Moon [DVD] [2009]
Moon [DVD] [2009]
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Product Description
Science fiction can encompass many genres--suspense, horror, action-adventure, romance, even comedy--but director Duncan Jones's Moon doesn't fit neatly into any of them. This smart, provocative film has no aliens or cool spaceships, and the effects (mostly consisting of model vehicles lumbering across the lunar surface) aren't all that special; instead, the material is character- and story-driven, centering on an excellent, multilayered performance by Sam Rockwell. The scene is some undetermined point in the future. Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an employee of Lunar Industries, the company responsible for mining a fusion energy source called Helium-3, which is vital to Earth's efforts to reverse a serious energy crisis and can only be found on the far side of the Moon. Sam is all by himself, and as he nears the end of his three-year contract, the solitude is starting to get to him ("Three years is a long haul," he says. "Way, way, way too long. I'm talking to myself on a regular basis"); his only contact with his wife and daughter back home comes through the occasional video messages he exchanges with them, while his sole interaction on the Moon is with GERTY 3000, a computer voiced by Kevin Spacey (and an obvious parallel to 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL 9000). Things start to go seriously sideways when Sam crashes his vehicle while out inspecting one of the giant Helium-3 harvesters. He comes to in the base infirmary, seemingly none the worse for the wear; but an unnerving surprise awaits him when he goes back to check out the accident site, and the resulting complications occupy the rest of the movie. Fans of 2001, Solaris, and other cerebral sci-fi will enjoy figuring out what's going on; others will find it slow-moving and tedious. Either way, Moon, which was made quickly and on a relatively low budget, is well worth a look. --Sam Graham
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Rating
I so enjoyed this at its (limited due to the average Harry Potter film) cinema release. Worth noting that despite the low budget it was made during the writers strike so despite the low budget it had some great people working on the visuals and sound and it looks and feels great. The music is also exceptional (by the requiem for a dream guy).
Sam Rockwell’s acting performance is genuinely superb.
It’s best to see this film without seeing any spoilers (like the 1 reveiw that has beaten me to it). There are no stunning new sci-fi ideas here (I haven’t seen one for a long time) but it is so rare that a vision of the future is portrayed in such a human way, with character(s?) you genuinely like and care about. I was engrossed all the way through and genuinely moved.
I love sci-fi, I love the big budget lets blow s*** up sci-fi and I love the low budget thinking sci-fi, this falls into the later category and at 5th August it is the film I have enjoyed the most in 2009.
And my girlfriend liked it too!
Rating
A haunting and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition that pays homage to the great classic science fiction films like 2001 without ripping them off. Rockwell delivers an outstanding performance as the lonely, humbled and repentant astronaut trying to make sense of the confusion around him, Spacey’s understated vocals as the voice of GERTY are perfectly pitched, and the music is superb – a mixture of icily repetitive and insistent electronica reminiscent of the best of the great 80′s synth artists and heartbreakingly beautiful piano interludes. I bought the CD soundtrack immediately, and play it frequently. I can’t wait for the DVD release of Duncan Jones’ remarkable debut, and am very much looking forward to his next film.
Rating
And it just goes to show that all the CGI billion dollar budgets in the world can’t save you if your film has no emotional centre. What a thrill it was to see this then, where for great swaths of screen time you never even see outside of the space moon-station and yet it never tires or drags.
Its hard to review the film without wandring into spoilers but suffice to say Sam Rockwell’s performance is superb, and it’s only as the film progreses that you really get a taste for how much effort he put in.
Since much of the story takes place inside, I can’t really say that the blu version I’ve seen adds much in terms of crispness/clarity, but you’ll have to decide for yourself.
Hats off, too, to one of the most ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ endings I’ve ever seen – more of a stop-listening-and-you’ll-miss-it. It was very brave of them to throw all the resolution of the story into a 20 second-ish half-heard voice-over just before the credits roll, but I liked that!
Well worth your time – put it on the DVD shelf next to ‘Contact.’
Rating
Its such a breath of fresh air to see an intelligent sci-fi film after so many “please-the-masses” CGI muck-ups. “Moon” is proof positive that all you need for a good movie whether it be a sci-fi crime or other genre film, is a good story at its foundations.
I’m really looking forward to picking up this film on blu-ray on Monday coming and I’ve no doubt it will look & sound perfectly crisp.
I know mystery films such as this aren’t quite the same after the first viewing, but I also know its the kind of film I’ll enjoy watching many times over, simply because I can connect and empathise with the story’s protagonist Sam Bell.
