The science-fiction genre as always been genre that has gone hand-in-hand with special effects, mostly because it has to, but the more successful sci-fi films put story first, and special effects are used as an aid to the story. I think with the emergence of CG in the early ’90s, when special effects took over, many science-fiction spectacles went for the eye instead of the mind. There is so much more to science-fiction than alien invasions, explosions, and robots, and while I think those can be fine, something I think was clearly lost was the science in the fiction. Now, there has been gems sprinkled throughout the years that are thoughtful, engaging, and interesting science-fiction films (Primer, Dark City) and you can  add Moon to that shortlist.

Science-fiction can engage an audience in using ideas that aren’t too far-fetched. Moon, directed by first timer Duncan Jones, is more of a science-fiction drama. Sam Rockwell anchors the film by playing Sam, an astronaut marooned on the Moon for 3 years mining its resources to replace the ones we used up on Earth. Jones perfectly thrusts us into this near future with a fun, fake commercial showing what as happened to Earth’s resources and what is being done about it. After the prologue, we immediately know all we need to, so we can accept the film’s world. In so many science-fiction films, screenwriters spend most of the film using exposition to explain the whys and whats of what we are seeing, and thankfully, Jones has bypassed this. The story in Moon isn’t out of the realm of possibility, also adding to our acceptance of this future.

The film plays with Sam’s isolation, showing him doing routines and mundane hobbies. The film damns typical sci-fi conventions like action and spectacle to play with Sam’s increasing descent into madness, or what appears to be, as he is slowly starting to see things. This is what I meant by the drama aspect of my coined term, science-fiction drama. Not helping is Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), an all knowing robot, like a kissing cousin to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In fact, the film plays homage directly to that film, minus the Kubrick existentialism. Moon really kicks in after an accident causes Sam to blackout, only for Gerty to not explain what happened or why there’s another Sam hanging around.

The film offers up some great ideas, and plays well after the viewing. Most sci-fi fans will think about what the film has presented, a pleasant present the film gives us, making it a film worth thinking about. But the real problem is that while Duncan offers up some interesting scenarios and ideas, the follow through is a little limp. Where the film needed to follow-up on the escalation of tension and drama, it peters out. It’s a mild misstep, one we can easily ignore, for Duncan has crafted a solid, little science-fiction film that is engaging for the eyes and mind. The focus on ideas and here, claustrophobia, anchored in by a very game Sam Rockwell, and a beautiful (aren’t they always?) score by Clint Mansell, makes Moon a destination worth traveling too.

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Tags: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clint Mansell, Dark City, Moon