Spending Some Time on the Dark Side of the Moon

Poor Sam Bell. He has a job that, to many of us, would be a dream job. He works on the far side of the moon. The earth has discovered that the moon contains a huge supply of an energy source known as Helium 3. The harvesting system is almost entirely self-servicing. Sam just has to man the space station and send the canisters of Helium 3 back to earth from time to time.

The harvesters are giant machines that chew up the surface of the moon, spewing tons of moon rock, while the Helium 3 collects in canisters. When the canisters are full, Sam treks out there in a moon vehicle, and collects them and then sends them home in a little capsule.

Sam has a three year contract. He is now within two weeks of completing that contract. He wants to get home. There is no direct link between the station and earth. He wants to see his wife, Tess, and his little girl. They have had trouble in the past, but his time away has been good for him and for the marriage.

Then, one day, while traveling out to one of the harvesters, Sam crashes. He seems to awaken in the infirmary. He remembers nothing about the crash. Yet, he wonders why his computer, GERTY, won't let him outside. When he finally does get out, and checks the crashed vehicle, he finds something very interesting.

To tell you anymore of the plot of the remarkable movie "Moon" would be to give away too much. This is a movie that absolutely requires the people watching the movie to know virtually nothing about it. In a way, it is a thriller. In another way, it is a remarkable character study of a many doomed to be isolated from everything he knows and loves for a very long period of time.

The entire movie is hinged on the performance by actor Sam Rockwell. You may remember him as Chuck Berry in the movie that hypothesized that the game show host was also a CIA assassin. He pops up from time to time, does a remarkable job, even in a bad movie like "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and then quietly vanished again. This time he is in every single scene of the movie, because the movie is about his character, and nothing else.

His performance is something to behold. It is powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, funny, interesting and, just about every other positive adjective you can throw at it.

Kevin Spacey's voice makes an appearance as the voice of the computer GERTY. There is not much that can be said here except that it is nice to have a computer that is not out to do harm to the human, but very much programmed to keep him safe.

"Moon" was released quietly last year. It garnered critical praise and was seen by a few people. It then quietly vanished from theaters. However, now it is available on DVD and OnDemand, and it definitely is a movie that should find life there. It deserves it.

There are no laser blasts. There are no huge explosions. There is no mindless action. Nothing transforms into a car here. This is working class sci-fi where even the space suits look dirty from work and use.

At the center of it all is the performance by Rockwell. We believe he is Sam. We feel his pain. We root for him and are puzzled with him. We reach conclusions and discover reasons with him.

"Moon" is not a special effects spectacular. However, it is well written, well acted and well worth seeing. "Moon" is one of the best movies of 2009.