Movie Review: Moon

The movie "Moon" has been horribly under promoted. It's sort of an independent film instead of a big budget mainstream film, but even so, it deserved something other than a sprinkling of posters.

Until recently the only thing I knew about it was what I saw in this poster. This tells us what exactly? It doesn't really even make you interested enough to Google it. But the only movie critic I trust, author John Scalzi, recommended the movie. So, I went.

You can see the trailer at link.

Earth has discovered a clean, nigh limitless power source using ³He for nuclear fusion. On the far side of the Moon is a mining station that provides Earth with ³He. It is staffed with one person - Zaphod BeeblebroxSam Bell. This station has four automated mining machines that look like huge harvesting combines. They merrily chew up the surface of the moon and spit what it doesn't like out the back. Sam Bell's three year contract has him going out when one is full, driving the rover inside the combine, get the canister of ³He, take it back to the station, and when he has a full load he launches it back to Earth.

Sam spends his free time building models, exercising, and watching the occasional broadcast from Earth. The lunar communication satellite appears to have broken so he can't chat with Earth in a timely manner. Everything has to bounce off of the Jupiter relay satellite. So you can imagine the delay. Mostly he talks to himself or to the station's AI, a large camera/monitor/cup holder combo that serves as a physical entity to talk in the direction of and to perform some tasks around base.

One day, near the end of his contract, Sam starts to see a woman where, clearly, none should be. In the station, out on the surface, etc. One time it causes him to stop paying attention and he crashes his rover into the back of one of the combines.

This is where the story really starts to get interesting.

Sam wakes up in the station's hospital. He undergoes a battery of physical and psychological tests. He sees the station's robot speaking to the board of directors on Earth in real time. The robot won't let him go outside to check on the damaged mining equipment. Finally he convinces the robot to let him go outside for other reasons. But a space suit is missing. So is one of the three rovers. He finds the missing rover still lodged in the back of the malfunctioning miner. He finds the missing suit inside the rover. He finds himself inside the suit [insert dramatic sound] STILL ALIVE!

This movie has shades of "2001: A Space Odyssey." The start white sets, the non-stop, back to back complete lack of action sequences, the monotone computer voice, and movie rich in story, but short in excitement. I went in expecting something very 2001-like, but the story turned out very different.

I highly recommend it to fans of quality sci-fi and who realize that "Armageddon" was an exciting movie, but otherwise complete dreck.

I'll most likely be getting this movie on DVD.