A rather small and intimate movie, set on a very large stage, The Moon.

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2010)

In spite of this movie being set on the Moon, it is actually a small and intimate movie. It only has two characters that mean anything, and one of them is a computer/robot named GERTY.
This is set only far enough in the future that we have been able to establish a base of mining operations on the Moon, with a base station and one man operating it. Along with his trusty companion GERTY who has a lens for an eye and, suspended on tracks from the ceiling can travel all over the base station.
The scientific premise is the mining of Helium 3 (normal Helium 4 is what fills balloons) which can be used in fusion reactions to generate power, enough that this mined He 3 is sent back to the Earth in dedicated rockets. Large machines roam the surface of the Moon, spewing rocks in its wake. Ostensibly it is collecting and concentration the He 3 that is estimated at 0.1 ppm. That isn't much He 3.
Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell, who handles the Moon operations much as an experienced operator would handle an oil refining unit back on Earth. He is anxious and happy, his 3-year stint alone on the Moon is coming to an end and he looks forward to returning to Earth to his wife and young daughter.
Kevin Spacey is the soothing voice of GERTY, reminding me a lot of HAL in "2001: A Space Odessy". But GERTY is clearly on the side of Sam and never turns on him.
I don't really want to say what this movie is about because I think it is better to view it knowing nothing. I found it interesting, as a character study. But still science fiction and not as profound as perhaps it wants itself to be. Good entertainment.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: As the story unfolds and the 3-year target looms closer Sam starts to behave strangely. He has visions. He goes out to service a harvester and is injured in a wreck. He has physical problems, he spits up blood, a molar falls out. All this are signs that he is wearing out, he can't last more than three years, because he is a clone. In fact, when he awakes from his accident he finds he was rescued by another clone, just like him, and with the same name. Together they figure all this out, no one ever goes home, they are destroyed when they wear out and one of the dozens of clones below deck is awakened by GERTY from its suspended animation to become the next Sam. Memories are implanted into their brains so that each new clone believes he has a family back on Earth and will go home after 3 years are up. At the end they convince GERTY to awaken one additional clone, and the still healthy clone uses an escape module to send himself back to Earth. But what will he find there? Will he expose the operation for what it is?