Film

When it premiered at Sundance, Moon came advance buzzed as a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Primer—which is totally unfair. That description neglects to mention that Blade Runner, Solaris and Alien have also been added to the puree. The feature debut of Duncan “son of Bowie” Jones, Moon provides further answer to a question  Gus Van Sant posed when he remade Psycho: Why make a new film if you can just recycle old ones?

That said, you’ve rarely seen so many influences assimilated as smoothly or affectionately as here, and for a good portion of its run time, Moon casts a spell in spite of its self-consciousness. Rockwell stars as the sole occupant of a lunar-mining outpost nearing the end of his term (and possibly his rope). Apart from one-way transmissions from his wife, his only interaction is with a computer, GERTY (voiced by a self-deprecating Spacey), who registers emotion through a set of smiley-face icons. But something goes wrong on a routine mission, and when Rockwell emerges from the infirmary, he finds there’s someone else aboard. An alien, perhaps? Close: another Rockwell.

Certainly, fans of the actor’s high-wire sarcasm will find little to complain about watching him spar with himself. The movie also has the good sense to realize that the technology of the future won’t necessarily look brand-new; the sets have the slightly grimy look of a badly maintained biolab. Unfortunately, Moon’s ideas don’t quite measure up to its craft. It’s hard to escape the sense that the movie is spinning its wheels—or more charitably, orbiting itself.