Duncan Jones's debut feature is a paean to the great 70s space movie which itself falls only very slightly short of magnificence. That seems to be the critical consensus surrounding Moon, the tale of a lone lunar astronaut nearing the end of a three-year stint manning a base on the satellite which is being used to mine precious energy sources.
The movie, which won the best British feature award at the Edinburgh film festival last month, sees Sam Rockwell in a tour de force performance as the lonely spaceman, with the wry tones of Kevin Spacey well used for the voice of the enigmatic computer, GERTY, which may or may not be on his side.
The film is deeply derivative of paranoiac classics such as 2001, Silent Runnings, Solaris and Dark Star. Some critics note a seam of originality which they say helps it escape the orbit of its predecessors, but others are concerned that the film does not quite merit its feature length running time, despite a healthy abundance of ideas.
"Moon is a superior example of that threatened genre, hard science-fiction, which is often about the interface between humans and alien intelligence of one kind of or other, including digital", writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. "John W Campbell Jr, the godfather of this genre, would have approved. The movie is really all about ideas."
"[Moon] has an elegant feel for science-fiction cabin fever, and Sam's rapport with GERTY becomes deliciously unsettling once they start telling each other fibs," writes Tim Robey in the Telegraph. "Rockwell rises to the challenge with a persecuted sense of loneliness ... it's certainly a very promising debut for Jones."
"Less a whodunnit, more a whothehellami, while the ingenious script keeps you guessing, a terrific turn from Sam Rockwell keeps you caring," writes Empire's Simon Crook. "It's a deeply engaging one-man show and, crucially, puts a human face on some seriously hefty themes (memory, alienation, identity). They do make 'em like they used to — a fresh blast of old-school sci-fi, bursting with ideas."
"Rockwell is very good, and it is nice to see a major role for a distinctive and engaging performer," writes our own Peter Bradshaw. "As for the director, this smart little picture is a very serviceable launch pad."
Did you catch Moon at the weekend? Does it shine as brightly as those eminent examples of intelligent science fiction which I mentioned earlier? Or is its light merely a pale reflection of its predecessors'?
