Returning to [the] Moon (2009)

A retrospective review of Duncan Jones’ Science Fiction feature Moon

Moon Poster

Duncan Jones’ feature debut & the opening chapter in a series of films concerns the story of Sam Bell (or Sam Bell’s) and his time as a contracted worker on Lunar Industries’ Moon Base. As his contract nears its end and in the wake of a few awakenings/a number of events, things aren’t all they seem.

Still an incredibly underrated film, Moon is one of the more interesting Science Fiction films of the past decade or two and is a title I’ve revisited recently. With fears of the film not having as much charm upon the rewatch, I was to an extent slightly vindicated, there’s been research into how spoilers affect consumption of a title but Moon is in its own league, when you return to the piece that novelty of the twist (Full Spoilers ahead by the way) is lost. I will say however, there is an added sense of dramatic irony and that whole concept puts an entirely new spin onto the proceedings. Much like Romeo and Juliet, you know what’s to come given it’s lasting legacy and the acknowledgement of the characters’ fate yet the manner in how they get to that destination is where the enjoyment comes from as cliche as that sounds. The ironic viewing is my starting point and I can’t emphasise enough how vastly different it is when watching in this mindset, there are a few seeds seen throughout, mostly the repeated use of Chesney Hawke’s ‘The One and Only’ which is one of a number of things that taps into a really dark sense of humour which runs as an undercurrent throughout the film. With that not so subtle, ironic soundtrack appearance, it was comedic and a little bleak, marking the start of watching with almost fresh eyes - with almost every element of form being enhanced. I remember the sense of being lost during the first consumption of the title and it really adds to that ‘joyful conspiracy’ and in this particular case I found myself really appreciating the foreshadowing and its masterful use, frequent jarring cuts and nods to a different timeline, a look to Earth and this wider civilisation it crafts a magnificently deep world with implications of major corruption, seedy business practices and a whole world of wrongdoing and inequality. Marked from the opening advert for Lunar Industries to the whole interrupting of love calls and so on, I found myself more compelled and interested by the extra-diegetic goings on than the narrative which wasn’t the case originally.

Narratively, I found, like pretty much everything, that I enjoyed it more so, the mystery is a little dialled down and that’s undeniable but one can certainly enjoy the pretty much perfect structure and it was relayed exceptionally well too. Coming in pretty short when runtime is regarded, it knows what to do and when to do it - with a majority of the film dedicated to solving the mystery of Lunar Industries and the ethics of cloning, it’s utterly compelling. I’ll cover performance under this umbrella as they are entwined and inseparable, but for now focus largely on the narrative. There’s been a few films and texts in recent times that adopt this ‘Lost in Space’ approach see both versions of The Martian in either book or film, it’s clearly a structure that’s a hit amongst consumers and allows for a particular story, carried by a star, which is certainly the case here. I said I’d cover both performance and narrative at once and Sam Rockwell is impeccable in this, someone still not quite regarded as the star he evidently is, the manner in which he plays these iterations of Sam is really something. At times aided by costume as the first clone becomes ever more weary, Sam II opts to be more athletic, Rockwell has the stage if you will and boy does he eat it up. The two clones are so diametrically opposed it is baffling how one man manages to capture them with such an ease that feels literally alive. The supporting cast are almost irrelevant as a result of Rockwell’s work, that said though, they do chip in with some quality. Kevin Spacey’s GERTY is a really chilling piece of voice acting but I’ll do my best to swerve away from that criminal, Scodelario in her handful of scenes lumped more misery and despair onto the clones and their plight on the far side of the moon and the same can be said for Dominique McElligott, whilst they literally aren’t given any real screen time, it all serves in pulling towards this atmosphere and alludes to many a layer of narrative complications which aren’t ever really delved all that deep into but suggest a more underhanded wider universe, something that has been somewhat expanded upon by Jones in his follow up Mute, and is apparently going to be further covered in ‘Madi: Once Upon a Time in the Future’. This is the most remarkable thing about the film in any capacity, with Matt Berry and Benedict Wong playing the corporate bastards, their business wrongdoings are the trigger for this whole narrative and it’s nice to see there be some inference to justice over the credits.

