Moon (2009) ***1/2

Moon is the story of a miner (Sam Rockwell) who is about to finish up his contract on the moon. He has a wife and a new born daughter waiting for him back on earth as he eagerly anticipates the day that his replacement shows up. The problem is that a secret is going to be revealed that makes his return a hell of a lot harder than he thought it was going to be.

Even when you call something a homage, people will still say that it's a rip off. Most of the time it is a rip off. In Moon you know you've been here before, but it all gels together better than most movies of its genre. You have the nods to 2001, Star Wars, Alien, and a couple other sci-fi films that slip my mind right now. The 2001 inspired Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) is probably the closest to being a rip off of HAL, but it's the only stickler on that point.

The thing that drags the film down a bit is a plot that tends to go in circles. There is a plot twist in Moon, a major one that wears thin after awhile. It's like the closed environment suffocates the story and the film suffers because of it. There's only so much you can do on the moon by yourself (no pervs, please).

Moon isn't a bad movie. It's a great concept that almost takes off, but falls flat near its middle. Better than most of the schlock we get today, but nothing to jones over.