Moon
(2009/Sony DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
Of the
surprisingly good number of hard Science Fiction films of late (District 9, Pandorum, even Surrogates),
Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009) is as
impressive as any of them. A serene space
tale of fusion materials mined on the moon that helps to save the earth
somewhat and the engineer who is running the moonbase by himself with the help
of a computer. Sam Bell (a fine
performance by Sam Rockwell, so good recently in Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon among other films) is
running the base and has help from talking computer GERTY (voiced nicely by
Kevin Spacey). Beating boredom is half
the battle, but one day, his wrecks his moon buggy behind a mining machine and
awakes not well. Then he starts to see
things.
Or does
he?
Jones and
Nathan Parker wrote an ace of a screenplay and one of the most interesting of
the year. The performances by the leads
and other cast are very convincing and fit well into the world created, one
that was made on a shockingly low budget, especially by today’s standards. This includes a remarkable mix of outstanding
model work that is digitally enhanced and looks far superior to far more
expensive and tired CG-only films of the last 20 years. Though 2001:
A Space Odyssey is the film that looms largely, other classics that
followed like Silent Running, Outland, Blade Runner and even underrated work on British TV classics like U.F.O. and Space:1999 (first season only) mark the great lineage this instant
minor classic follows.
The
makers understand the genre and serious filmmaking. That makes this a must-see film for anyone
serious about motion pictures.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image looks very good for this format, if not
up to how good the 35mm prints (shot in Super 35mm by Director of Photography
Gary Shaw) really looked, this could not look better here. Color is correct, it is clean and consistent
and bores well for how good the Blu-ray must look. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also as good as
that old format can offer with good surrounds, clear dialogue, sound design and
fine score by Clint Mansell (The
Wrestler). Bet this sounds good
lossless.
Extras
include trailers for this and other Sony releases, two Q&A sessions with
Jones and company at different events, a making of featurette, Creating The Visual Effects featurette,
Jones’ short film Whistle (2002) and
two audio commentary tracks with Jones.
On one, he is joined by Producer Stuart Fenegan, the other by crew
including Director of Photography Shaw, Concept Designer Gavin Rothery and
Production Designer Tony Noble.
- Nicholas Sheffo
