Topic: Moon (Spoilers)

[Ja'moke]

I think this film deserves a thread of its own; so here it is.

I've been wanting to see this film ever since it came out, but it never got a cinema release in Hull, and I couldn't even find it online. It finally came out on DVD this Monday and I watched it last night.

Fantastic film. Sci-fi is not usually a genre that interests me but I found this film utterly compelling from beginning to end. Sam Rockwell is superb; I've always been a fan of his work, in films like Matchstick Men and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, but this is without a doubt his greatest performance to date.

I thought having Kevin Spacey voice GERTY was a masterstroke. Spacey is so often the creepy bad guy that I expected GERTY to be working against Sam(s); so it was nice swerve to see how much GERTY genuinely cared for Sam. And the smiley faces were excellent.

I remember some interesting posts about Moon in the New Films thread but it's difficult trying to locate them all; it'd be great if we could discuss it in more depth here - and without the entire discussion in spoiler tags.

I'm still confused on how many clones we actually saw throughout the film? I think my count was at least five or six, but there's possibly more.

And I wasn't sure if we were to assume that Tess was killed by the Lunar company? Or if she just died naturally?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I thought having Kevin Spacey voice GERTY was a masterstroke. Spacey is so often the creepy bad guy that I expected GERTY to be working against Sam(s); so it was nice swerve to see how much GERTY genuinely cared for Sam.

Interesting. My interpretation was that Gerty didn't actually care, but his programming was too simplistic for him to be duplicitous. It seemed like a funny twist on Alien in that, instead of being sinister masterminds, the company (Renholm Industries) were really just a bunch of penny pinching idiots.

[An tSaoi]

the company (Renholm Industries)

I'll never be able to take that film seriously now.

[Ja'moke]

Interesting. My interpretation was that Gerty didn't actually care, but his programming was too simplistic for him to be duplicitous.

That could very well be the case. But there's that bit when GERTY offers to erase his memory and Sam asks "You'd do that for me?" and GERTY replies "I'm here to help you Sam" (paraphrased obviously). Now as you have pointed out, maybe that is just a result of his programming; he is programmed to help Sam and is not advanced enough to change that mode. But regardless, he still cares for the Sams, manfactured care it may be, but its care nontheless.

[Baxter]

I'm going to have to try to watch this again but I didn't think it was anything special, I didn't really expect the science aspect to make that much sense as it's much more of a character piece but even then it left me less than engaged with the Sams.

[SavageHedgehog]

It was good, but I think I was hoping for a little more after seeing the trailer. But it was good, much better I thought than this year's Star Trek and maybe even a little better than District 9, and I'll probably end up buying it some time down the road.

[Johnny Yesno]

the company (Renholm Industries)

A-ha! I didn't spot that, but what I did recognise immediately was Matt Berry's voice in the company's transmissions. Is Duncan Jones a fan of the IT Crowd, I wonder?

[Johnny Yesno]

Oh yes, seems he might be:

For The IT Crowd fans, Reynholm Industries own son of Denholm, Douglas, played by Matt Berry, is the corporate face again - but with an ominous difference.

[Ja'moke]

On the DVD extras Duncan Jones says he is really good mates with both Matt Berry and Benedict Wong and wanted to get them involved somehow. They did seem completely odd choices for their roles, but it kind of makes sense now that they are all good pals.

[Serge]

To save myself typing it all out again, here's what I said in the 'New Films' thread, but despoilered:

'Moon'
Utterly fantastic. The best science fiction movie I've seen in years, though to be fair, I don't watch that much science fiction. Sam Rockwell is outstanding, which, considering he's onscreen for about 99% of the film, is a good thing. A lot has been made of the cheapness of the sets, and, like a good 'Doctor Who', this proves that if the story you're telling is good enough, that won't matter at all. One small point: It wasn't made clear - and really, if you haven't seen it and are reading this, look away now - if the 'original' Sam was getting ill because he'd outlived his three years usefulness. That was certainly the way I took it - the clones would be programmed to die anyway by the heartless company, so I imagined that the 'new' Sam would want to get back to earth and kick up a fuss as soon as he could - which tied in with him wrecking the antenna at the end. Anyway.

Loved the fact that GERTY turned out to be a 'good' robot after all, and thought the 'smiley face/sad face' thing was brilliant - when the 'crying face' appeared, I nearly felt like crying myself! And found it slightly bizarre that the evil company men were played by Benedict Wong and, er, Matt Berry! But overall, fantastic stuff.

