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Go see "Moon"!

I don't see any huge plot holes. For the twist to make sense, you have to make certain assumptions that couldn't be made in the present. But the movie takes place in the future, and who knows how far forward. So I don't see any problems.
 
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At the very least, it feels like one movie - not like a '2001' hommage with 'Event Horizon' stuck on it.

And I agree with Harvey concerning the plot holes (i.e. I don't see any huge ones either). I really liked the film a lot myself and look forward to seeing it again on DVD. I'm not sure how it will do over time. But I can certainly see it gathering somewhat of a cult following, if you will. I think it's quirky and different enough for that to happen.
 
I don't see any huge plot holes.

The plot holes were discussed at great length in previous threads about the movie. Here's just one of those posts...

Just saw this, and agree the corporation's plan makes no sense.

But other than a handwave about how a corporation is a slave to its shareholders, there's never so much as a hint about why the corporation actually does this. It seems utterly inexplicable to me. They would surely have no trouble recruiting people for the job-- in real life, people work in oil tankers and wells on facilities far less luxurious and are separated from their families for years at a time. If you factor in how nice the accommodations are, that they're capable of real time video communication with Earth (and this presumably would mean TV as well), the coolness factor in being able to work on the moon, and the high number of people who would give just about anything to go into space, they would have no trouble recruiting good people at a reasonable salary. Does Sam Bell have some skill that's absolutely vital and nobody else has? If so, the movie didn't deign to tell us what it is. How can this enterprise-- which, if the end is to be believed, carries high risk of criminal and civil liability and requires the silence of at least half a dozen people-- possibly be worth it? I wanted to enjoy the movie, but I was waiting for answers that never came. The free labor they get is surely not worth the number of man-hours needed to create and sustain the deception, plus the costs of the cloning et. al. itself, plus the risk of getting caught. The 'visions' were also unexplained and, I guess, just meant to be attributed to general clone breakdown.

EDIT: And I disagree that they get away with it because they're on the far side of the moon. Are you really suggesting the media would have zero interest in the one man who was a linchpin in solving one of our most intractable social problems? They wouldn't notice that the original Sam came back, but nobody else ever did? Nobody would find it at all odd that the station was completely incommunicado? The more I think about this, the less sense it makes.
 
Well...

The Corporation is doing this to save money in the long run, presumably. That means you have to accept that you can clone adult males with fully formed memories en masse for cheaper than it costs to ship a fully trained crew, which would also incur extra facility costs in order to accomodate so many extra people. That requires technology that doesn't exist, but as I said, this is in the future. The profit margin doesn't seem to be that wide, since damage to one lunar vehicle elicits pissed off corporate suits seen talking to GERTY. But corporations are about the bottom line, however minute the savings.

Discussions of civil and criminal liability make sense in the present, but not in the corportized world the film depicts (and that Duncan Jones explains will be fodder for a sequel). Also, as an adult clone and not a born human being, does Sam Bell possess any legal rights? Certainly the Corporation would argue no.

You wonder how the Corporation can get away with this. Corporations get away with much, much worse in the so-called third world everyday in the present. It requires no suspension of disbelief to believe that a corporation could accomplish the same on the far side of the moon, which is unreachable for nearly all, and impossible to see since it never faces the Earth.

That the corporate controlled media has no interest in Sam Bell is no surprise. The media had no interest in the Apollo missions after we landed on the moon, and that level of disinterest took a matter of months This takes place 15 years after the initial missions.

Finally, the visions need no explaining. Sam Bell was suffering from a physical and mental breakdown that seemed to afflict every clone after three years. That he was hallucinating fits.

But even if you dismiss all that, the film still had a wonderful performance by Sam Rockwell, and thought out, believable production design. That production design alone sets it apart from nearly all filmed science fiction and makes it worthy of our attention.
 
Yeah, for someone to say Moon wasn't deserving to be watched on the big screen ... Well, thankfully that's subjective. The attention to detail for the production design and the overall aesethetic of the movie was nearly worth the price of admission alone. It reminded me of such classic sci-fi films as 2001 or Outland. Very stylish and very well done. The cinematography, too... Gorgeous. The moment where Sam hallucinates and sees a body amongst the harvester... Stunning.
 
Well...

You wonder how the Corporation can get away with this. Corporations get away with much, much worse in the so-called third world everyday in the present. It requires no suspension of disbelief to believe that a corporation could accomplish the same on the far side of the moon, which is unreachable for nearly all, and impossible to see since it never faces the Earth.

As I said in the earlier thread,
we're talking about a corporation creating people for the sole purpose of cheap labor, implanting those people with false memories, cutting them off from the rest of humanity, making them live in forced isolation for years, allowing them to believe they have a nice full life and a family waiting for them back on earth, allowing them to die a slow, lonely death, and then disintegrating their remains and acting like they never existed. I'm curious as to what you think corporations are doing in the third world these days that is "much, much worse" than that.


It reminded me of such classic sci-fi films as 2001 or Outland.

Sorry, but comparing this movie to 2001 is way overselling it. Outland, I can see, especially since the whole "constant countdown clock to bad guys showing up" was taken directly from Outland. But Outland isn't exactly a classic, is it?
 
How about working people to death as indentured servants in sweat shops? 16 hour work days? Pennies per hour? Fees for using company housing and other services that guarentee they'll never get out? And why not--they get away with it.
 
Jesus, people, calm down. It's a good movie, but it's not a great one. As discussed in other topics on this board, there are fundamental flaws in the premise and huge plot holes which, in my opinion, keep this one from attaining greatness. I really don't think anyone will be talking about Moon a year from now. I liked the movie, but it's not worth driving for hours to see it. Just wait for the DVD. It's not like it has huge sweeping visuals that demand to be seen on a big screen.


Please don't take this as a personal attack...and I'm not claiming "Moon" to be the next 2001, Blade Runner, etc.

However...

Moon is worth seeing because it takes chances. It makes you think. There are no set shots with mind-blowing effects. It isn't just the plot that makes it worth seeing, it's the themes, the motifs.

By this reasoning we should go see GI Joe, Transformers, and 2012 simply because they have big effects shots.

Because of the very nature of the film it should absolutely be seen in the theater. Drive thirty miles to see it . At least if you go see it and hate it, you'll have, at the very least, an opportunity to consider why. If you don't like GI Joe, it's simply because it's a throwaway movie. Wait for the DVD? Because there's nothing that "demands" to be seen on the big screen?

And one last thing, when Sam is weeping in his Rover, wanting to go home, staring at Earth, so huge yet so untouchable, that was worth more than anything Bay or Sommers will bring you. A truly touching moment.
 
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