The Adventures of Tobasco da Gama

The trailers for Moon are pretty clearly advertising a movie with a twist. This is worth talking about, because it explains why I enjoyed it so much.

There are two ways you can do a twist. First, there’s the Planet of the Apes/M. Night Shyamalan way, where the twist comes at the end. The action proceeds much like a standard film. There will be hints that something is weird, perhaps, but for the most part the story’s structure resembles any other mystery story. Then, at the end, either as the denouement itself or as an epilogue, the twist is revealed and all is made clear. Either way, the twist changes what we saw before but ultimately ends the story; if done right, all the loose ends are tied.

That type of twist has been the most popular of late, to the point where people seem to expect it even in works that clearly don’t intend to operate that way. I think this is why a lot of people gave up on Lost, because they expected to have a sudden reveal that explains everything and wraps a bow on the story. The show isn’t telling that kind of story, but that’s a rant for another day.

Moon isn’t telling that kind of story, either, and that’s what made it such a great film. Moon tips its hand early, which if you’re expecting a Shyamalan twist will make you say, “Is that it?” Well, no, that’s not it. Because just as soon as you, clever audience member, work out what’s going on, the movie says, “Good for you, clever, audience member! You figured it out. But stay seated, because we’re not done.”

And that, to me, is the essence of good science fiction. Good sci fi takes the world as you know it, twists it, and then asks itself, “What next?” Moon is good sci fi because it doesn’t dwell on the twist and instead explores the “What next?” The result is a very compelling film, an excellent character study concerning questions of identity that explores an interesting question without ever trying to provide something as trivial as an answer.

So, that said, what about the details? Obviously, being something of a psychological study, the film rests on Sam Rockwell’s performance, but in my opinion he completely nailed it. The movie asked a lot of him, and he delivered it. His Sam Bell character remains consistent despite the variations he needs to go through. GERTY, the mining station’s AI played by Kevin Spacey, manages to display more range than you’d expect from an AI, especially in a film that invites comparisons to 2001 as Moon does, perhaps because it invites that comparison. GERTY remains something of an enigma throughout, obsessed with following his programming yet never fitting into any of the stock movie AI molds. Visually, it’s incredible. Kudos to the science advisor, because the external shots are not only stunning but display accurate physics. The shots of the harvesters spraying rock behind them, in particular, really convey a feeling of being in space, with the debris floating away in the gentle, parabolic arcs of low gravity vacuum that look subtly but distinctly different to what we’re used to on earth. (The interiors obviously break the low gravity rules, but there’s not really a way to avoid that on the budget they had.) Finally, the score was incredible. It’s persistent, but always in the background and appropriately atmospheric. It does a fabulous job of setting the tone for the film.

So, yeah, A+. Would watch again.