Good Sci-Fi

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2010)

Sam Bell (Rockwell) is the man on the moon in the last 2-weeks of a 3-yr contract, monitoring mining operations for a mineral that earth needs to solve its energy problems. He is alone except for Gerty (voice of Spacey) a computer that monitors Sam's health, the mining operation and the base station. Suddenly he gets sick and this almost causes a fatal accident outside the station. Then he realizes he is no longer alone.
At first I thought, "well, here we go again with imaginary friends" and "let the ripoff continue."
But, it's not that. The other person is a spitting image of himself and Sam doesn't know what to make of this. And, he gets no help from Gerty who will not answer his questions. But, since the other Sam doesn't seem to be a threat, Original Sam goes about his business and eventually confronts the "other Sam."
This is good Sci-Fi, but there are some holes. Why would the company that Sam works for only allow one man to monitor the mining operation? Maybe the thinking is that Gerty would be enough. Hmmm. Big clue concerns Sam's sickness, and a 3-yr contract. Can you figure it out?
Original Sam does have some hallucinations: he sees a woman, not his wife, sitting in a chair. The woman hallucination is never explained. And, the accident is caused by his having another hallucination of the same woman outside the station. Again, never explained. Maybe hallucinations don't need to be explained and they are what they are. And, one more thing. A computer is not supposed to show emotion, but there are a few instances whereby Spacey got too involved and we hear some emotion in his voice.
Not really a hole, but the computer's name of Gerty is never explained. Well, the name of HAL in 2001 was never explained until later on. The closest I can come is that Gerty is based upon a Jewish mother's name: Gertrude Goldberg (from the Goldbergs TV show back in the day) or was that Molly and not Gertrude? I give up, but it's the closest I can come. The Jewish mother reference is about someone who takes care of everything, like Gerty does. Get it? Tough room.
All in all a very good Sci Fi movie and I would have nominated Sam Rockwell for an Oscar (yes, I'm still handing them out).
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, a lot in the early part of the movie