A movie review: By Lee Sonogan
(2009) 1h37min/Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi
One of those movies done well with mostly one main character in all scenes. This movie is about an astronaut Sam Bell who has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year run on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY. They send back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet’s power problems. Made on a 5 million dollar budget.This movie made 9.8 million at the box office. Directed by Duncan Jones, this movie has left an impact on the world as a cult hit.
The two biggest actors in this film are Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. Kevin Spacey read the script and agreed to voice Gerty the AI robot in the film. but only when the film was finished and if he liked it. Having loved it, he recorded his lines in half a day. The film was written for Sam Rockwell, who Duncan Jones wanted to cast in a different film, but Jones and Rockwell could never come to an agreement on which part he should play. Because he wanted to work with Rockwell so much, he created this film for him.
This movie was shot in 33 days. The outdoor moon scenes were shot using practical effects and small models. The shooting took place over 8 days according to Cinefex magazine July 2009. The film takes place in 2035 and appeared on Entertainment Weekly’s list of The 50 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen in the Jul 16, 2012 issue.
The film makes several references to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. GERTY looks and sounds similar to HAL 9000. They also have a similar dot: HAL’s is red and GERTY’s is blue. This film choreographs scenes in space to classical music, just as Stanley Kubrick did.
Overall, you will be impressed with this movie. Paying homage to old school sci-fi movies, there are many twists and turns. Thirty minutes in the movie starts to get very interesting and intense. This point in the movie makes you question everything that has happened so far. Music in the film makes all sciences that bit better. A somewhat spoiler alert, there’s a happy ending to the last part of this movie. I recommend this movie to anyone with an interest in space and solo character movies.
7.8/10
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