Sundance Film Review: MOON - A

I had a feeling Sam Rockwell's new movie 'Moon' was going to be good, but I didn't think it was going to be completely amazing. I was really looking forward to watching this film up here at Sundance, and I am so happy that I got the opportunity. I really loved this film. I don't know if you have heard about 'Moon' or not but I have posted a few little articles and press photos for it. There are a couple of things that drew me to this movie. First of all the movie stars Sam Rockwell, and I think this guy has a mountain of acting talent. I also this he is underrated as an actor. Second, 'Moon' is an indie science fiction film. There is something I really like about indie Sci-fi films and that is the fact that they rely more on story than they do special effects.

There is nothing not to like about 'Moon'. It is everything a good sc-fi movie should be and more. The story was iron clad, there are no unexplained plot holes that leave you guessing what happened to who or what. The story centers on a man named Sam who has been stationed on a lunar moon base for three years. The reason he is on the moon is to harvest energy from the sun to help power the energy on earth. The movie starts off with the character only having two weeks left on the moon base before he gets to go home. It is during this period of his stay on the moon when things start to go wrong. Sam starts to see things and he starts to become ill. At one point something goes wrong with one of these harvesting machines and he goes out to fix it. While trying to fix the harvester he has an accident and it is at this point that his whole world changes.

Another thing I would like to point out in the story may be a minor spoiler but I want to talk about it. I really liked a character by the name of Gerty voiced by Kevin Spacey. Gerty is the lunar moon base computer. It is a pre-concieved notion from sci-fi movies of the past that onboard ship or base computers usually are known for going crazy and trying to sabotage the crew and take over. What I liked about this onboard computer is that he was not a bad evil robot. I thought maybe at one point he would turn the tables and become a power obsessed computer hell bent on taking over the opperation but it never happened, and I really thought that was awesome. We have a good sci-fi comptuer for a change! On top of that Kevin Spacy's voice was so pleasent to listen to.

Then there is Sam Rockwell as Sam and let me tell you... this guys performance was freakin awesome! It is best actor award worthy. One of the best performances of his career. I think it is a challenge for many actor to carry a movie by themselves, and I think very few people have pulled it off successfully like Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away'. But Sam Rockwell was absolutely incredible! I was in awe watching him do his thing on screen. I hope his performance gets noticed and then gets remembered through the year because he deseves a best actor nomination for this role of greatness. There is another side to his character that I really want to talk about that challenges him as an actor but I don't want to unleash any spoilers and ruin the movie for you.

I also loved the way the film was shot. The cinematoropghy was done really well. It had a great style and texture to it. The set design and special effects were also pretty impressive  for a low budget sci-fi film. The creative team must have just made good use of their budget and what they had to work with.

'Moon' is a fantastic film, one that I think will has the potential to be a classic muh like 'Pitch Black' and 'Gattica'. I really hope that it gets picked up and a gets decent marketing campaign and distribution. This is a movie that any movie sc-fi geek would love.