Re: HG Movie Critique.
Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:04 am
Looks good .. I shall look out for that one myself .. thanks for the review Toby mate. Top Notch!
On another note, good people, I watched a humdinger last night ...
...
The main character,Sam Bell, an astronaut working out a 3 year contract to maintain a mine based on the dark side of the lunar surface is harvesting the solar energy stored in the helium-3 contained in the moon rocks (actual good science and being looked at by scientists as a possible serious contender for the energy of the future, fact fans) . His only companion is a robot called GERTY voiced with HAL-like creepy calm by Kevin Spacey and accompanied by a somehow equally creepy emoticon like display screen.
Having been stuck on the moon for three years (he's coming tot he end of his contract) the cracks are starting to show for Sam. His wife and daughter, to whom he sends video messages down on Earth, feel an awfully long way away. Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago.
Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans, a company which increasingly appears not to have Sam's best interests at heart.
Great actual model effects (remember those?) for the lunar surface and vehicles don't detract from the movies stark, lonely realism .. quite the contrary - they enhance the emptiness and desperation throughout as the whole countdown to Sams inevitable fate unfolds.
I initially thought that this film ran out of steam towards the end but, because it remained crisp and unpredictable, it actually, on reflection, had the feel of an addictive Outer Limits episode finding ways to stretch itself over the feature-length mark.
Definite leanings to other landmark sci fi such as "Silent Running", "2001 - A Space Oddysey" and "Dead Ringers" etc here but things still manage to find a take new enough to hold your attention for the duration.
On another note, good people, I watched a humdinger last night ...
...
The main character,Sam Bell, an astronaut working out a 3 year contract to maintain a mine based on the dark side of the lunar surface is harvesting the solar energy stored in the helium-3 contained in the moon rocks (actual good science and being looked at by scientists as a possible serious contender for the energy of the future, fact fans) . His only companion is a robot called GERTY voiced with HAL-like creepy calm by Kevin Spacey and accompanied by a somehow equally creepy emoticon like display screen.
Having been stuck on the moon for three years (he's coming tot he end of his contract) the cracks are starting to show for Sam. His wife and daughter, to whom he sends video messages down on Earth, feel an awfully long way away. Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago.
Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans, a company which increasingly appears not to have Sam's best interests at heart.
Great actual model effects (remember those?) for the lunar surface and vehicles don't detract from the movies stark, lonely realism .. quite the contrary - they enhance the emptiness and desperation throughout as the whole countdown to Sams inevitable fate unfolds.
I initially thought that this film ran out of steam towards the end but, because it remained crisp and unpredictable, it actually, on reflection, had the feel of an addictive Outer Limits episode finding ways to stretch itself over the feature-length mark.
Definite leanings to other landmark sci fi such as "Silent Running", "2001 - A Space Oddysey" and "Dead Ringers" etc here but things still manage to find a take new enough to hold your attention for the duration.