Directed by Duncan Jones and featuring the talents of Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, Moon is an indie science fiction drama that shouldn’t be missed.

Nearing the end of his three-year contract mining helium-3 all by his lonesome on the far side of the moon, Sam Bell (Rockwell) is just about ready to go back to Earth. After spending so much time with only a computer AI named GERTY (Spacey) to talk to, Sam starts getting a bit loopy and crashes his Moon-car (not what it’s really called, but you get the idea). Then, stuff happens. Interesting stuff.

What’s so awesome about Moon?

To avoid further spoilers, I won’t say all that much, except that Sam Rockwell by himself on the Moon is much more entertaining than Sandra Bullock by herself in space (Gravity is overrated, people—sorry, I had to say it).

Moon is often tense and, even in its moments of silence, it should keep you thinking. There are very sympathetic, touching scenes, as well as a bit of comedy here and there (if you don’t mind a substantial spoiler or have already seen the film, I’m embedding a YouTube video of a moment I thought was kind of hilarious after the break).

Sam Rockwell’s performance is great in this movie, showing a few layers of depth. Kevin Spacey’s voice work as the robot/AI-companion is predictably good as well.

What’s not that awesome?

As a 2009 indie flick with a moderate budget, Moon‘s CG doesn’t hold up to modern blockbusters (I only saw Gravity a few weeks ago, so it was hard not to notice some special effects flaws as I re-watched Moon).

It’s also slightly slow in the beginning, but if you’re like me, your interest level will grow pretty quickly after ten minutes or so.

Overall—

I think this film is more than worth a watch. I watched it once in 2009, once again last week, and then again two days after that. So, I guess it’s worth three watches.

*SPOILER WARNING* If you haven’t already seen the movie, I suggest you not watch this clip.

That wiggle kills me.