Moon: review

Moon is an interesting science-fiction thriller from last year, directed by Duncan Jones – who turns out to be Zowie Bowie, son of the legendary David (who wrote that great song ‘Life on Mars’, of course.) The film stars Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell, while the marvellous Kevin Spacey voices ‘Gerty’, Sam’s robotic computer sidekick.

Sam works for Lunar Industries, a company apparently doing good work for the climate, and is engaged on a three-year contract to work in splendid isolation (apart from Gerty) on the moon, mining helium. He receives occasional video messages from his wife Tess, who was pregnant when he left home and has now given birth to a daughter.

Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems, and that the company is (perhaps rather predictably) not the upright organisation that it is supposed to be. Sam starts to hallucinate, and before long he comes across an injured astronaut who turns out to be – himself. But which of them is the clone?

This is a pretty good sci-fi movie, although the set is rather claustrophobic, and the action relatively limited, features which prevent it reaching the highest level and tend to reduce the tension. But it deals interestingly with the idea of what it takes to be human, there is genuine pathos in the later stages, and Gerty comes good in the end. Even if you are not a mad keen sci-fi enthusiast, I think you’ll find this film worth a look.