We’re all about comics here at Panels On Pages, but a geek cannot live on comics alone. Outside the Longbox is our chance to spotlight something outside our typical 4-color realm, be it movies, music, TV or whatever.

Directed by Duncan Jones
Written by Jones and Nathan Parker
Starring Sam Rockwell, Sam Rockwell, and the voice of Kevin Spacey

This current era of computer-generated special effects has benefitted science fiction more than any other film genre, as it allows filmmakers to basically do anything on film that they can imagine. Despite its reliance on effects,  the reason why sci-fi has been such a popular genre through the decades is because it tends to use futuristic and/or otherworldly settings to say something about the current world in which we live. 2009 was a great year for science fiction. The two biggest sci-fi films of that year were the blockbuster Avatar, which was a thinly-veiled critique of Western imperialism, and the surprise hit District 9, which criticized modern immigration law reform. Before either of these films hit the big screen, a small, low-budget sci-fi film came out that was low on effects but rich in story and quality acting. Directed by Duncan Jones, the son of rock legend David Bowie, Moon is a nearly flawless throwback to the pre-Star Wars era of science fiction movies that  contains themes relevant to life in the twenty-first century.

The main plot of the film is set in “the not too distant future” and centers on a lone astronaut named Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell from Iron Man 2), who is stationed on the far side of the Moon harnessing energy to be sent to Earth. The only being he ever comes in contact with is a robot named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), who serves as a caretaker for Sam and a maintenance worker for the lunar base. Sam is nearing the end of his three-year tenure and is anxiously awaiting his return home to his wife, Tess, and his daughter, Eve. During one routine check of one of the harvesters, Sam crashes his rover and is knocked unconscious. He wakes up in the base’s infirmary and is told to stay put by Gerty and his superiors via a satellite transmission. Sam is unable to contact Earth directly and tricks Gerty into letting him go outside of the base. Once outside, he comes across the damaged rover and discovers a man inside. He takes the man back to the infirmary and then discovers that the man is himself. When Sam #1 recovers, Sam #2 begins to suspect that the company has cloned the original Sam Bell and has stashed away even more clones to keep from training new recruits and keep the base manned at all times. As both Sams get closer to the truth, they both come to grips with who they really are and why they were put in this position.

While the big reveal midway through the film is not a huge surprise, what makes Moon so phenomenal is the way Jones and his co-writer Nathan Parker use old science fiction story techniques to say something really profound about our energy-obsessed era and how it can potentially drain us of our own humanity. Some viewers may also see the company’s use of clone labor as a metaphor for the U.S. military’s current stop-loss policy. There are many nods to old science fiction classics in the film - Gerty’s calm yet creepy monotone voice is an obvious homage to HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, while Sam’s identity crisis is slightly reminiscent of the Replicants in Blade Runner. In the center of all of this is a nearly flawless performance by Sam Rockwell, who has the unenviable task of being the only actor on screen for nearly 99 percent of the movie. He nails the emotional resonance of every scene he is in and plays off himself beautifully in the scenes where the two Sams interact with one another. His performance reminds us that he is one of the best and most underrated screen actors working today.While the movie isn’t heavily reliant on special effects, its use of split screen technology is nearly seamless, which make the viewer actually believe that they are seeing two Rockwells on screen at the same time. Moon is one of the best and most fascinating films to come out last year and earns 5 out of 5 Robot Emoticons. While it didn’t get as much attention as Avatar or even District 9, it is quickly acheiving cult classic status and will no doubt be ranked as one of the best science fiction films of the past decade.