There have been quite a few allegedly great films that I've missed this year, so with awards season kicking into gear, I figure I might as well try to catch up now. After finally getting "Inglourious Basterds" and "The Hangover" under my belt, next in the queue was...
MOON (2009)
"I am the one and only."
Such poignant verse to describe the lonely, desolate nature of the moon, the place where Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), a contract employee for a corporation mining the moon for alternative energy on Earth, has spent the last three years destitute of civilization.
"Moon," the freshman project of director Duncan Jones, is a triumph; a taut and thrilling science fiction adventure without the frills of contemporary outer space cinema. Conjuring up the echos of genre classics "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Alien" as well as recent successes like Danny Boyle's "Sunshine," "Moon" is a terse, atmospheric film that succeeds in capturing the reclusive nature of the great beyond.
"Moon" has enough twists and turns to keep audiences interested, though despite its brisk 97 minute runtime, "Moon" tends to bog down in its midsection. However, a slow-moving middle isn't enough to bring "Moon" down as the flick benefits from a tour-de-force performance from Sam Rockwell, beautifully sterile production design, and a brooding, atmospheric musical accompaniment from Clint Mansell.
Though "Moon" presents nothing particularly new thematically with its presentation of space and its critique of big business, its translation to a lunar setting is fresh and commendable. Despite not being the spectacle of other recent sci-fi blockbusters like "Star Trek" and "Transformers," "Moon" is a thrilling, smart, and wonderfully lensed science fiction tale that shoots for the moon and succeeds in every way.
A-
"Moon," the freshman project of director Duncan Jones, is a triumph; a taut and thrilling science fiction adventure without the frills of contemporary outer space cinema. Conjuring up the echos of genre classics "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Alien" as well as recent successes like Danny Boyle's "Sunshine," "Moon" is a terse, atmospheric film that succeeds in capturing the reclusive nature of the great beyond.
"Moon" has enough twists and turns to keep audiences interested, though despite its brisk 97 minute runtime, "Moon" tends to bog down in its midsection. However, a slow-moving middle isn't enough to bring "Moon" down as the flick benefits from a tour-de-force performance from Sam Rockwell, beautifully sterile production design, and a brooding, atmospheric musical accompaniment from Clint Mansell.
Though "Moon" presents nothing particularly new thematically with its presentation of space and its critique of big business, its translation to a lunar setting is fresh and commendable. Despite not being the spectacle of other recent sci-fi blockbusters like "Star Trek" and "Transformers," "Moon" is a thrilling, smart, and wonderfully lensed science fiction tale that shoots for the moon and succeeds in every way.
A-
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