Moon [Blu-ray] [2009] [Region Free]

When talking about great films of the last ten years, no one ever seems to mention Moon. You'll hear about the Harry Potter films, the Star Wars films and so on. By comparison to those awful films, Moon deserves an Oscar.The plot of the film is pretty basic and is easily one of its charms. The people of Earth have found a new energy source on the moon, to harvest this energy the moon is manned by one person, Sam Rockwell. Now at the end of his tour, he ends up in an unfortunate accident that causes an interesting twist. One that plays out for the rest of the film.It really isn't hard to follow at all and to some people it might be predictable. But the way it all unfolds is where the excellence lies. The pacing is absolutely perfect with one event happening and the movie quickly moving onto the next without feeling rushed or sitting on one specific section long enough that it becomes repetitious.The acting by Sam Rockwell is top quality. The man is a really underrated actor in my opinion with Moon being one of his most under appreciated roles. *SPOILER ALERT!!!* The contrast between the two characters he plays is done with a lot of care. The fact that the film is simply two clones interacting with each other is interesting, especially considering how well it was done. Rockwell manages to give both individuals a similar personality with strikingly different character traits. The older of the two is more down to earth, laid back and perhaps humbled by his three years alone on the moon. The younger character however is angrier, quicker to lose his temper and is eager to rush into dangerous situations. The chemistry of the two provides the movie with great intensity, light humour and some really good heartfelt moments.Visually, this is a beautiful film. There isn't too much in the way of big grand scenes. A majority of the film takes place in this dark dingy compound whilst most of the big effects scenes take place on the lunar surface. Lots of grey sand and rocks with a big starry background as a miniature model of the vehicles traverses the environment. It is very bleak but looks fantastic, especially on bluray.There isn't a lot to dislike about this film in my opinion. I found it very charming, very unique for its time and has everything I like in a good sci-fi movie of its kind. Those who liked The Martian should without a doubt enjoy this film as much or even more so. For the cheap price, it is hard to complain.

What begins as a self-searching meditation on loneliness, set on a lunar mining station in the near-future, becomes a Twilight Zone-esque, down-the-rabbit-hole inquiry into identity, madness, and the validity of one’s memories. Sam Rockwell plays Sam, a miner sent to the moon by an energy company specializing in extracting a lunar mineral that ends up solving Earth’s energy crisis.At the end of a solo, three-year stint, Sam is desperately homesick, eager to see his wife (Dominique McElligott) and daughter again, and give life on Earth another shot after a track record marred presumably by dangerous mood swings. His only companion on the lunar station is GERTY, a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey, and one of Moon’s slyest and most amusing offerings. Equipped with a full range of emotional and verbal abilities, it’s odd that GERTY expresses moods by way of smiley-face/sad-face emoticons that appear on a tiny screen. Add to that Spacey’s gift for the half-genuine, half-sarcastic line reading, and you’ve got one of the screen’s most memorable computer characters since HAL 9000.It’s in the second half of Moon that GERTY’s motives become suspect. After Sam survives a mining accident, strange things begin to happen. Chief among them, he finds himself sharing the station with his doppelganger, who mysteriously appears as Sam awakens from his trauma. Also calling himself Sam, this twin is just as perplexed as the original Sam at the presence of the other. Both Sams share the same memories, the same hopes, dreams, and goals. What the two can agree on is that GERTY is hiding something. And, in spite of their mistrust of each other, team up to uncover the truth behind who they are and why they’re here.The star of the show, of course, is Rockwell who bifurcates Sam into two wholly compelling characters, both different shades of the same persona. The more you consider his performance, the more its brilliance and complexity dawns on you. Rockwell brings his trademark quirkiness and snark to both Sams, but his style is tempered by a guilelessness on the one hand and a tough-guy bravado on the other so that we see competing ranges of color coalescing into a pleasing buddy-movie dynamic that’s alternately comedic and poignant. Intriguing, imaginative, and thematically ambitious, Moon gives ample proof that Jones is a serious talent, pushing his concepts into intellectually and spiritually challenging territory.

To say that this movie has echoes of greats such as 2001 A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner (both of them), I, Robot, etc is by no means a criticism, because the storyline also brings not only a refreshing view of the future world's energy supply through nuclear fusion which is virtually limitless and clean, but also takes a step beyond androids and genetically engineered Frankenstein's monsters to actual clones, but they're no less the victims of their creators. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell the solitary crewman on the dark side of the moon, on duty for an energy company. He has played some wicked and dangerous characters absolutely brilliantly, but this film gives him the chance to show how versatile he is too - worth watching for his performance alone (with some clever twists).