Moon - Film Review

In his feature film directorial debut, Duncan Jones has created the rare cinematic gem (at least in the film market of the last fifteen years.) Moon, starring Sam Rockwell as multiple characters (kind of), is a sci-fi indie flick for adults. As the director himself acknowledges, that is an almost extinct genre today. Jones, a former commercial director in the UK, has said he found himself perplexed and frustrated that today’s filmmakers seem to feel that science fiction “should be frivolous, for teenage boys” and full of superfluous special effects and CGI. Jones believes that today’s directors are “embarrassed by science fiction’s philosophical side.” As a result, Jones set out to make a sparse, tightly contained film that focused almost solely on the cerebral possibilities explored in what he calls the “golden age” of science fiction in the 70s and early 80s with films like Silent Running, Alien, and Blade Runner. In both its spirit and its retro sci-fi aesthetic, Moon succeeds as a successful homage to its influences while retaining plenty enough vitality to stand on its own two feet.