Moon

Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an astronaut/miner coming to the end of a three-year contract on the moon in this Sci-fi thriller. Actually Rockwell, plays a dual role in this movie--Sam Bell and...Sam Bell. After he is injured, Sam goes back to the scene of the accident and finds another Sam still trapped in the crashed vehicle.

It's really not much of a spoiler to reveal that since the fact is revealed early on in the film. The rest of the movie follows how the two Sams deal with each other--Sam the first being the more evolved version and Sam the second being the more hot-headed one.

It's an interesting to witness how Rockwell manages to create two very different personas who are initially at odds with each other but eventually come to bond.

Kevin Spacey voices GERTY the computer. Although Spacey has that Quaalude calmness to his voice, GERTY is more WALL*E than HAL. At one point when Sam the first confronts GERTY with the question, "Am I a clone?" the ever-diplomatic GERTY tries to distract with, "Do you want something to eat?"

While Rockwell does a fantastic job of handling the portrayals of the two Sams and Duncan Jones manages to create the stark loneliness of life on the dark side of the moon. But while it was an interesting journey, the movie was missing something. Unfortunately along with the desolate environment, there was an overwhelming sense of detachment. Without a connection to the characters and their story I was left being intrigued by the story but not involved in it.

Although Moon raises some provocative issues such as what it means to be human, whether or not we are merely or more than our memories, corporate ethics, etc., the film never fully explores these themes leaving the viewer to wonder what exactly they just watched--and why...

Still, if you're a fan of Sam Rockwell (and like most of his performances he does manage to throw in a bit of nudity...), the film is a great showcase for his amazing talent.