Moon

Moon (2009)

Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: Duncan Jones

Starring: Most of the time, it’s just Sam Rockwell and the voice of… Kevin Spacey

From: Sony Pictures Classics

I finally saw this movie after all the praise it’s earned over the past 16 years… due to messageboard discussion concerning Paul Rudd?! Someone in a thread mentioned how aside from his work in the Wet Hot American Summer movies, they only like certain moments from him when he’s in high-profile projects. I haven’t seen enough from him to judge for myself. Someone else mentioned Mute; only later did they elaborate that it was a change of pace for him… that didn’t turn out well. I then mentioned that much to my shame, I never stepped onto the rocket ship and gave Moon a chance despite its lofty praise. Well, that was enough for me to finally blast off.

Now, I realize even more than before what a fool I was for not giving the first movie of Duncan Jones a chance. Is he in Director Jail because the reaction to Warcraft and Mute wasn’t great? I’ll talk about that more at the end of the review but there isn’t much info on where he’s been all those years. A shame, as this was quite assured and confident for a debut. Much of the movie is Sam Rockwell alone on the Moon, creating energy for Earth. Whether or not the scheme presented in this version of the future is even feasible, I’d have to ask Neil DeGrasse Tyson…

Most of the movie is Rockwell’s Sam and his AI robot; yeah, I’m able to separate the art from the artist here despite the robot voice being provided by Kevin Spacey. Perhaps in ’09 I’d question a plot element or two, including the usage of AI robots on the Moon with only one human present. A few days away from 2026 beginning, I have no trouble believing a corporation would do such a thing in the future. Whether or not they should is up to you. Sam is contracted to work on the Moon for three full years-he does so despite having a wife & young daughter back on Earth.

I’ll be vague on the rest of the details as that’s especially important in this case and I was mostly spoiler-free all these years. I was happy about a modest-budget sci-fi movie with a small cast-thankfully for Moon, Rockwell nailed his role-nice practical sets, mature thought-provoking ideas, a nice score from Clint Mansell, and the vibes of science fiction cinema from decades past. Of course, GERTY the robot will remind you of HAL 9000 but so many have been inspired by 2001, it’s not a big deal for me. In addition, this reminded me of a sci-fi movie made after 2009 which has been seen by me and I wasn’t a fan-I can phrase it that way as longtime viewers will know that can apply to more than one science fiction movie made in the past 16 years!

While this should have been reviewed long ago, on the other side of the coin now I have a larger audience on Letterboxd that can read my high recommendation of the film. If you love mature sci-fi that isn’t focused on the action and instead want to see and think about cerebral story, give Moon a shot. As for why Duncan Jones hasn’t made a movie since 2018’s Mute… that’s still uncertain. Evidently, all this time he’s wanted to bring the comic book character Rogue Trooper to screen but that hasn’t happened. When your late father was David Bowie, I suppose working for a paycheck isn’t a chief concern.