Soon Sam will be led into a deeper mystery about his role as a Lunar Industries employee. His search for the truth becomes a race against the clock, as a repair team draws closer to the base, ostensibly to fix the rover, although Sam’s growing questions about his employer make him skeptical of the team’s stated intentions.

Seeking answers to his urgent questions, Sam turns to Gerty, whose motto, “Helping you is what I do,” begins to sound questionable to Sam. When Gerty informs Sam that he’s under orders to keep him from returning to the rover, where Sam suspects he’ll find answers to his questions about what happened to him, Sam takes matters into his own hands.

The presence of a robot companion of sorts for Sam has led to comparisons between Moon and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, although Moon, directed by first-time feature filmmaker Duncan Jones, whose prior experience has been in the realm of commercials and music videos (Jones is the son of rock star David Bowie). The scale of Moon doesn’t match the scale of 2001, but in its own, more personal way, Moon explores questions of individual identity and purpose—and possibly, faith. Sam has spent years building a model of a church and a Salvation Army building. His daughter is named Eve. He speaks of a ping-pong game as being very “zen,” and of second chances in personal relationships.

Is he a theist? A mystic? Religion is never far from the center of the action in Moon, although that action is contemplative and ideas-based, not built around space battles, aliens or anything else modern audiences might associate with science-fiction films set in outer space. Moon is more interested in where our ideas originate, and just how much control we have over our destinies and past memories. The answers are not comfortable, although the film’s embrace of personhood in the face of technological upheaval is a hopeful note amid the distressing realities Sam comes to face as the story unfolds.

Nevertheless, these themes are not well worked out. Moon suggests them but then settles for a rather hackneyed climax, driven by loud, pulsating music and a beat-the-clock, edge-of-your-seat tension that comes out of nowhere and which represents a break from the careful, studied tone of everything that comes before the finale. The result is that the film’s climax feels rushed, and less than satisfying. Here’s hoping that time, and a few repeat viewings, will uncover further clues to the meaning of Moon and the intentions of its filmmakers, but viewers let down by the film may be unwilling to give it another chance.

Questions? Comments? Contact the writer at crosswalkchristian@verizon.net.

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Lord’s name taken in vain; several instances of foul language, including the “f” word.
• Smoking/Drinking:  A character says, “I don’t know what you’re smoking.’”
• Sex/Nudity:  Backside male nudity; Sam tells Gerty he needs “to get laid"; Sam dreams of making love to his wife; they take each other’s tops off; a father says his daughter “might be the milkman’s.”
• Violence/Crime:  A vehicle accident puts Sam in the infirmary; two men fight, causing one man’s face to bleed; vomiting; a man’s tooth comes out as his health deteriorates; blood comes from a man’s nose.
• Marriage:  Sam’s wife back on earth talks of needing time apart.
• Religion:  God is not mentioned, but Sam’s daughter is named Eve and he builds models of churches. He also refers to the game of ping-pong as being “zen.”