I’ve always liked Sam Rockwell, he’s sort of like a younger Gary Oldman. He’s been in his fair share of films, both in starring and obscure supporting roles (he’s credited as the “head thug” in the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adaptation). He's been around for a surprisingly long time and has been in some damn good movies.
Like Oldman, Rockwell possesses the uncanny ability to convincingly portray everything from the quirkiest sociopath to sombre and complex characters.
This is important because director Duncan Jones’s 2009 film Moon is entirely contingent on Rockwell’s thespian range. It’s a rare breed of actor that can pull off a movie which requires him to be onscreen for about ninety percent of the runtime and not overstay his welcome.
Moon takes place in an unspecified year in which Earth has long been depleted of its natural resources. Corporate giant Lunar Industries provides the planet with much needed energy by extracting helium-3 from lunar soil. The equipment is largely automated, but the company contracts a lone employee to stay on the moon station to do repairs and deal with any unforeseen variables.
Because much of the work is done without his interference, Sam Bell (why did they even bother changing the last name?) has one thing in abundance: time. He anxiously awaits the end of his three year contract, made all the more difficult by technical complications making direct contact with home impossible. He left a wife and baby daughter back on Earth and is desperate to get back to them; it is unclear how long it’s been since he’s been able to talk to them in real time.
He works out, masters table tennis, carves model miniatures, and talks to both himself and his AI helper, GERTY (think 2001’s HAL with Kevin Spacey’s voice and a smiley face instead of a panoptic red eye). The comparison to Stanley Kubrick's space opus are inevitable, but don't assume that you know what the dynamic is here between Sam and GERTY.
I’m purposely leaving more comprehensive plot details out because events which dramatically change the course of the story begin to occur relatively early on. Moon is intelligent, engrossing, and serves as a reminder that an interesting narrative should always take precedence over elaborate special effects.
Admittedly, when I first heard of the concept of this movie I cringed with unpleasant thoughts of a dishevelled and unkempt Tom Hanks screaming at a volleyball. Moon, thankfully, fares far better than similarly one-man movies. Rockwell is in full effect here: he’ll make you laugh, make you uncomfortable, and, most importantly, will make you sympathize. As a work of science fiction Moon certainly ranks among the best of recent years. If you’re already a fan of Rockwell this movie will remind you of the reasons why. If not, then his work in Moon is the kind of performance that could easily sway you.
