Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has been on the lonely mission for nearly three years. Each astronaut signs up for three-year stints where the only communication they have is with Earth via a radio, and Gerty, a robot/computer on the station.
Sam is almost finished with his three years and looks forward to returning to Earth and his Wife and three-year-old daughter. The moon base has been his home for three years and he cannot wait to get back to his normal life on earth.
The question is does Sam really know what his normal life is?
Cloning Humans
When his health takes a turn for the worse, he winds up in an accident while driving a lunar rover. Sam wakes up in the health clinic and discovers a younger version of himself standing over him. This other version claims to be there for the same three year contract starting when Sam first began. Things don’t add up.
A support crew is on its way to the station, and Sam and his clone decide to find out what is going on. What they soon discover is shocking.
Helium-3 Could Solve the Energy Problem
The film is a work of fiction, but there are several real-life topics involved. The Helium-3 which is being mined in the movie is a non-radioactive isotope of Helium. According to the filmmakers, He-3 is an essential ingredient for nuclear fusion. Although fusion has not yet been successful here, when mankind does learn how to create nuclear fusion, the planet will have a new supply of clean energy.
“I want people to leave the theatre tapping away on their iPhones, looking up Helium-3 as a potential fuel for fusion power generation, and discussing the prospects of Lunar mining.” says director Duncan Jones. Perhaps it will inspire someone to take up science and ultimately discover the answer to the planet’s energy problem.
He-3 occurs rarely on the Earth, yet it is more abundant on the moon, making the premise of this story very likely. While this part of the story is plausible, the human aspect takes a bit more imagination.
The filmmakers tried to make the moon base as realistic as they could. According to Duncan Jones, “I want sci-fi geeks to be jumping around excitedly, chattering about how cool we made the rovers harvesters, and base.”
Moon is a slow-moving film with many twists and turns. While it is all Sam Rockwell (he plays several parts), Kevin Spacey supplies the voice of Gerty.
- The film runs 97 minutes.
- Rated R
Quote Source: Movie Press Production Notes
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