"Moon" - what was all the fuss about?

[melancholymecha]

I just saw it today, I thought it was very good. I cant say I liked it as much as District 9 but Ive only seen it once so far & theres a lot of stuff Im confused about or missed that I would need a second viewing to let sink in.

for example I didnt get how the younger Sam went back to earth. Where did the shuttle or whatever it was come from that he used? also that compartment that the older dying clones got inside, I thought it was actually used to disintegrate them(theyd get in thinking they were going to cryogenic sleep.)

His wife's dead--and of course, she was never really his wife in the first place. The real Sam Bell is still alive.

this confused me too. I thought the wife had remarried before she died. I thought the original Sam died a long time ago.

yeah as you can see Im confused about a lot of plot points that will require me a couple more viewings. But I was still able to enjoy it b/c of Sam Rockwell's performance. He was almost as good as Sharlto Copley in District 9. (Now I want someone to draw a fanart of Wikus & Sam crouched in a corner hugging themselves while sucking their thumbs and rocking back & forth, they were both so woobie-ful!)

 

[Trent Roman]

The younger Sam returned to Earth by hitching a ride on the missile used to send the Helium-3 mined on the moon back to Earth.

The supposed cryogenic chamber was used to disintegrate them. That's not what either Sam got into (younger Sam the missile, older Sam returned to the rover he had crashed).

There's no indication that the original Sam's wife remarried, despite some strain on their relationship caused by the 3-year long mission. Sam's daughter was only fifteen when she was contracted by the older clone, so they've only been at this for twelve years; and you heard the original Sam's voice over the phone during that call. The wife passed away somehow during that interim.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[melancholymecha]

The younger Sam returned to Earth by hitching a ride on the missile used to send the Helium-3 mined on the moon back to Earth.

I see, I had a hard time following the last 20 or so minutes of the movie ...

The supposed cryogenic chamber was used to disintegrate them. That's not what either Sam got into (younger Sam the missile, older Sam returned to the rover he had crashed).

oh ok. actually when the older Sam was inspecting the floor near the chamber I thought he was gonna find a pit filled with ashes from the past clones under the chamber, not the actual clone storage room. And I thought they were gonna find the clones somewhere during the scenes where they where exploring the perimiters off the base.

I wonder if the original Sam knows about the clones?

 

[Kegg]

I wonder if the original Sam knows about the clones?

Excellent question. I doubt it, or if he does, he doesn't know the whole truth (maybe he was sold some cock and bull story about unthinking unfeeling automatons that had to use this DNA sequence.) This is simply on the gut instinct that his clones are nice guys; though I suppose it's entirely possible the real Sam isn't.

Either way, the encounter with the real Sam is something I expected to happen and yet it didn't and I was pretty satisfied by that. Unanswered questions, now there's a throwback.

 

[melancholymecha]

it would be a cool premise for a sequel. Especially if the original Sam doesnt know & then one day this lookalike knocks on his door. Yikes!

 

[Myasishchev]

I wonder if the original Sam knows about the clones?

Yep. I wonder if the original Sam ever went to the moon.

Regarding sequels, I think Duncan Jones is doing an oblique one. I read somewhere it's set in the same universe, and might have a Sam Bell cameo somewhere, but would focus on different characters.

 

[Kegg]

Regarding sequels, I think Duncan Jones is doing an oblique one. I read somewhere it's set in the same universe, and might have a Sam Bell cameo somewhere, but would focus on different characters.

Would that be Mute, his Blade Runner-type movie, or is this something different?

 

[Harvey]

^^
That's the one, although I believe he's doing another movie before he'll get to that one.

 

[Avalon]

GERTY is wonderful. I really liked Jones and Parker's take on its AI--well-spoken but somewhat impassive, sometimes to the point of being kind of stupid, but capable of feeling, compassion and a conscience. The development of GERTY's fledgling morality, and his sacrifice at the end, is as interesting in its own fashion as Sam's interaction with Sam.

My favorite little moment in the movie is when Sam peels that particular Post-It off GERTY's back before he leaves. Such a small thing, but it says so much about both characters...

 

[Deckerd]

it would be a cool premise for a sequel. Especially if the original Sam doesnt know & then one day this lookalike knocks on his door. Yikes!

At the end of the film you hear news reports about the mining firm having to answer for themselves, so the implication is he went back and made a lot of noise.

 

[Starkers]

GERTY is wonderful. I really liked Jones and Parker's take on its AI--well-spoken but somewhat impassive, sometimes to the point of being kind of stupid, but capable of feeling, compassion and a conscience. The development of GERTY's fledgling morality, and his sacrifice at the end, is as interesting in its own fashion as Sam's interaction with Sam.

My favorite little moment in the movie is when Sam peels that particular Post-It off GERTY's back before he leaves. Such a small thing, but it says so much about both characters...

Yeah that is a nice touch.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It didn't matter to me, though. It was told with such grace...

And this is what matters, in the end. It's the specifics of the way a story is told, not the novelty of the story itself, that make a film or book engaging for any length of time.

 

[Canadave]

it would be a cool premise for a sequel. Especially if the original Sam doesnt know & then one day this lookalike knocks on his door. Yikes!

At the end of the film you hear news reports about the mining firm having to answer for themselves, so the implication is he went back and made a lot of noise.

And what sounds like a caller on a radio show saying that "he" is an illegal alien and should be deported, evidently referring to Sam.

Incidentally, Jones is currently working on a movie called Source Code, about a soldier who wakes up in the body of a commuter and has to relive a train bombing over and over until he finds out what caused it. I think Mute will be his next project after that.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Ok, I *finally* saw Moon, Yay! (I had to wait for the DVD release)

The hype did not do it any favors, but it was excellent nonetheless. Unfortunately I had the twist figured out from the trailer, but I really enjoyed it.

Best parts:
- The interaction between the clones
- Gerty being a 'good guy'

Not so good parts:
- the whole setup doesn't make much sense. Such a giant underground area, plus frequent launches makes it rather unreasonable that using clones this way would actually be cheaper than flying out crews for rotations.

Overall grade: A-

 

[Forbin]

Personally, my favorite touch was that they used good ol' fashion table-top models for the vehicle shots. It gave me that good ol' Gerry Anderson vibe and made me smile.

 

[Myasishchev]

You know, the more I think about it, the less I believe the original Sam ever did go to the moon. If he had, why would you start up the clones on their first day at work? I'm halfway sure Sam Bell Prime got the training and got copied and pasted, but never received any actual experience on Luna, because he never left Earth.

 

[Trent Roman]

^ I'm rather of the opinion he did, because the company would have wanted a baseline to make sure this was the correct person(s) for the job. If you've made all these clones and shipped them to the moon, you don't want to discover two years in that the clone can't handle the solitude, goes nuts and starts tearing shit up. Apart from everything else, you need to find a new model because the other clones, given the highly similar experiences, would be likely to do the same.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[melancholymecha]

you know the scene that keeps playing over in my mind? when the dying clone gets in the capsule thing while being told he's finally going home & then gets incinerated. Its just so sad (& horrible.)

 

[Brutal Strudel]

It didn't matter to me, though. It was told with such grace...

And this is what matters, in the end. It's the specifics of the way a story is told, not the novelty of the story itself, that make a film or book engaging for any length of time.

Yep. And Moon was damned graceful, ya ask me, and Rockwell was just great.

 

[john titor]

utter bullshit film, it ripped off 2001 shamelessly and its boring.