Moon (2009)

Directed by Duncan Jones
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

This film labors under the shadow of two similar and towering masterpieces of the genre: Kubrick's 2001 and Tarkovsky's Solaris. Moon never approaches the level of either of those films, but does at least work in some new themes. Sam is living alone on the moon, running a mining operation for a mega corporation back on Earth. His only companion is a robot, Gertie, dangerously close to Kubrick's Hal, and poorly voiced by Kevin Spacey. When his 3 year contract is about to expire, he has an accident on the moon surface and is left for dead. Back on the base, he is nursed back to health by Gertie, but also discovers a clone of himself now living there as well. Sam and his clone initially don't like each other, but eventually work together to uncover the mystery of their existence. There are some good ideas floating around, but it tends to get bogged down in an unnecessarily graphic depiction of Sam's deteriorating physical condition and some silly moments between him and the clone.