Reviews
This was the first film I’d been to the cinema for in a while. And really the first I was truly excited about since Waltz with Bashir. Having said that, I’d heard very little about it. Hadn’t read a review. No word of mouth. Only seen the trailer the once. That just compliments how good a trailer it is. The general standard of alternative options also had something to do with it I reckon. They could have screened a trailer for Date Movie along with the rest of the bile out at the moment, and it’d seem like fucking Casablanca!
Moon is definitely Sci-Fi. Set in the future, in a world where 70% of Earth’s fuel is some sort of weird Gas product (which I assume either doesn’t really exist – or we haven’t discovered yet). The only place to get the gas is on the Moon. So we’ve got astronauts working on what are basically one man ‘farms’ up there. With combine harvesters and everything! Sam Rockwell is one of these astronauts.
Rockwell plays what is practically the role of a lifetime. Without giving too much away, he’s pretty much the only actor on screen for nearly the whole film. (Kevin Spacey playing his faithful robot ‘GERTY’). Putting him in a special gang with Will Smith (I am Legend) and Colin Farrell (Phonebooth) of successfully carrying an entire film as the solo main character.
Definitely not a ‘-a-minute’ film. (Laugh-a-minute, thrill-a-minute, scare/scream/choke-a-minute). It’s slow. Not painfully, but leisurely so. Like watching a sunset.
Similar to a sunset, it presents just as much beauty. I’ve never been to the Moon. I’m not even sure exactly what it looks like. If you believe all the theorists, only a handful of people do. But I have an idea from all the CG versions. If I ever DO see it up close and in person, I hope it looks exactly like this. The Cinematography includes the absolute best moon sequences ever made.
The subtly serene, yet unnervingly calming lighting continues into the spaceship as well. They somehow manage to keep you expecting a fright around every corner, yet retain the ability to stay completely relaxed, as if viewing a lovely painting of a lake.
It’s really a jigsaw puzzle of a movie, the viewer has to keep up with, notice things, and piece it all together to find the truth of what’s really going on. This is easy enough to be possible so you don’t miss anything, yet difficult enough to still be enjoyable. It’s not a big twist film, where you’re carefully searching for clues, then get smacked in the face with a huge springed red boxing glove of one. It’s more revelations, one manageable piece at a time.
Even towards the end, when the truth comes out, it seems too early in the story, and in time to end the film, there’s no resolution.
The final revelation... the ending, is presented so efficiently you can’t help but feel completely content with it.
Moon - Brought to you by James Wormald -