, but the disciplined storytelling and direction bodes well for director Duncan Jones.
Moon is a hugely enjoyable, impressively directed sci-fi drama with a well-penned script, great production design and a terrific performance from Sam Rockwell.
Latest News for Moon
November 27, 2009:
Duncan Jones Reteams With Kevin Spacey
'Moon' director Duncan Jones and the movie's computer voice, Kevin Spacey, have reteamed for a couple of advertisements currently airing on British TV. The commercials, embedded... More...
October 08, 2009:
Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
Space. Once film's final frontier, over the years sci-fi has sometimes been the domain of cliche and inferior riffs on past glories. All the more surprising, then, to discover a... More...
September 15, 2009:
Concept Art for Moon Director Duncan Jones' Mute ![]()
Director Duncan Jones, whose Moon has gone down as one of the finest sci-fi films of the year, has posted concept art for his next film, a thriller entitled Mute. Like Blade... More...
July 20, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones has done the impossible -- tell a smart, engaging and entertaining sci-fi story on a modest budget. In Britain. As his debut feature film. No wonder everyone's... More...
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