Moon (Duncan Jones – 2009) A

I never thought much of Sam Rockwell before. I’ve always considered him an ok actor I suppose, but after watching him in Moon I cannot help but think I’ve been missing out. He plays Sam, a man on a lunar station that harvests Helium 3 and ships it to earth as an energy source. Sam is not exactly an astronaut, more of a blue collar employee for a huge “oil” corporation. He’s approaching the end of his contract and is ready to go back home. That’s only the first 10 minutes of the film and the rest of it is not a sci-fi flick, but more of a psychological thriller that gets more interesting by the minute. Sam’s only companion is Gerty, as robotic assistant that controls the whole base and knows so much more than Sam does about what’s going on. Moon’s setting and mood is reminiscent of 2001 with plain sparse white surfaces and the low humming of machinery. Gerty is a character that also reminds us of HAL, but not quiet.