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DVDfever.co.uk – Moon Blu-ray review Dom Robinson reviews
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray: 
DVD:
- Cert:
- Running time: 97 minutes
- Cat no.: SBR60620
- Year: 2009
- Released: March 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 16 plus extras
- Picture: 1080p High Definition
- Sound: DTS 5.1 HD-MA, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English, Thai (DTS 5.1 only)
- Subtitles: English, Thai, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian; plus English commentary
- Widescreen: 2.40:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: BD50
- Price: £24.99 (Blu-ray); £19.99 (DVD)
- Extras: Whistle (Short film), The Making of Moon, Creating The Visual Effects, Science Center Q&A with Duncan Jones, Filmmaker’s Q&A at the Sundance Film Festival, Trailers, Audio Commentaries, BD Live, Audio descriptive track
Directors:
- Duncan Jones
(Moon, Source Code, Whistle)
Producers:
- Stuart Fenegan and Trudie Styler
Screenplay:
- Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker
Music:
- Clint Mansell
Cast :
- Sam Bell: Sam Rockwell
Gerty: Kevin Spacey
Tess Bell: Dominique McElligott
Little Eve: Rosie Shaw
Nanny: Adrienne Shaw
Thompson: Benedict Wong
Overmeyers: Matt Berry
Technician: Malcolm Stewart
Moon is set far into the future, at a time where the Earth is now living off Helium 3 energy, created from a moon base that is harnessing the power of the sun and mining the results from the moon on the Sarang Mining Base.
Sam (Sam Rockwell) has been working up there for three years, with only has two weeks left to go of his contract – a long time to work in solitary, and he only has occasional video messages from his wife and daughter to keep him going, but as he prepares to go home, he starts seeing weird visions such as a woman sat in the chair he’s just left to make a brew…
After a couple more episodes he winds up in the infimary, and soon makes an intriguing discovery which sets the tone for the rest of the movie, but for which I cannot reveal here.
Sam Rockwell is the only human onscreen for almost the entire duration of the film and it really gives him a chance to excel. He has such a kooky personality that he is the only actor I reckon who could pull off this kind of film, working on his own and in a claustrophobic set that, despite being set many years into the future, still has moments where its looks decidedly low-tech, such as with his black and white small TV. He was excellent in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and one of the two good things about the Hitchhikers film, the other being Zooey Deschanel. It’s also the directorial debut from David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones. The disc also contains his short film “Whistle” and his second feature film, Source Code, is due out next year. If he can do for films what his Dad can do for music then there’s a lot of great stuff to look forward to.
The small, additional, cast includes Dominique McElligott as Sam’s wife Tess, leaving him video messages which he replies to; Benedict Wong and Matt Berry are two of the boffins back on Earth who also send over important video messages; Kevin Spacey appears in voice form only as Gerty, the computer on Sam’s moonbase; and there’s also a cameo from Skins’ Effy, aka Kaya Scodelario.
The Blu-ray cover lists a quote how it’s the finest sci-fi movie since Blade Runner. However, I think it’s definitely a 2001 for the 21st Century, if you see what I mean, in terms of the isolation and the look of the spaceship inside. Kudos, also, to the cool opening credits appear about the set as it begins.
The film is presented in its original 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and is highly-detailed with no problems. The excellent CGI work shows that there’s no way a 16:9 open-matte version could be achieved so pity the poor viewer if this gets bought up by a channel too chicken to show it properly. Hopefully, it’ll be Channel 4 who get it because, at the time of writing, the other major terrestrial broadcasters haven’t got a clue. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound is in DTS-HD MA 5.1, although I only had access to it in DTS 5.1, and is mostly used for dialogue and ambience with no issues at all.
The extras are as follows:
- Whistle (28:46): A short film by Duncan Jones, made in 2002, and presented in letterbox 1.85:1. It also features his father’s haunting track, Subterraneans.
Ryan (Dominic Mafham), is a man who’s taken early retirement in Switzerland. His son, Michael, isn’t pleased about the relocation so he has to attempt to bond with him. Amongst all this, Ryan has a new job he’s hiding from son, but his wife, Di (Sarah Winman), knows all about it. The ubiquitous John Shrapnel plays his boss, Paul.
I don’t want to say what Ryan’s job is, but it all makes for quite an intriguing film, even if the ending is rather weird.
- The Making of Moon (16:18): Duncan Jones and Sam Rockwell talk about what happens during the film, which I won’t reveal here, along with other members of the crew, with work-in-progress footage also included.
- Creating The Visual Effects (11:09): A year’s work very well spent, and I can’t go into the specifics as that would give things away, but it makes for a great featurette.
- Science Center Q&A with Duncan Jones (20:48): An introduction to the film at a special screening on March 16th, 2009, before he takes questions from the audience.
- Filmmaker’s Q&A at the Sundance Film Festival (11:15): This is where Duncan Jones got to premiere Moon and, again, he gives an introduction, on January 23rd, 2009, and then takes questions from the audience.
- Trailers: One for Moon, and then one each for 2012, Ghostbusters, Julie & Julia and Angels & Demons. All of the special fetaures as in standard definition, and it shows with the Ghostbusters clip which is cropped to 16:9 and is just there to plug the Blu-ray disc – so perhaps they should’ve included a Blu-ray-quality trailer?
As for the Moon trailer, it really spoils what was the major twist for me. So glad I saw it AFTER I watched the film. I was attracted to this film from the good word that was spread and also the talent of Sam Rockwell.
- Audio commentaries: Two here. One from Duncan Jones, director of photography Gary Shaw, concept designer Gavin Rothery and production designer Tony Noble; the other from Duncan Jones and producer Stuart Fenegan.
- BD Live: Connect your Blu-ray player to the internet and it sounds like you’ll be able to get info the IMDB page for this film. I’ve never got my player to go online properly before, so I’ll just visit IMDB anyway.
The menu features scenes from the film mixed together its incidental music. There are English subtitles plus Thai, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian. Commentary is also available in English. However, the film’s chaptering is still bad with Sony’s strict (judging by all their recent releases) 16-only policy. Come on, Sony, you’re not paying by the chapter(!)
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.