It's coming out on DVD any time now isn't it? That might have to be a christmas present. The soundtrack by Clint Mansell is utterly fantastic too, in fact I've put it in my Top Ten of the Year for our shops website.

[Howj Begg]

I'm with Baxter,this is like half a good film. Worth seeing, yeah, but potential was wasted.

[Ja'moke]

To save myself typing it all out again, here's what I said in the 'New Films' thread, but despoilered:

It's coming out on DVD any time now isn't it? That might have to be a christmas present. The soundtrack by Clint Mansell is utterly fantastic too, in fact I've put it in my Top Ten of the Year for our shops website.

It came on out DVD on Monday. :)

[Serge]

Excellent. On the christmas list it is, then.

[slipperydish]

I was excited with the prospect of the soundtrack, especially after Clint Mansell's amazing work on "The Fountain", but it was nothing special.

On the whole I was disappointed. It reminded me of an old episode of Red Dwarf - think it was called "Me2" from Series 1. The "Solaris" remake is a better Sci-fi in a similar low key vein.
6/10 from me - should have been better.

[Vitalstatistix]

I found Solaris meandering and pretentious. Moon on the other hand, I found witty, engaging and surprising. Quite superb, actually. I need to watch it again, I can't remember the plot details too well.

[copylight]

I too waited a long time time to moon this film.

[Jemble Fred]

Just seen it and enjoyed it very much. Just a great story, slightly too ponderously told, but helped along by brilliant performances from Rockwell and Spacey. And Wong.

I'd still rather have seen in Rockwell in a second H2G2 movie though.

RUN!

[Feralkid]

I picked up the soundtrack last week and it's rather lovely.   It's always helped me come with a way of describing the film tone without ruining its content.   It struck me that it sounded like music from a Sci-Fi remake of Shawshank Redemption and I think that's what Moon is, a tale of escape.   

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It's a while since I saw the film so this might not stand up as a criticism but, if I have a complaint it's that the psychology of Sam 1's isolation was glossed over to some extent. The hallucinations at the start could have been developed more, but instead they just seemed to be a bit of a cheap device to make him crash and move the plot forward. In a way it almost feels a shame that the cloning plot took over.

It's not a major complaint though, as it's still one of my favourite films of the year. Rockwell's performance(s) was typically excellent, showing - as with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and last year's Choke - that he's fully capable of carrying a film. It's hard to decide whether it's disappointing that he doesn't have a higher profile, or good that he remains free to make more interesting stuff like this.

manfactured care it may be, but its care nontheless.

That's an interesting point and it ties into one of the main themes of the film I think; where do you draw the line between real and artificial life? Another thing I liked about GERTY that set him apart from his obvious forebear, HAL, was that instead of being omnipresent he was this clunky great thing that had to physically follow Sam around and could only go where his rails allowed. Like the Sams, he's locked into the role that the company has designed for him.

[Ja'moke]

It's a while since I saw the film so this might not stand up as a criticism but, if I have a complaint it's that the psychology of Sam 1's isolation was glossed over to some extent. The hallucinations at the start could have been developed more, but instead they just seemed to be a bit of a cheap device to make him crash and move the plot forward. In a way it almost feels a shame that the cloning plot took over.

When you say Sam 1 do you mean the first Sam clone? Because I don't think that is the first clone we see in the film. That's the question I asked in my opening post; just how many clones did we see?

I think those hallucinations are a direct result of the Sam clone slowly realising what he is. I can't remember exactly when the first hallucination happens in the film, but I think it's after he starts getting suspicious; the cut scene in his wife's video message; GERTY playing him a video of a previous Sam etc. The hallucination is of his daughter right? But his daughter when she is a teenager; yet at this time Sam is meant to believe she is just three years old. It's kind of a signifier that for the first time, or what we are to assume is the first time, a clone is figuring out what he really is.

I can understand what you are saying though; it would have been interesting to see those hallucinations developed a bit further.

[Jemble Fred]

Yeah, if it was a Tales of the Unexpected, the whole thing could have been one big hallucination, and the first – or even the second – clone that we follow *could* have been the real Sam – you certainly care enough about the character to have a slight hope that that may prove to be the case. Cop-out though that may have been.

[Ja'moke]

Yeah, if it was a Tales of the Unexpected, the whole thing could have been one big hallucination, and the first – or even the second – clone that we follow *could* have been the real Sam – you certainly care enough about the character to have a slight hope that that may prove to be the case. Cop-out though that may have been.

