DVD Review: Moon

Moon. 93 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Duncan Jones. Written by Nathan Parker from an original story by Duncan Jones.

All too rarely, a movie comes along that, on the surface at least, is apparently incredibly simple and understated. But as it slowly begins to unfold, it reveals itself to be fantastically original and complex, and before long, you somewhat unexpectedly find yourself under its spell. Moon is one such film. Directed by Duncan Jones (the son of David Bowie), Moon is a mesmerising little masterpiece that slowly hypnotises you with its nihilistic vision of not only the future of lunar exploration and the possible exploitation of the planet's resources, but also the very essence of our human identity, fallibility, beliefs and values.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is employed by Lunar Industries to oversee giant harvesters that extract helium-3 from the moon's surface. With only his computer assistant GERTY (superbly voiced by Kevin Spacey) for company, Sam must ensure that once the machines have harvested a certain quota of the precious element, it is jettisoned safely back to earth in canisters where it will aid the development of our planet's clean energy programs. But with only two weeks to go before his three-year contract expires and his replacement arrives, a near-fatal accident involving one of the harvesters threatens his return to earth.

As the lonely engineer who appears to be slowly losing his mind, Rockwell is magnificent. It is a tour de force performance of such immense skill and craftsmanship, that you practically forget that this is, essentially, a film with only one actor in it. He is helped enormously by Parker's marvellously engrossing, lean, mean and inventive script from Jones's fact-based story (the scientific community are actually researching ways to harvest Helium-3 from lunar soil and the film was screened privately for NASA's scientists).

While it lovingly references previous films of the sci-fi genre (particularly Soylent Green, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Blade Runner), Moon's modest special effects are less concerned with flashy explosions and random space-based exotica, and consist of exemplary model and miniature work (supervised by Alien and Casino Royale Model Master Bill Pearson). And like director Ridley Scott, Jones has the ability to employ the services of his gifted special effects crew to serve his vision and drive the story forward – not distract from it.

But it is Rockwell (who was the voice of guinea pig Darwin in G-Force and who is also starring in Iron Man 2) whose virtuoso performance brings this extraordinary film to life. For those film-lovers who are more than a little fatigued by big expensive flashy epics and want a film that will have you thinking and contemplating the very nature of our existence for days afterwards – Moon is the film for you.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.