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Released by: Sony
Released on: 1/12/2010
Director: Duncan Jones
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Year: 2009
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The Movie:
Set at some indeterminate time in the future, Moon follows a man named Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell of Frost Vs. Nixon) who is just nearing the end of the three year contract he signed with Lunar Industries group. Sam's been toiling away up on the moon inside an energy mining base for the last thirty-six months and is really looking forward to going home and reuniting with his wife and infant daughter. To keep himself occupied during this time, Sam has had the companionship of a robot named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), but has had no actual human contact during this time. As his tour of duty comes to a close, the communications systems in the base start to short out and experience technical difficulties and it's around this time that Sam starts having some strange hallucinations.
One day, on a routine mission, he heads out across the moon's surface and drives his transport vehicle into one of the harvesting machines that combs the rocks and then wakes up inside the infirmary room where Gerty tells him he needs to take it easy and rest but as Sam recovers from his accident he starts putting together the pieces of the puzzle that make up his very existence.
The closest point of reference here is Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film with which Moon shares a few similarities, the most obvious of which is the presence of a robot which helps the human character run the day to day operations. Moon, however, is far from a rip off of Kubrick's masterpiece, even if it does wear that influence on its sleeve. Writer-director Duncan Jones has delivered a refreshingly simple and minimalist science fiction tale that puts far more emphasis on the psychology and fragility of the human condition than on special effects or high concept action set pieces. In fact, with the exception of the set design and a few minor instances relating to space travel, there are precious few special effects in the film.
At the center of this bleak landscape is Sam Rockwell in the lead. His performance here is excellent, running the gamut from pitiful to frightening, funny to tragically sad and covering all the bases in between. While Kevin Spacey's voice acting covers Gerty's emotionless presence perfectly, this is in many ways a one man show and Rockwell handles it perfectly. His characters transformation and the personal 'voyage' we see him go on in this picture is intense and often times a bit unsettling and had the performance not been up to snuff it would have tanked the entire film. Thankfully, Rockwell proves more than up to the task here.
While the film may not move at a lightning quick pace, it does build very deliberately for the first hour of its running time, saving the best bits for last though peppering the first two thirds with some interesting foreshadowing. If the film is slow, it's never boring and it's wonderfully shot and set to an amazing score by composter Clint Mansell (best known for his work on Requiem For A Dream). Jones nails the proper visuals and sound effects to ensure that his story is told without a need for flash, putting substance over style but doing so without shorting the film as far as cinematography and tone go. The film isn't quite a masterpiece, you can figure out where it's going fairly early on if you pay close enough attention, but it's an impressive effort and it speaks volumes about the director's potential.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Presented in AVC encoded 1080p 2.40.1 anamorphic widescreen, Moon looks about as good as it should on Blu-ray. This is not a visually flashy movie, its color scheme is predominantly black and white and the whole film has a very bleak visual look to it that, while perfect for the story, doesn't really lend itself to demo disc material. That said, in the context of the visuals, Sony's transfer is a good one. There is a softness to certain scenes but this isn't a constant and is likely an intentional stylistic choice. Detail is generally very good, close up shots in particular, while the outdoor shots that take place on the surface of the moon show all manner of texture and almost tangible debris. Black levels are strong while the whites have a intentionally and effective stagnancy to them, giving the whole picture a very sterile tone. Black levels are good, flesh tones look natural except when they're supposed to appear sickly, and the image is clean and free of any print damage, leaving only a welcome coat of natural looking film grain in its place. All in all, this is a very good transfer that really effectively represents the visuals that the filmmakers obviously worked quite hard to create.
Audio options are supplied in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio in English, French and Portuguese options while a Dolby Digital 5.1 track is provided in Spanish with optional subtitles available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese. The English language DTS-HD track is a good one, full of subtle ambience and perfectly clear dialogue. The levels are really well balanced and the score in particular has a really strong resonance to it. This isn't a particularly aggressive track but there are some scenes that benefit from some clever rear channel placement such as the scene where Sam crashes the transport. Most of what you'll hear in the surround channels, however, are little audible details such as the whirring of Gerty's arm or the blip of technology inside the base. There's a lot of this detail work in the mix and it really helps flesh things out really effectively. There's a lot of ambience here and it suits the movie perfectly.
Sony has supplied two commentary tracks, the first with writer-director Duncan Jones who is joined by the director of photography Gary Shaw, concept designer Gavin Rothery and production designer Tony Noble. At times this track gets a little too busy for its own good but there is a wealth of information here that makes it worth checking out, particularly as it lets Noble and Rothery talk about building the sets and getting the right look for the film. The second commentary again features Duncan Jones, this time accompanied by the film's producer, Stuart Fenegan. This track has a bit more of a flow to it and while Jones does the bulk of the work here, Fenegan chimes in with his input as well. Here we learn about the film's origins, casting and reception that also covers model work, effects work, GERTY, and much more. Between the two tracks, very little is left uncovered though personally I'd have really wanted to get Sam Rockwell on board one of the track to get his input on the film.
Sony has also included two documentaries, the first of which is The Making of Moon (16:18, SD), a pretty standard look at what went into putting this picture together by way of some decent interviews with the principal cast and crew. Creating the Visual Effects (11:08, SD) is, as you could probably guess, a look at the film's effects work which includes an interesting talk with Visual Effects Supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp.
From there, we get some interesting question and answer/interview sessions, starting with the Science Center Q&A With Director Duncan Jones (20:48) which allows the writer/director to field questions from an audience immediately following a screening that was held at the Houston Space Museum. Similar is the Filmmaker's Q&A At The Sundance Film Festival (11:15) where Jones again talks to an audience about the film and about making the picture. Both are quite interesting though they inevitably cover some of the same ground as the commentary tracks.
Rounding out the extras are a short film by Duncan Jones called Whistle (28:46 in SD), a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few unrelated Sony properties, a Blu-ray promo spot, menus and chapter selection. The disc is also Blu-ray Live enabled. All of the extras are in HD except where noted.
The Final Word:
A really well made and deliberately plotted thriller, Moon is a film that relies on acting rather than action and which uses its deceptively simple premise and set design to sneak up on you. Sam Rockwell's performance is perfect while the look and sound of the movie match the bleak storyline perfectly. Sony's Blu-ray release looks and sounds great and features some pretty decent extra features as well.