Clones are born and programmed to die on the moon, living out their entire lives believing that they are the original Sam Bell. Technology is also responsible for the hibernation of the Sam Bell clones, keeping them preserved for whenever the current Sam “model” breaks down, constantly having a backup for the next three years as Lunar Industries saves money on training astronauts as replacements and the cost of going to the moon. Artificial intelligence does a majority of the heavy lifting here, from maintaining contact with Earth to creating new solutions should a problem with Sam arise during the tenure.

The film has a prime focus on the use of automated labor, gradually depending less on the use of human workers to the point where the space station in the film requires only one actual human (well, not really, but at a time yeah) to supervise. However, more than its general quality of filmmaking, the evolution of technology has prompted Moon to carve out a spot in relevancy for space films. Moon has etched out a niche for itself in the world of science fiction by combining a space isolation story with themes akin to those in the Blade Runner films, crafting a wholly unique space experience from more conventional space thrillers like Gravity, Sunshine, or Armageddon. Not quite cult films, but films that tend to have a longer life on streaming, as we call it nowadays.īut in some way, despite the low returns, Moon has continued to stay relevant in the conversation of science fiction films, all while Damien Chazelle’s First Man is hardly even mentioned anymore, despite only coming out late last year. There are tons of movies with this kind of reputation: a critical darling that fails to appeal to a wide audience resulting in a lackluster theater performance. The critical reception was high, but audiences didn’t seem to jive with the story as much the film made just under $10 million at the box office with no major awards love outside of a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film. Moon didn’t exactly light up the world when it was first released back in 2009. From here, we have a trippy sci-fi clone story as the two Sams (performed with gusto by the amazing Sam Rockwell ) try to figure out what is happening to them and why there are two of them in the first place. He wakes up with seemingly no memory of the accident, but when he goes to see the crashed rover, he finds…himself, stuck in the same position he was when he crashed the rover. This is especially jarring when the start of the film shows him casually going about his work on the moon, where he is stationed for three years to overlook a mining station that mines for helium-3, a rich alternative to oil, for the wealthy and thriving Lunar Industries.Īs Sam nears the end of his three-year stay, he begins to see strange visions on the moon, leading him to crash his rover during a drive on the moon. This conflict of existence is something that the main protagonist of Moon, Sam Bell, faces head-on in the most unexpected way, uncovering an entire conspiracy revolving around the manipulation of human existence and memories. Sure, we may not know what happens when WE die, but the thing that’s for certain is that the living world will move on, in one way or another, slowly leaving the memory of us to fade away.

Of course, we don’t know what will happen and while some of us believe that there is a whole other world waiting for us on the other side, it’s ultimately fruitless to accurately speculate on life after death but Ebert’s eye-opening review of Moon looks at death from the perspective of the outside. It’s depressing to believe that the end of our lives will signal the end of our existence as a whole. The quote used above signified Ebert’s own questions about the worth of human lives and emotions, boldly stating that in spite of our eventual deaths, the objects we own will not miss us and will continue to live a different life under potential new owners. In his official review for the Duncan Jones science-fiction drama, Moon, critic Roger Ebert mentioned that his interpretation of the film’s story and themes reflected on the idea of human life potentially being worthless and expendable as technology continues to advance.

This laptop I’m using is patient and can wait.” “How real are our emotions, anyway? How real are we? Someday I will die.

Human muzzle sci fi