A great first film

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2011)

I had heard good things about this film before I sat down to watch it but thankfully I hadn't heard about the ending so was constantly wondering what was happening. Set in a mining base on the far side of the Moon Sam is the sole operative and he is coming to the end of his three-year contract; unfortunately for him he is involved in an accident while outside the base. He then wakes up back in the infirmary and is told by Gerty; the base robot, that he was injured and mustn't venture outside until he has fully recovered; he disobeys this order and goes out and finds his crashed vehicle with himself still in side! Something strange is clearly happening although it takes some time to establish just what that something is. The two Sams now have a limited time to discover just what is happening before the 'rescue' team arrive.
Duncan Jones has made an excellent debut film with a fine performance from Sam Worthington as the two Sams; apart from him the only other major role was Kevin Spacey who provided the voice of Gerty. As the film progressed I was reminded of '2001: A Space Odyssey' due to the potentially sinister computer, 'Solaris' as there was a possibility that things weren't quite real and even of 'Outland' as the clock ominously counted down to the arrival of the so called 'rescue team'. While I was strongly reminded of these films I didn't feel like this was in any way a rip off as the story here differed in significant ways which I won't mention as that could spoil a first time viewer's enjoyment. If you are a fan of serious science fiction without needing space battles, laser blasters and giant robots then I'm sure you will love this film.