There's something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul and something of its inconceivable mystery

Moon is a difficult movie for me. Not because it's a "difficult movie", but because it's not a difficult movie.

Moon tells the tale of an astronaut, Sam Bell, who is the lone operator of a lunar mining complex and has been for almost all of his three-year contract. There he oversees the machinery that harvests H3, a real-life substance that has saved Earth from its energy crisis. This detail is appropriately tossed off and probably just there to help me stall for time as I try to decide how I feel about this film.

The beginning of this film is extraordinarily promising, as Sam begins to see things in his lonely tin can (sorry) and soon even stranger things begin to happen, but are they real or have they been fabricated by Sam's increasingly unstable mind?

I was disappointed when the film decided to resolve this issue very quickly, but it's done in such a compelling way and presents a clever story in its stead, full of opportunities for Sam Rockwell to show what so many filmmakers have been missing out on, that I really can't figure out why I'm complaining.

This is merely an example of some of my favorite films coloring my expectations and me becoming angry that they haven't been met, and it's really unfair to level that against the film. And it's sort of stupid to say that I'm docking a film points because it isn't abstract enough.

In fact, the film is rather straightforward in its setup and execution, so much so that I'm surprised the film had such a hard time finding financial backing. It's really quite accessible, the only thing about it that's truly strange is that it's essentially a one-man show, but audiences rushed to see I Am Legend. I digress.

What I'm about to say could be considered a spoiler, but I think I would have enjoyed the film more if I had known. After an accident in a rover, Sam awakens in the facility's infirmary. He is informed of the accident, but quickly devises a way to investigate the accident on his own. In the rover, he finds a facsimile of himself, unconscious but still alive and bearing the injuries we saw him sustain. Placing the unconscious Sam in the infirmary, Sam becomes cold and angry, the answer to this strange occurrence being immediately apparent to him. The wounded Sam reacts with denial as he becomes more desperate and sickly, but they both react with fear when they're told that a "rescue team" is coming to help them get the base back in working order.

It's not a bad thing for Moon not to dig as deeply as Solaris or 2001, but it constantly calls those films to mind. It's not being fair to itself when a lonely astronaut begins to see familiar things and have conversations with people who have no reason to be standing in front of him. It has the testicular fortitude to tread the same ground as those films, but it faces all the problems you would expect. I don't know if this is something that endears it to me or not.

The movie on display is a fine film with, above all else, an extraordinary performance from Sam Rockwell. Rockwell has often been a scene-stealer and has been truly great when given the chance, but he's never been given an opportunity quite like this one. This is the sort of role that actors live and die for, and Sam Rockwell is the man for the job. If this doesn't get the Academy's attention, nothing will.

On that note, I'd like to mention that this film proves my long-standing point that every movie with Sam Rockwell in it needs less other stuff and more Sam Rockwell. It then gives us even more Sam Rockwell than I had previously considered tasteful. His performance is dynamic, a portrait of the same man reacting to the same situation in different ways.

The director, Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie (and I cannot tell you how hard it was to NOT title this review "Major Tom to Ground Control" or something lame like that), is more than capable. From what I've heard, he's a huge science fiction fan, and with this film to kick off his career, I can only hope that he's around to breathe some life into the science fiction genre.

Yes, he gets a great performance out of Rockwell, yes, the film is immaculately paced, and yes, he made the film on $6 million. But the real masterwork here (aside from Rockwell), is in the production design. For my money, the practical effects in this film are as good as or better than anything that ILM could have put together for $100 million. As hard as you try, nothing will surpass the magic and believability of something real. The base breathes like a moon base would breathe; everything seems to have a purpose. Perhaps many years ago it was sleek and futuristic, but now it's dingy and cracked and dirty and in disrepair. It's graffitied and used and derelict.

I guarantee this film will benefit from a second viewing, but I can't rate a film based on what I think I'll think of it when I see it again. I have a strict policy of using the grade that feels right, and for this film, it's an

8/10

But if you just read my review, you'll see how scared and confused I am over my actual opinions.