Moon

Release Year: 2009

Director: Duncan Jones

Review: Director Duncan Jones' debut feature is a back to basics sci-fi thriller.  About Sam Bell(Sam Rockwell), an employee for a company harvesting helium-3 for energy from the moon.  Live communication with Earth is not possible due to a satellite problem so Sam's only communication is with GERTY, a HAL-esque robot, and the isolation is starting effect his psyche.  Nearing the completion of his three year commitment to the company strange things start to happen to Sam and he inadvertently discovers an ugly secret the company has been hiding.  Clearly the vehicle for this film is Sam Rockwell who is the only actor on screen for the majority of the time.  Fortunately he delivers in a big way.  In a very difficult role he manages to make everything seem reasonable and convincing.  In this sort of sci-fi film it would have been easy for his performance to derail the entire thing, but his subtleties work perfectly and make this an incredibly enjoyable experience.  More than just being a fun sci-fi thriller, 'Moon' questions what it means to be human and what emotion really is.  This is a brilliantly conceived return to the glory days of science fiction and a wonderful existential examination.
Rating: 4/5