A good solid pulp science fiction film but I don't think its the next great all time classic

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2009)

Directed by Duncan Jones, who is the son of David Bowie, this film has been hailed as the next coming of the great SCIFI God. Its been compared and any number of classic films. Much as been made of the fact that the film feels awfully familiar, it borrowing bits of other films looks for its look. I think its familiar because it a place I've been before.
The plot has astronaut Sam Rockwell coming to the end of his three year term as the only man on an automated mining base on the far side of the moon. His only companion is Gerty, the computer, voiced by Kevin Spacey.. He dreams of his wife and just wants to get home so that he can see his young daughter. However the isolation is getting to to him and when he wakes up after an accident things have become different.
I could tell you more but thats as far as most people writing on the film have taken it, so I will bow to their line in the sand and leave it there (though many who insist that the less you know is better reveal "too much" by comparing it to a certain now classic film from the early 1980's). They seem to think that what happens after that point is some huge revelation. I don't think so I think what happens, while perfectly in keeping with the story isn't as important as what that sets in motion.
I really like this film. Its a good solid pulp science fiction film about a man alone in space. I do not think this is the next "great" science fiction film. I don't think its revelations are mind blowing. I think its a well thought out film with a great deal to say about man and mankind. I really wish that people would stop placing this film on a pedestal, because it doesn't belong there for the reasons that they are claiming. The film may, some day earn a place on a high but for right now, its the idle chatter of people who really haven't seen too many science fiction films, or if not they aren't versed in the golden age of pulp scifi stories that bled over into the golden days of radio and the early days of television. I kept waiting for the film to hit me with some grand revelation, but it never came. In all honesty it wasn't until the accident and the film got down to doing what it does that I stopped waiting for something the film wasn't and took it for what it is.
Don't get me wrong. This is a really good little film, its just not the next big thing.
There is much to like about the film. Sam Rockwell is very good in a role that is nicely restrained and not out in left field. Its one several recent performances that have me warming to him and his style. The look of the film, borrowed from films like 2001, Space 1999, Solaris, Outland and others has a nice lived in feel. I love Kevin Spacey's Gerty. I'm going to kind of give a spoiler here and say I like his performance as a sort of anti-Hal 9000. There are moments where he will move you. The plot, when stripped of the hype is actually quite good and it raises all sorts of interesting questions (Which I won't get into since they might reveal late in the game plot points). And while the film does have a couple of plot bumps, nothing is major and the film hangs nicely together.
Recommended for anyone wanting a good science fiction yarn. Let the hype go and just go and enjoy it. (Frankly comparing it to things like 2001, Solaris and other great head films is a major mistake since it shrinks your audience who won't go thinking its one thing-as I did- when in fact its something else.)