I'll watch a movie starring no one but Sam Rockwell any day. Seriously.
Moon
starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
directed by Duncan Jones
Going in, I didn’t know much about this movie at all. It was kind of nice for a change; I had no expectations going it. To be honest, I’d never even seen a trailer. I only knew that it had something to do with, well, the Moon, and had Sam Rockwell starring. That was all I needed to get out there and see what it was all about!
In the not too distant future, Sam Bell (Rockwell) works on the far, dark side of the Moon harvesting a substance known as H3 for an Earth based company. H3 is used as a power source for Earth that makes up more than 70% of the energy the world uses, thus averting the present day energy crisis. Sam is alone on a small base, except for a robat names GERTY (voiced by Spacey). Together they monitor the machines that harvest H3 and make sure the shipments get back to Earth. The only way that Sam can make contact with the people back home is through recorded messages because the communication satellite is down. However, Sam starts to see strange impossible things near the end of his three year isolation. He wrecks a machine accidentally, and when he awakes in the base, he and GERTY are no longer alone.
Sam Rockwell is as good a reason as any to get out and see a movie. He’s a wonderfully talented yet underated actor. My personal favorite performances that come to mind are George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and the movie of Douglas Adam’s book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He has a way of bringing a calm simplicity to deeply complex characters. His demeanor gives off the impression that he is always completingly in control, yet as his facial features and eyes change, you know there is something deeper and darker bubbling beneath the surface of whatever character he is portraying.
This is the type of sci-fi that often takes a back burner to main stream science fiction. There’s no explosions, no alien races, no war or conquest that needs to be averted; it is simply a movie that takes a purely scientific approach to a situation. Man must mine H3 for the world. Man is in deep space isolation. Weird, futuristic stuff occures. And, to trump it all, is actually based in scientific fact. Its something that Arthur C. Clarke, rest his soul, would be proud of. We as movie viewers too rarely get a glimpse at was sci-fi was meant to be, and this movie really tried to give us a piece of that.
Moon also speaks volumes about the human condition. How do humans deal with isolation? How do our hearts react when our brain is told something is not real? How do we as a people define our humanity? Deeply interesting and motivating concepts are dealt with here, and if you wrap your head around it, they can really make you think.
Conversely, the movie was so simple and matter of fact that it harmed the entertainment value. I really did lose interest a time or two when following Sam around on his daily duties. The movie was an hour and a half long, and could easily have been much, much shorter to make the point it made. Good idea, great acting, but no follow through with the script. An original and captivating idea is one thing, but you can never forget your audience, or how short their attention span can be.
My favorite part had to be GERTY. Spacey voiced it spot on, and the machine is eerily reminiscent of HAL 9000 from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The robot is outfitted with a small screen that bares a smiley face that changes with whatever emotion the artificial intelligence things is appropriate; smiles for happy, frowns for sad, straight lines for confusion… it adds a great deal of comedy as well as insight into the situations that happen on that far side of the Moon.
Over all, it is worth seeing, but is not at all for the average viewer. It’s gotten high ratings in other online outlets, but I feel I have to dock it for not considering the audience is some aspects. The jury is still out on wether I’ll be buying it or not. Either way, long live Sam Rockwell!!!
One Day Sam Rockwell, POW! Right to the Moon!
I'll watch a movie starring no one but Sam Rockwell any day. Seriously.
Moon
starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
directed by Duncan Jones
Going in, I didn’t know much about this movie at all. It was kind of nice for a change; I had no expectations going it. To be honest, I’d never even seen a trailer. I only knew that it had something to do with, well, the Moon, and had Sam Rockwell starring. That was all I needed to get out there and see what it was all about!
In the not too distant future, Sam Bell (Rockwell) works on the far, dark side of the Moon harvesting a substance known as H3 for an Earth based company. H3 is used as a power source for Earth that makes up more than 70% of the energy the world uses, thus averting the present day energy crisis. Sam is alone on a small base, except for a robat names GERTY (voiced by Spacey). Together they monitor the machines that harvest H3 and make sure the shipments get back to Earth. The only way that Sam can make contact with the people back home is through recorded messages because the communication satellite is down. However, Sam starts to see strange impossible things near the end of his three year isolation. He wrecks a machine accidentally, and when he awakes in the base, he and GERTY are no longer alone.
Sam Rockwell is as good a reason as any to get out and see a movie. He’s a wonderfully talented yet underated actor. My personal favorite performances that come to mind are George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and the movie of Douglas Adam’s book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He has a way of bringing a calm simplicity to deeply complex characters. His demeanor gives off the impression that he is always completingly in control, yet as his facial features and eyes change, you know there is something deeper and darker bubbling beneath the surface of whatever character he is portraying.
This is the type of sci-fi that often takes a back burner to main stream science fiction. There’s no explosions, no alien races, no war or conquest that needs to be averted; it is simply a movie that takes a purely scientific approach to a situation. Man must mine H3 for the world. Man is in deep space isolation. Weird, futuristic stuff occures. And, to trump it all, is actually based in scientific fact. Its something that Arthur C. Clarke, rest his soul, would be proud of. We as movie viewers too rarely get a glimpse at was sci-fi was meant to be, and this movie really tried to give us a piece of that.
Moon also speaks volumes about the human condition. How do humans deal with isolation? How do our hearts react when our brain is told something is not real? How do we as a people define our humanity? Deeply interesting and motivating concepts are dealt with here, and if you wrap your head around it, they can really make you think.
Conversely, the movie was so simple and matter of fact that it harmed the entertainment value. I really did lose interest a time or two when following Sam around on his daily duties. The movie was an hour and a half long, and could easily have been much, much shorter to make the point it made. Good idea, great acting, but no follow through with the script. An original and captivating idea is one thing, but you can never forget your audience, or how short their attention span can be.
My favorite part had to be GERTY. Spacey voiced it spot on, and the machine is eerily reminiscent of HAL 9000 from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The robot is outfitted with a small screen that bares a smiley face that changes with whatever emotion the artificial intelligence things is appropriate; smiles for happy, frowns for sad, straight lines for confusion… it adds a great deal of comedy as well as insight into the situations that happen on that far side of the Moon.
Over all, it is worth seeing, but is not at all for the average viewer. It’s gotten high ratings in other online outlets, but I feel I have to dock it for not considering the audience is some aspects. The jury is still out on wether I’ll be buying it or not. Either way, long live Sam Rockwell!!!
2.5 out of 4 stars