Review: 'Moon'

An astronaut winds up his three-year contract on the moon only to face creepy existential twists including meeting a younger, angrier version of himself.

from the June 12, 2009 edition

There are those who think "2001" is the greatest movie ever made, and then there are those of us who think it's the greatest boring movie ever made. Now there's "Moon," heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's opus, starring Sam Rockwell as an astronaut wrapping a three-year solo mission on the moon. It just may be the most boring movie ever made – period.

I'm not the biggest fan of Rockwell to begin with – he always seems to be acting as if in front of the mirror, watching himself come apart. So it's not good news that in "Moon" we are treated to not one but two Sam Rockwells. You see, he also plays the astronaut's doppelgänger, or something. The only other character in the film is the HAL-like computer Gerty, the lunar base's robot. Gerty, appropriately enough, is voiced by Kevin Spacey at his most creepy-mellifluous. The film's director is Duncan Jones, who also happens to be David Bowie's son. Bowie, you may recall, once starred in a film called "The Man Who Fell to Earth." "Moon" should have been called "The Movie That Fell to Earth With a Thud." Grade: D- (Rated R for language.)