Moon Blu-ray Review

Low budget science-fiction makes for high brow entertainment.

PACKAGE:  
The overall key remains low as we look over the cover art for ‘Moon’. Almost entirely black, with Sam Rockwell standing within an intriguing concentric circle motif, it’s simple and retro, but it works rather well.

It just goes to show that, with stuff like this, less is often more, and you don’t need ‘lenticular sleeves’ or 3D holographic exploding images to make a cover design look good.

On the disc itself there’s a tasty array of extras, including the usual commentaries and ‘Making Of’, as well as a short film made by Jones as a means of persuading people to back this project, his debut feature.

Most notable, though, are the Q&A sessions included, one of which was recorded at Sundance, while the other was shot after a screening at the NASA Science Centre. This latter session makes for an interesting and unusual watch, largely because the director’s not being grilled by film journo-types.

The big letdown here is the sad news that none of these delightful extras are BR exclusive. Now, I’m sure I’m not alone here in saying that as a Blu-ray fan I didn’t shell out all those extra hard-earned Benjamins to be getting fed the same stuff as the cattle down in SD-class, so it’s pretty frustrating when this happens. Minus one star for that, I’m afraid.

BIAS:
Although by no means a fully paid-up member of the sci-fi fan club, I am rather partial to good bit of space-based nonsense.

Oddly enough I have a friend who, for reasons he is unable to articulate intelligibly, “absolutely f***ing hates” space. Not just as a setting for a feature film, but the actual place. He’s never been, I often point out, so he’s really got no idea what he’s talking about. Perhaps it wronged him in a former life or something.

Anyway, I digress.

From camp space opera (‘Star Wars’ being an obvious example), through crazy-bonkers action (‘Aliens’, ‘Starship Troopers’) to psychological drama (‘Solaris’), if it’s got space in it somewhere, I’ll give it a watch and probably enjoy it on one level or another.
When put like that, it sounds rather shallow and probably a bit weird to just say “if it’s got space in it”, largely because what makes a good sci-fi flick is usually not the fact that it’s set in space. Indeed, there are plenty of films of that genre that don’t leave the confines of this planet at all.

But what I like about space as a setting is how unknown it is. It’s like a vast blank canvas. A filmmaker can use it any way they want; they can ask questions, conjure up outlandish hypotheticals, create a sense of isolation, a sense of adventure and mystery, a feeling of menace, of openness, of pretty much anything and everything, and absolutely none of these ideas would seem at odds with the setting.

With ‘Moon’, Duncan Jones has used the setting superbly. The most remarkable thing about this entirely remarkable film is its tangible atmosphere of loneliness and isolation, and it is Jones’ skilful exploitation of his chosen setting that lies at the heart of that atmosphere. Mix in Rockwell’s absolute knock-out performance and you’ve got a winner.

So, in summary, I whole heartedly recommend that you wrap your peepers around this movie at the next available opportunity. But if you’re one of those special people who hates space and everything it stands for, then I’d probably look elsewhere.

Verdict:  AVOID / CONSIDER / RENT / BUY / TREASURE

Editor’s Note: This is a review of a Region 2 release. Moon is also available for all Region 1 territories.

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