The Mark of Zorro: 'Moon' Earns an A+

Who would have thought "Moon", a movie that has a very small budget, an actor who is not that well known, directed by a first time director and is about an astronaut who harvests a resource on the moon that helps the Earth's power problems would be so exciting and cool? I surely didn't.

Most of you are probably wondering how can a movie about a lone moon "farmer" be exciting and cool. Let me explain. You see, the movie isn't really at all about the boring sounding moon "farmer" plot. That plot is just an excuse to get us to where the story takes place and to set up the real story.

Now I for one hate giving and recieving spoilers so I apologize but I can't give away the actual story because it would count as a spoiler. But just to give you a good perspective on what the movie is about I will list a few words that better explain the plot and plot elements. Here we go. Business conspiracy, homesick, robot and clones. Doesn't that sound much more interesting?

Honestly I couldn't really find any complaints while watching this movie. I mean sure there were a couple of nit picks but nothing really to make me think lesser of this movie. An example would be the sort of slow begining. This movie takes a little while to kick in and get to the main plot but it was still interesting to say the least. But when this movie kicked in it was one amazing and unique ride that I won't forget.

Like I said before, this movie is directed by a first-time director named Duncan Jones (this film came out in 2009 and since then he directed Source Code). He not only directed but he created the story as well. This story he created is so captivatingly original that it made me feel that I have never seen anything like this. He created a sense of awe and shock in the atmosphere of the film that I haven't felt since 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also made me feel every emotion that the character was feeling and that is always a great but difficult thing to do. When the character (Sam Bell) was confused I felt confused, when he was sad I felt his sadness and so on. What a great first impression Duncan Jones left on me.

Another great first impression that was left on me was the main actor in this movie Sam Rockwell. I have never seen this guy before and he did a phenomonal job. He held his own and handled the pressure that was thrust upon him really well because he is really the only character in this movie. It just him and hes lonley, slighty crazy and is confused by what is happening around him. He acts just what I think a person stuck alone on the moon for 3 years would act like and gives a very realistic personality to the character.

Considering the $5 million budget, this film looked incredible visually. $5 million is not a lot to work with in the movie industry and the visual effects team did one heck of a job. I'm not talking about the space visuals but the really subtle visuals like the robot and the clones which both looked crisp and clean.

Some other things that are really enjoyable were the robot GERTY, who was voiced by Kevin Spacey and the music. I don't know why but it was really fun to hear Kevin Spacey as a robot. He is different from most movie robots because he has emotions and actually helps the main character unlike HAL 9000 or the android from Alien.

The music was composed by Clint Mansell who is one of the best composers in the movie business and created a soundtrack that not only fit the tone really well but added to the tone as well. Great music can do that in a movie.

Overall Moon is well directed, well acted, visually satisfying and surprisingly amazing and interesting. Every fundemental about this movie is really good and is a close to perfect as any movie is going to get. Moon is a giant sleeper and deserves an A+. I'm not exaggerating.

The author is a rising sophomore at South County High School.