Spoiler-free review of the movie "Moon"

Through Ain’t It Cool News, I was lucky enough to be chosen for an invite-only viewing of the science fiction film Moon, written and directed by Duncan Jones. And in case you’re interested, he’s David Bowie’s son. Whether or not that makes any difference is up to you, but even if he wasn’t, he still told one hell of a story. Critics are comparing this movie to the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and it’s not a bad comparison. This movie has that tone, presence, and scope of Kubrick’s movie and at the same time, it’s its own story. It’s its own monolith (no pun intended).

The story follows one Sam Well, played by Sam Rockwell, who is stationed on the far side of the moon harvesting a remarkable, renewable energy known as H3. His one companion is an intelligent robot named GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey. You can compare Sam and GERTY to Dave Bowman and HAL9000, but you can’t compare them too far, as Sam and GERTY are completely different. If anything, Sam reminded me of Joel Robinson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and GERTY reminded me of…well, I guess the computer voice that announced commercial sign-off.

I really don’t want to spoil the movie, so I have to choose my descriptions carefully. The best I can do is run with the 2001: A Space Odyssey comparison.

Now, 2001… was a grandiose movie. It’s what good sci-fi is meant to be, in my humble opinion. 2001… was a movie that puts mankind under a microscope and, through Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea), we are exploring the infinite possibilities of existence. We are coming into contact with alien life. We are observing alternate planes of reality as if they were passing scenery.

Science fiction actually has a lot in common with horror: they both play with the unknown. In horror, we don’t know what lurks in the dark, under the bed, behind that door, or anything about the supernatural. It works because the protagonist’s life is in jeopardy, and the reason and/or cause is unclear. That’s scary.

And, actually, science fiction can be scary, too, but then the story in question is considered a cross-over (Cronenberg’s The Fly is one example). But, fundamentally, science fiction is about exploring the unknown. It's about possibility and the excitement of finding out. Maybe the aliens from other worlds are hostile and maybe they’re benevolent. But we’re on unfamiliar ground with them and it’s both scary and exhilarating.. We don’t know what happens when a machine becomes sophisticated enough to take on its own consciousness. We don’t know what planets and realities exist beyond our own and the thought of seeing them is a little nerve-wracking. And it's interesting to conceive that in the future, there will be no war and we'll live in a perfect society, because we'd like to see what happens next. And something would happen.

Good science fiction, in this light, is sort of like watching a magic trick and wondering in awe as to how it works. Or maybe a mystery that one simply stumbles upon and the solution is impractical and shocking.

I’m pretty sure Duncan Jones understands this. Or something like it, otherwise he wouldn’t have made the movie he did. Moon is a science fiction story that is devoid of obligatory, blockbuster-inspired action. It is devoid of horrible monstrous aliens bent on eating, hunting, or harvesting humans for wombs to hatch eggs. And, I’m pleased to say, it is devoid of the obligatory romantic conquest between a protagonist and some beautiful love interest. Of that last point, I mean to say it doesn’t have a fake, cheesy building romance where the girl hates the guy or they don’t like each other and, through the series of extraordinary events, they learn to love each other.

Unfortunately, because I don’t want to spoil anything, I can’t say what it does have. I’ve been told if you see the trailer first, even that will affect your viewing experience. In other words, it’s best to know absolutely nothing and be surprised by every film frame. Actually, that’s an inviting concept. I wonder how many movies we hate because we were exposed to trailers, commercials, and reviews before seeing them.

In short, go see Moon. It’s a breath of fresh air in a film climate severely lacking in original and compelling stories.