Rating
Perhaps like JG Ballard, this film is not the teenage science fiction of fighting aliens and the like but rather the exploration of the inner mind – an intelligent and thought-provoking study of what identity means, what it means to be human. Too much plot detail would spoilt the experience (as would watching the trailer)so I’ll just say that this is my idea of science fiction: I’m thinking Silent Running, 2001 and (the original) Solaris by comparison in subject matter, style and qualtity of film.
Highly highly recommended.
Rating
I’ve heard the comparisons to 2001: a Space odyssey, and while I can see their point, the film I would most liken this to is not a sci-fi one, but instead I think it is more like The Conversation starring Gene Hackman. Both are EXTEMELY slowly paced and filled with a sense of growing paranoia. Fans of action films (and there is nothing wrong with these types of of films per se, except that fans of these tend to rubbish films like this) will probaly want to stay away from this. Yes the film is slow. Deliberately so, without it we would fail to grasp the central characters (and yes that is plural) sense of frustration and longing to go home. Sam Rockwell gives fine performances (YES that IS performanceS – watch it and you will understand. If you have an enquiring mind and are not afraid to exercise it, this is worth watching. If you just want to see stuff being blown up , look elsewhere.
I have already watched this 3 times, since getting the DVD for Christmas, and I see something fresh in it each time. Quite simply the finest example of intelligent science fiction I have seen yet (and face it there are not enough around) I would personally like to give this 10 stars if I could.
Rating
It is so sad. I havent seen a movie in such along time that made me feel so much pity for a character. More like this please zowie. Note to J Cameron all the special effects in the world cant buy you emotional content. This movie made me realise how awful Avatar was. Great haunting soundtrack as well.
Rating
I wanted to catch this splendid sci-fi film at the cinema last year when it came out but before long, I left it too late and it disappeared. How relieved was I when I received it as a Christmas present on DVD. I was instantly drawn to it. There was a magnetism to the story and Sam Rockwell is superb in the lead role ably supported by Kevin Spacey as the voice of ‘Gerty’.
It tells of an astronaut, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), who’s on a moon base mining Earth’s primary source of energy on the dark side of the moon for a three year contract which is nearly completion with Lunar Industries. His only companion on the base is the ever vigilant computer, Gerty who looks after him and takes care of him. Sam’s isolation on the base has taken its toll on him and his only contact from the outside world are video messages from his wife and daughter back on earth. He so longs to return home and see them again before they forget him completely but a sudden accident happens on a routine ride out on the moon’s surface and Sam must face a disturbing discovery.
What this film does so well is that it shows us the different emotions that we can sometimes go through. One minute, Sam is going onto the moon’s surface to do his routine job on the surface, his face lit up watching family video messages and the next we see him disillusioned and paranoid after the accident. The first time director Duncan Jones directs with such assuredness and gets possibly the best performance of Sam Rockwell’s career. The support of Kevin Spacey is also exemplorary as the voice of Gerty the moon base’s computer. This is possbily one of the best sci-fi films I’ve seen. Why this wasn’t up for an Academy Award or two is beyond me.
Rating
Moon is set far into the future, at a time where the Earth is now living off Helium 3 energy, created from a moon base that is harnessing the power of the sun and mining the results from the moon on the Sarang Mining Base.
Sam (Sam Rockwell) has been working up there for three years, with only has two weeks left to go of his contract – a long time to work in solitary, and he only has occasional video messages from his wife and daughter to keep him going, but as he prepares to go home, he starts seeing weird visions such as a woman sat in the chair he’s just left to make a brew…
After a couple more episodes he winds up in the infimary, and soon makes an intriguing discovery which sets the tone for the rest of the movie, but for which I cannot reveal here.
Sam Rockwell is the only human onscreen for almost the entire duration of the film and it really gives him a chance to excel. He has such a kooky personality that he is the only actor I reckon who could pull off this kind of film, working on his own and in a claustrophobic set that, despite being set many years into the future, still has moments where its looks decidedly low-tech, such as with his black and white small TV. He was excellent in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and one of the two good things about the Hitchhikers film, the other being Zooey Deschanel. It’s also the directorial debut from David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones. The disc also contains his short film “Whistle” and his second feature film, Source Code, is due out next year. If he can do for films what his Dad can do for music then there’s a lot of great stuff to look forward to.
The small, additional, cast includes Dominique McElligott as Sam’s wife Tess, leaving him video messages which he replies to; Benedict Wong and Matt Berry are two of the boffins back on Earth who also send over important video messages; Kevin Spacey appears in voice form only as Gerty, the computer on Sam’s moonbase; and there’s also a cameo from Skins’ Effy, aka Kaya Scodelario.
