The cool and unvarnished heir apparent to the throne of low budget indie sci-fi thrillers
It’s a relief to get back to the more traditional sci-fi fare that doesn’t have to send the audience into epileptic fits to stimulate the imagination. Although the film is patterned (almost too much) after “2001: A Space Odyssey,” it manages to define itself and in the end delivers a message that is distinctly its own.
Duncan Jones’ new film starring Sam Rockwell (“Frost/Nixon,” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) starts with the creepy isolation of outer space. This is not like the chummy camaraderie of “Star Trek,” it's the deathly loneliness of “Outland.” Like Sean Connery’s character in “Outland,” Sam Rockwell’s Sam Bell is all alone in a distant outpost in space. In both cases the purpose of the outpost is mining, often an enterprise of isolated loneliness. But in this case it is underscored by the solitary nature of the post. Sam is the only one there. Rather, Sam and Gerty the computer are the only ones there.
This brings us to Kevin Spacey as the voice of Gerty. What a voice, he does a great job. But it makes us wish he was in the film in person. One of the few failings of the film is getting too close to being an outright copy of “1001” and Gerty is a total knock-off of the Hal 9000 computer in Kubrick’s classic. The saving grace of Gerty is that, in the end, Gerty has a slightly different perspective from Hal 9000 even though they are both tools of the evil technical establishment, of course.
This is not a film that came to praise private enterprise; it came to damn it. The mine itself is nothing more or less than open pit mining transported to the moon. The mammoth robot scooper/digger/processor brutally trashes the moonscape, insulting the barren soil unremittingly as it mangles cubic yards of moon rocks to come up with a speck of precious fusion fuel. As the film goes on we learn the corporation is doing the same thing to Sam Bell but the complete truth is brought out slowly with excellent pacing. Scene by scene the entire ugly truth is laid bare.
In this way the film becomes a combination of a tabloid expose’ and a mystery thriller. As in the classic “Alien” the spaceship crew is also on a long, boring and isolated mission. Both Sam and the “Alien” crew are being lied to, in some degree, by the evil corporation that is using them to gain its own ends, perhaps with lethal consequences. Although “Moon” lacks the violent action and special effects of either “Outland” or “Alien” it has a more powerful message. The danger of technology is not the danger of stealing our lives; it is the danger of stealing our identity and, eventually, our souls.
Ike Eisenhower warned of the danger of the military-industrial complex but the danger of the future will be the medical-industrial complex. When we get to the point that nano-technology cells can recreate a severed finger good as new, are we sure the new finger is really ours? Or is it a mirror image of something we used to have?
The message of the out of control medical/business conspiracy is a familiar one. But combining that message with a world drunk on energy consumption and desperate for new energy sources brings the film right into the here and now. The concept of violating the sanctity of human life to feed an out of control energy appetite parallels the iconic “Soilent Green.” As we eventually eat ourselves to survive, we destroy life as we know it, to live.
A great film and all the better for the miserly budget and simple but effective special effects. A one man show by Sam Rockwell and the unseen but often heard Kevin Spacey, “Moon” takes us to the dark side, inside a life nobody wants to live.
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey (voice of Gerty)
Release: June 12, 2009
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