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The British pedigree when it comes to making futuristic space-bound worlds is second to none. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Alien(s), Outland, Event Horizon, Danny Boyle's recent Sunshine - it seems if a director wants to make a convincing, visually interesting space colony or ship, British studios are the place to film. Moon earns its placement alongside the very best of those films mentioned in the previous sentence. Some extremely minor missteps may prevent it from becoming recognised as a science fiction classic in years to come, but it's an excellent, gripping, superbly realised lunar mystery. Its level of confidence and assurance is made even more impressive considering that it is directorial debut of Duncan Jones (also known as Zowie Bowie, son of David). Jones clearly takes copious inspiration from existing classics - alongside some of those mentioned above, Solaris (the 1972 Tarkovsky original) and Silent Running are evident points of reference - but he manages to craft a memorable and distinctive effort with its own voice.
Moon is essentially a one-man show for virtually the entire duration. There may be eight people on the cast list, but except for Sam Rockwell, all are either just heard (Kevin Spacey perfectly voices the vaguely sinister HAL 9000-esque computer, GERTY), seen on a communication screen, or otherwise barely glimpsed. Much of the success of the film therefore rests on Rockwell's shoulders, but the underrated actor who helped make George Clooney's helming debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind so entertaining again proves his mettle here. His task is made more challenging by the fact that for much of the film he's acting against himself. Rockwell plays Sam Bell, stationed alone on the moon to oversee the helium-3 mining operation that supplies Earth's energy in this unspecified near future. His three-year tenure is about to come to an end, and he's cracking under the isolation, starting to hallucinate. After an accident in his lunar rover, he wakes up only to be shortly confronted by, apparently, another version of himself. Thereafter the film takes a slightly different turn, shifting from mysterious thriller to a meditation on the value of life and free will. It sounds heavy, but Jones handles the themes deftly, to gripping results.
The transition between these two modes is not quite seamless, however. When Sam meets his doppelganger, he doesn't seem to question what's going on as much as one would expect; he quickly seems to accept his new roommate. It seems that a scene or sequence has been omitted in which he at first refuses to believe what he is seeing or at least asks some of the questions that the turn of events creates in the minds of the audience. As the only real false note it's just jarring rather than disastrous, and the film recovers quickly. A wonderful sense of place and reality is established in the set design and charmingly old-school (but wholly convincing) visual effects, which is sustained throughout. Also adding to the atmosphere is another propulsive score by Clint Mansell (The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream). If there is a sense that the narrative reveals its hand slightly too early and easily, any problems brought about by that are overcome by the thought-provoking direction that is taken to reach the conclusion.
The summary
A confident, engrossing, fully realised vision from debutant director Duncan Jones. Moon has "cult favourite" written all over it.
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