Dawn and I sat down the other night to do something that we hardly ever seem to have time to do... WATCH A MOVIE!
The film Moon is set in the near-future and follows the day-to-day life of an employee of Lunar Industries on... wait for it... the Moon!
The film Moon is set in the near-future and follows the day-to-day life of an employee of Lunar Industries on... wait for it... the Moon!
Who saw that one coming?! :)
In the opening minutes of the movie, it is explained that Helium-3 is a very precious commodity and is now used for 70% of the world's power consumption. This resource is taken from the dark side of the moon and Lunar Industries is the corporation in charge of harvesting it and delivering it back to earth.
Shortly thereafter, we find ourselves following Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) in the lunar base, Sarang. For as big of a deal as it sounds, apparently Lunar Industries is so efficient that only one person needs to man the entire operation. We can glean from this that Lunar Industries can't possibly be a US Government ran operation. :)
Sam is under a three-year contract to Lunar Industries to man the operations and that time is nearing an end. Because of spotty data uplinks, Sam receives communication from Earth and his wife on an infrequent basis. The only day to day interaction Sam has is with a robot helper named GERTY, who is voiced by Kevin Spacey.
It is apparent right off the bat that three years in isolation on the moon has been both mentally and physically taxing for Sam. He is experiencing hallucinations and his health is suffering. It seems to be a good thing that his contract is expiring because he is right on the edge of a breakdown.
I knew going into this movie that it was not a big dollar, summer pop-corn flick. This movie had a budget of $5 million dollars and it shows. There are no splashy special effects, the cast is very small and the lunar base itself is very sparse. The movie passes off as mostly believable from a scientific standpoint. The most glaring issue is that somehow we have figured out how to simulate earth's gravity on a lunar base. In fact, one of the first scenes of the movie shows Sam running on a treadmill. It's almost like the director made it a point to get that out of the way early by saying "I can't afford to do this with simulated gravity, so here is Sam running on a treadmill... suck it nerds!” :)
It's impossible to give a full review without spoilers, so I'll just end with a recommendation that you give Moon a shot, especially if you enjoy Sci-Fi movies. Just go into it knowing that there aren't going to be big WOW moments from a visual standpoint. You are mostly watching Sam Rockwell turn in a great acting performance.
If you do give Moon a chance, please come back here and let me know what you thought of it in the comments section for this post.
If you do give Moon a chance, please come back here and let me know what you thought of it in the comments section for this post.
-Chuck
3 comments:
I thought MOON was a little slow at the beginning. Once the plot was revealed though, I found it interesting and unique. Not a long movie... only about 90 minutes. Perfect for a work night movie with my best friend :)
I've been meaning to watch this, and I keep forgetting to add it to my Netflix queue. That has now been remedied.
Let me know what you think after you see it!
Post a Comment