Moon

Sam Rockwell in a movie basically by himself for 90 minutes? Yes, please. I love me some Sam Rockwell. My love for the man goes back to Galaxy Quest. He is a funny, quirky actor, who can always be very serious without losing a hint of what makes him so interesting. So, when you put him in a movie where he is on screen for the entire film, just sounded too awesome to pass up. Then the trailer came out and it made me that much more excited, because it was possible Rockwell was going to be playing more than one person. Awesome, totally awesome.

I am going to be pretty brief on my summary because the trailer is purposefully misleading and I do not want to blow the experience for anyone. Sam Bell has two weeks left on the three year stint on the moon. It is somewhere in the future and the Earth relies on Helium-3 power from the moon to survive and Sam is in charge of loading full canisters of H3 and sending them to Earth. He is alone, except for a robot, GERTY(Voiced perfectly by Kevin Spacey) who is there to help him, but may or may not be trustworthy. Sam is beginning to see things and not feel so well as he closes in on going home to his wife and child. He gets in a crash on the moon and when he wakes up, he begins to see himself as another person too. The other Sam might be just a hallucination, but might he not be?

Moon might be better known as David Bowie's son's first movie as a director. Under the name Duncan Jones he directs in such a style that everything that happens, just happens. There is not much of a sense of suspense, or thrills, but he has an interesting visual flare and it helps that the set is just incredible. The ship looks really detailed and really becomes a character in the film and the moon itself is full of interesting looking craters and machines. GERTY also has a really nice design and the ability to emote using a basic creepy smiley face, adding to the fakeness of the trust I have in GERTY's intentions. Jones created the story, with someone else writing a screenplay that spends a wonderful amount of time in the set up. We really get to witness Sam do what he has been doing for three years, with keeping plants, building models and other hobbies one does when one is alone. I like the small details of talking to the plants and how routine the first 20 minutes or so of movie are. It helps to have that basic level when the movie takes a turn.

However, nothing would matter if Sam Rockwell wasn't totally kick ass. Carrying a whole movie alone is not something many people can do. Granted, this movie is short compared to Cast Away and I Am Legend, but Rockwell is doing double duty in the movie. As Sam Bell he is manic, meticulous, almost warm and then when Sam starts to get sick he really turns it up a notch. Then as Sam's hallucination, he is mean, and more of an Alpha male. It is never difficult to know which is which because Rockwell even stands differently as both. He really puts on an acting master class and I really hope more people go watch the movie just watch him really shine. On the way to the movie, I was telling Robbie it is far too early for Oscar talk, but I would not be surprised to find Rockwell in the conversation as awards season comes around.

Moon might not be super ambitious and perhaps the story takes kind of a convenient approach to the twist, but I really enjoyed the movie. Rockwell is very kick ass and Jones creates an interesting world, if not an interesting atmosphere. The score is wonderful as it switches between weird and beautiful, all while being piano driven. Some of the score is even Coldplay style epic. It really helps create this futuristic moon universe. Watching this little Sci-Fi film it is hard to pin down if it is meant to be a thriller or a drama, but it does work more as a drama, a drama about a man coming to the end of his rope and the questions that come with furthering science and a movie that seems to question the sanity of being so dedicated to a job that is a bit crazy. But mostly, it is about Sam Rockwell being one of the best youngish actors we have.

Final Grade: B+