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In the movie Moon a guy named Sam Bell is at the end of a three year stint of working alone on the moon. He’s ecstatic about finally being able to leave and see his wife and young daughter but as his release date approaches he begins to have crippling headaches and some really creepy hallucinations.
He figures he can suffer through the pain and bizarre visions…but things come to a head when he finds an unconscious man in a crashed lunar vehicle.
The man looks exactly like Sam and when brought back to the station a computer confirms that this other man is indeed Sam Bell…
GERTY
Wtf right? Like Kinamand, this was a movie that I came across while browsing through Netflix instant streaming and probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I decided to give Moon a try because I’m into space stuff and movies that don’t follow the same old story lines, both things the trailer for Moon seemed to promise.
But as Jennifer and I sat down to watch this movie I couldn’t help but worry that it would end up being yet another story about a guy in outer space trapped with malicious self-aware technology. And in the beginning of the movie it seemed like things would go that way as Sam interacted with the only other ‘being’ on the station, a machine named GERTY that oversees all of Sam’s efforts and has control over everything at the lunar base.
GERTY communicates in a soothing but somewhat ominous voice and through a basic set of smiley face pictures that are supposed to represent his different emotions. As Sam tries to figure out who or what is behind the insane things that are happening around the station GERTY moves to block his efforts at every turn and tries lull him into a false sense of security. GERTY definitely is the bad guy in all this so…mystery solved right?
Not quite.
Sam
What I like best about this movie is the awesome and engaging story it tells, not only the main plot but each character and element of the setting has its own bit of mystery that keeps you wanting to see more.
I read somewhere that the producers deliberately did it in the style of old sci-fi classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, something which I think could have easily made the it slip into being just another lame rehash of overdone sci-fi plot lines.
But Moon brings new things to the table while still keeping to the feel of classic sci-fi films. It’s a movie that takes you on some good twists and turns while at its core dealing with some very human issues. You end up caring deeply about Sam and how his story ends, or in this case the many endings to his story…
(Seen on Netflix instant streaming but Amazon has the DVD too.)
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I had this movie in my queue for well over a year before finally watching it. I’d often look at it, then skip to something else because like you I had the fear of it being another of the same kind of movie that I’d already seen over and over and over again.
I couldn’t have been more wrong! The movie was very enjoyable, albeit rather confusing at the beginning. It’s not often that movies with new ideas are release, but this one just goes to show that with a little imagination, anything is possible.
Hi Elijah,
Thanks for your comment! I think the growing popularity of services like Netflix will eventually bring about a rise in the number of movies that incorporate new ideas.
People are now able to directly find good movies instead of having to rely on random commercials put out by filmmakers who spent the most money on hype.
…I hope so at least, because I can’t stand movies with crappy or regurgitated story lines lol and it would be nice if they became a minority instead of the bread and butter of the movie industry.