Moon

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Here's what I thought when I finished watching Moon: this would have made one of the best Twilight Zone episodes ever. It made me wish Zombie Rod Serling was around, so he could watch it and agree with me, before eating my brain.

In the near future, Earth's energy problems have been permanently solved by shipments of helium 3, mined on the moon. (Believe it or not, this is not a totally farfetched idea.) Sam Bell, played by Sam Rockwell, is a lonely astronaut stationed on the far side of the moon, tasked with the maintenance of a mining site. The hard work is performed by large automated mining platforms wandering the lunar surface, and Sam merely has to do the odd repair, and transfer the helium 3 containers into unmanned earthbound shuttles. He's assisted by "GERTY", a chatty AI robot (voiced by Kevin Spacey). Although technical snafus prevent him from talking live to his earthbound family, he can send and receive recorded messages. And he's looking forward to the end of his three-year contract, at which time he can return.

Sam Rockwell plays "clueless schlub" roles pretty well, and that's extremely appropriate here. Without getting too spoily: he soon becomes aware that his situation is not exactly as presented.

Trivia: Moon was written and directed by Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie. Back when he was a kid, he was known as "Zowie Bowie", and was a prime example of the wacky names rock stars gave their kids.


Last Modified 2024-01-30 3:56 PM EDT