The real Sam is at home back on Earth right? I assume that's who we hear in the background when the Sam clone is speaking to his daughter?

Does that mean the real Sam knew about the cloning?

[Serge]

I thought real Sam was responsible for the cloning! It's possible I'm wrong, but I'll find out at christmas....!

[Ja'moke]

I thought real Sam was responsible for the cloning! It's possible I'm wrong, but I'll find out at christmas....!

Oh really? That's an interesting take. I didn't get that at all, but I'll definitely keep that in mind when I watch rewatch it.

[The Region Legion]

I thought real Sam was responsible for the cloning! It's possible I'm wrong, but I'll find out at christmas....!

Yeah, this is exactly what I was expected to happen in that phone call scene, but they didn't follow up on it and the sounds at the end suggest it couldn't possibly be (the clip of the woman saying that the Sam clone was testifying against the company or something). It doesn't completely discount it I suppose - Sam clone could have been going after Real Sam after all.

I did feel that ultimately it's all a bit easier to pick apart though. Why was it so easy for them to not only find the jamming beacons, but also to find the clone area? Why would a company - aware of what they're doing - design the base so that those areas could even be accessed? Why would you need a jamming signal when you could just program the system to shut down any communication network? A number of things like this that really knock a couple of points off for me. If you're going to write a sci-fi movie, you really have to take care over those points. Also, both Sam's seemed ridiculously detached considering there was another version of them standing in front of them. At some point after the initial reveal it cuts away, like they just sort of got on with their lives and didn't address the fact? That's just not how you would act in that situation.

I did like it though - it was like a one-man play, I can imagine it working really well on stage with some adjustment.

[Ja'moke]

I've been on a bit of a Sam Rockwell hunt recently - by that I mean finding films he's been in; not tracking him with a pack of wild dogs.

Has anyone seen the film Lawn Dogs? It's fantastic, again, a brilliant performance by Rockwell and surprisingly, Micha Barton, who was a child at the time. It's fantastically odd and the ending is ace, some great special effects for what must have been a very low budget movie. I highly recommend it.

[joeyzaza]

Has anyone seen the film Lawn Dogs? It's fantastic, again, a brilliant performance by Rockwell and surprisingly, Micha Barton, who was a child at the time. It's fantastically odd and the ending is ace, some great special effects for what must have been a very low budget movie. I highly recommend it.

Yeah, Lawn Dogs is a good'un. After giving a great performance as a child, it's a shame to see that Miss Barton now seems to have more in common with Lindsay Lohan than Anna Paquin.

I saw Moon a few weeks ago and rather liked it. What I found most refreshing was the decision to make it a character-based rather than plot-driven piece. The most obvious path to take with this type of story would have been to defer the cloning revelation, instead making the audience think that Sam was afflicted with the SPACE MADNESS, before ending with a big "A-HA!" moment.

[kidsick5000]

I saw Moon a few weeks ago and rather liked it. What I found most refreshing was the decision to make it a character-based rather than plot-driven piece. The most obvious path to take with this type of story would have been to defer the cloning revelation, instead making the audience think that Sam was afflicted with the SPACE MADNESS, before ending with a big "A-HA!" moment.

I loved that they just threw the twist to the side. Like you say, you can easily any other director (like shamalayan) making the twist the be all and end all of the film.
Really elevated the film from being a a feature length Twilight Zone ep

[Santa's Boyfriend]

The soundtrack is on Spotify, by the way.  It's really good!

[Serge]

The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic, well worth getting hold of.

I've been on a bit of a Sam Rockwell hunt recently - by that I mean finding films he's been in; not tracking him with a pack of wild dogs.

Has anyone seen the film Lawn Dogs? It's fantastic, again, a brilliant performance by Rockwell and surprisingly, Micha Barton, who was a child at the time. It's fantastically odd and the ending is ace, some great special effects for what must have been a very low budget movie. I highly recommend it.

I keep meaning to see 'Lawn Dogs'. Sam Rockwell has been great in so many things, that you can overlook the times he slips up _{(Cough)'Hitchhikers'}. 'Welcome To Collinwood' is one of my favourite films of his, though that has an absolutely killer cast all the way. And 'Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind' is great - as I recall, he's in every single scene of that. He also pretty much steals 'Galaxy Quest'.