The narrative is really exceptional and deserves its own full breakdown so for now I’ll move onto the more ‘superficial’. before tackling themes and so on, the visuals need appreciating. For a film with a budget of only 5 million USD, Moon boasts not only an impressive cast but some really fine visual effects. Whether it’s the physical shell of GERTY, the CG rendered spacecraft, Earth or whatever it might well be, everything is done to such a high standard its one of those where you forget about the effects and are totally immersed, no questions asked. It’s remarkable how this new wave of cutting edge science fiction from Blomkamp to Jones really made use of high end effects that would put Hollywood to shame and it only serves as enrichment to the diegesis and a near flex from these more ‘indie’ filmmakers in their maiden/early outings in the filmmaking world.

Respect, references, homage, however you frame it and with many a different face, films have always been a vehicle for the makers to make nods towards X number of inspirations and Moon is no different. The clean, almost sterile look to the base and a number of shots look as if they were lifted 1:1 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, GERTY is this films HAL, the overly clunky suits are reminiscent of the films iconography, the jamming towers resemble the glyphs seen frequently in Kubrick’s masterpiece and whilst they are still levels apart, it was nice to see how Moon would borrow from its biggest inspiration with its own personal flair, never losing itself. It’s clear that cinematic classic was the biggest inspiration on the film by far but there are a few more superficial references, namely to Top Gun when Sam, the second clone, dons a grey jumpsuit and aviator sunglasses. I’m sure more well versed cinephiles than myself will be able to pick up on more references than I listed but they were certainly more noticeable this time round, though I was perhaps more consciously looking for them.

Now the thematic content of the film is most impressive. Sure the surface level formulaic elements are equally entertaining If not more so as they are far more clearer to consume, but the whole ethical nature of cloning and its exploration of the ‘Teletransportation Paradox’ offers such a vivid world and infers a bigger civilisation across the solar system, as expanded upon in the end credits as well as Mute and the rumoured third film due some time in 2020. The teletransportation paradox can be linked, if not boiled down to the works of Descartes and whether thought equates to life or if it is the physical being/vessel. Now Descartes work is one of, if not the cornerstone of Western philosophy and his suggesting that even doubting ones existence equals proof of life, is almost at odds with the previously mentioned paradox as this ‘anomaly’ suggests that identity is irrelevant and is bested By connectedness and mental continuity. It’s a confusing one, Moon doesn’t really explore the whole teletransportation paradox in a ‘by the book’ sense - ultimately, despite them being all the same physically and the whole hive of clones in stasis waiting for use, the ones we see on screen are in fact actual individuals. First the original Sam Bell on Earth, he presumably had some involvement in offering up his likeness for Lunar Industries and that demonstrates his agency, furthermore, he’s likely a mix of the personalities of the clones, active, handyman, father, widower etc. So he’s the original, and going off what’s seen from the two clones, they lack bits and pieces of what one would imagine belong to the original but have the memories, however they are revealed to be edited and synthetic. That reveal raises a few questions and a large stumbling block to the whole philosophy, it contradicts the original works in more ways than one and comes from a personal standpoint that makes for genuinely compelling and interesting narrative but also has a clearer stance. By giving the clones an identity the ‘are these human?’ Question is far more intriguing. I‘ve not much memory of Mute and can’t remember much of the thematic content but Moon’s philosophy and left wing politics that are highly critical of hyper-capitalism, there’s a reason the film will be remembered for generations.

So finally I want to talk a little on the global new wave of science fiction. It’s not a stretch by any means to say the genre had a period of lulling quality, or a hiatus of any real hits in the late 2000s managed to really bring in a new lease of life and ushered in this mini ‘golden period’. Jones, despite Mute not being the same level of film as it’s predecessor, is one of a trilogy of serviceable genre films alongside his Source Code. The quasi leader of this movement, South Africa’s Neil Blomkamp. All over the world, tackling various issues, themes and structures, science fictions new age is incredibly rich and bd in tackling what it does. With many a classic with both cult and mainstream success, this type of film is incredibly intriguing and has some fine examples of innovation, visual style and narrative substance.

In all, Moon is a bit of a cult classic (and deservedly so) that I couldn’t recommend highly enough to those who’ve not seen it.