An impressive directorial debut with a smart, absorbing and well-acted film that’s not just for geeks.
Moon (2009)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:162
Fresh:144
Rotten:18
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Boosted by Sam Rockwell's intense performance, Moon is a compelling work of science-fiction, and a promising debut from director Duncan Jones.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language.
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Jun 12, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $4,785,434
Synopsis:
It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a...
It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive.
Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sarang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer.
Suddenly, Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago.
Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans. --© Sony Pictures Classics
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Director: Duncan Jones
Director: Duncan Jones
Screenwriter: Mark Bowden, Nathaniel Parker
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Get This Movie
Reviews for Moon
A minor masterpiece. Quite simply Moon, given its minuscule budget - around £2.5million - is a cinematic miracle. The film is one of the best examples of thought provoking sci-fi that we have seen in an age.
The film's ideas are interesting, but don't feel entirely worked out, and Mr. Rockwell's intriguingly strange performance (or performances) is left suspended, without the context that would give Sam's plight its full emotional and philosophical impact.
Enjoyably trippy, brain-bending stuff, but the most satisfying thing about Moon is that it marks a return to the notion of science fiction as a genre fuelled by big ideas rather than big special effects.
Intelligent, resourceful and elegantly made, Moon marks a mightily impressive low-budget debut from director Duncan Jones.
The intelligence and care with which the movie was produced makes the script's minor deficiencies stand out in contrast, but on the whole, Moon is the sort of trippy sci-fi dystopia that's best enjoyed on the big screen.
An indie sci-fi movie? That's what the director Duncan Jones has put together, to mostly inspired effect.
Intriguing and suspenseful with awe-inspiring visuals and terrific, well-nuanced performances by Sam Rockwell in dual roles.
You’ve rarely seen so many influences assimilated as smoothly or affectionately as they are here, and for a good portion of its running time, Moon casts a spell in spite of its self-consciousness.
This is a deep and inventive exploration into the human psyche, made believable thanks to a wonderful performance from Rockwell.
An eerie, disturbing and moving film, but not without occasional bursts of humour, Moon is a refreshing antidote to the dumb action-orientated futuristic fodder has dominated cinemas in recent years.
Director Duncan Jones also taps into the visual style of Silent Running, which was directed by special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull. Taking his cue from Trumbull, Jones creates a vivid but far from perfect futuristic world.
Moon is first-rate science fiction, tackling such issues as identity, individuality and the effects of isolation on the psyche and the soul.
Moon is, quite simply, an astonishingly good debut, supremely confident and assured.
Clearly inspired by the great science fiction films of the last century, Moon still manages to be awe-inspiring and strikingly original in its own right.
Evocative, riveting, and ultimately contemporary in a roundabout way, Moon is a superb mood piece, sublimely cradled by Jones, filtered through tireless work from star Sam Rockwell.
Movies as daring as Moon should be applauded before all little films are replaced by safer, hipper models of themselves.
Latest News for Moon
December 07, 2009:
Awards Tour: Fish Tank, Moon Win British Independent Film Awards ![]()
Duncan Jones took home the Best Debut Director award and his film was named Best British Independent Film at the British Independent Film Awards in London last night. Fish Tank... More...
December 04, 2009:
Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
Five or six years ago, the Sundance Film Festival was more famous for showing dozens of worthy, politically correct movies that instantly disappeared than the odd breakout hits... More...
November 27, 2009:
Duncan Jones Reteams With Kevin Spacey
'Moon' director Duncan Jones and the movie's computer voice, Kevin Spacey, have reteamed for a couple of advertisements currently airing on British TV. The commercials, embedded... More...
October 08, 2009:
Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
Space. Once film's final frontier, over the years sci-fi has sometimes been the domain of cliche and inferior riffs on past glories. All the more surprising, then, to discover a... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 90% 90% | The White Ribbon | 12/30 |
| 100% 100% | Daybreakers | 1/8 |
| | Leap Year | 1/8 |
| 83% 83% | Youth in Revolt | 1/8 |
| | The Book of Eli | 1/15 |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Fresh Links
Featured

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.

Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



