A Compelling Work Of Science Fiction

Rating: 10/10 (3 October 2012)

Moon is a British science fiction drama film directed by Duncan Jones. It is about a man who experiences a personal crisis as he nears the end of a three-year solitary stint mining helium-3 on the far side of the Earth's moon. Sam Rockwell stars as the employee Sam Bell, and Kevin Spacey voices his robot companion,GERTY.Robin Chalk,Dominique McElligott,Kaya Scodelario,Benedict Wong and Matt Berry play key supporting roles.It was the feature debut of director Duncan Jones.
An astronaut miner extracting the precious moon gas that promises to reverse the Earth's energy crisis nears the end of his three-year contract, and makes an ominous discovery in this psychological sci-fi film. For three long years, Sam Bell has dutifully harvested Helium 3 for Lunar, a company that claims it holds the key to solving humankind's energy crisis. As Sam's contract comes to an end, the lonely astronaut looks forward to returning to his wife and daughter down on Earth, where he will retire early and attempt to make up for lost time. His work on the Selene moon base has been enlightening wherein the solitude helping him to reflect on the past and overcome some serious anger issues but the isolation is starting to make Sam uneasy. With only two weeks to go before he begins his journey back to Earth, Sam starts feeling strange: he's having inexplicable visions, and hearing impossible sounds. Then, when a routine extraction goes horribly awry, it becomes apparent that Lunar hasn't been entirely straightforward with Sam about their plans for replacing him. The new recruit seems strangely familiar, and before Sam returns to Earth, he will grapple with the realization that the life he has created may not be entirely his own. Up there, hundreds of thousands of miles from home,it appears that Sam's contract isn't the only thing about to expire.
Science fiction can encompass many genres such as suspense, horror, action-adventure, romance, even comedy but this movie doesn't fit neatly into any of them. This smart, provocative film has no aliens or cool spaceships, and the effects aren't all that special instead, the material is character- and story-driven, centering on an excellent, multi-layered performance by Sam Rockwell.But overall,it is a compelling work of science-fiction.