The Blu-ray cover lists a quote how it’s the finest sci-fi movie since Blade Runner. However, I think it has more in common with 2001, in terms of the isolation and the look of the spaceship inside. Kudos, also, to the cool opening credits appear about the set as it begins.
The film is presented in its original 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and is highly-detailed with no problems. The excellent CGI work shows that there’s no way a 16:9 open-matte version could be achieved so pity the poor viewer if this gets bought up by a channel too chicken to show it properly. Hopefully, it’ll be Channel 4 who get it because, at the time of writing, the other major terrestrial broadcasters haven’t got a clue. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound is in DTS-HD MA 5.1, although I only had access to it in DTS 5.1, and is mostly used for dialogue and ambience with no issues at all.
The extras are as follows:
* Whistle (28:46): A short film by Duncan Jones, made in 2002, and presented in letterbox 1.85:1. It also features his father’s haunting track, Subterraneans.
Ryan (Dominic Mafham), is a man who’s taken early retirement in Switzerland. His son, Michael, isn’t pleased about the relocation so he has to attempt to bond with him. Amongst all this, Ryan has a new job he’s hiding from son, but his wife, Di (Sarah Winman), knows all about it. The ubiquitous John Shrapnel plays his boss, Paul.
I don’t want to say what Ryan’s job is, but it all makes for quite an intriguing film, even if the ending is rather weird.
* The Making of Moon (16:18): Duncan Jones and Sam Rockwell talk about what happens during the film, which I won’t reveal here, along with other members of the crew, with work-in-progress footage also included.
* Creating The Visual Effects (11:09): A year’s work very well spent, and I can’t go into the specifics as that would give things away, but it makes for a great featurette.
* Science Center Q&A with Duncan Jones (20:48): An introduction to the film at a special screening on March 16th, 2009, before he takes questions from the audience.
* Filmmaker’s Q&A at the Sundance Film Festival (11:15): This is where Duncan Jones got to premiere Moon and, again, he gives an introduction, on January 23rd, 2009, and then takes questions from the audience.
* Trailers: One for Moon, and then one each for 2012, Ghostbusters, Julie & Julia and Angels & Demons. All of the special fetaures as in standard definition, and it shows with the Ghostbusters clip which is cropped to 16:9 and is just there to plug the Blu-ray disc – so perhaps they should’ve included a Blu-ray-quality trailer?
As for the Moon trailer, it really spoils what was the major twist for me. So glad I saw it AFTER I watched the film. I was attracted to this film from the good word that was spread and also the talent of Sam Rockwell.
* Audio commentaries: Two here. One from Duncan Jones, director of photography Gary Shaw, concept designer Gavin Rothery and production designer Tony Noble; the other from Duncan Jones and producer Stuart Fenegan.
* BD Live: Connect your Blu-ray player to the internet and it sounds like you’ll be able to get info the IMDB page for this film. I’ve never got my player to go online properly before, so I’ll just visit IMDB anyway.
The menu features scenes from the film mixed together its incidental music. There are English subtitles plus Thai, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian. Commentary is also available in English. However, the film’s chaptering is still bad with Sony’s strict (judging by all their recent releases) 16-only policy. Come on, Sony, you’re not paying by the chapter(!)
Film: 10/10
Picture: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Extras: 8/10
Rating
OK the themes in this film and those in Silent Running [DVD] [1972] are not the same but there is definitely a similar feel to viewing each, as a result it may appeal to some viewers from a nostalgia value, despite not being, I believe intentionally retro. The special effects and props are very similar, including the simple, limited number of sets used for the feature.
The film opens with a mining station on the Moon, a solitary man working in facility with the assistance of a robot/base computer, automated systems and also using some huge looking moon rovers. The action is slow and there are no fight sequences, chase sequences or anything of that kind, the antagonists for our solitary man in the moon are largely men in suits broadcasting from a powerful energy monopoly back on earth and a party of three who dont arrive until the end of the film, depending upon how you interpret the feature never meeting our protagonist at all.
I think that if you liked Lost, especially during the first season featuring the “vault” and “the switch”, I think you would like this feature, if you are a fan of Philip K. Dick, especially Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The novel which became ‘Blade Runner’ (S.F. Masterworks) or even the movie adaptation Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2-Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1982] I would recommend this feature to you.
It is a cerebrally challenging film and even where it can prove predictable or you can guess what will be occuring next there is still plenty which you will be left thinking about or discussing with friends for a time afterwards. There are ethical dilemmas aplenty here and I thought an interesting take upon how computer AI responds to an apparent contradiction or conflict in its programming. Does bare a second watching, aswell as being thought provoking it also has some emotional, even existential perhaps, content too.
A great movie.