Sam Rockwell gives a stunning performance as Sam Bell, a man coming to the end of a three-year stint working on the Moon supervising automated harvesters as they extract helium-3, alone except for a robot named GERTY. While out trying to repair one of the harvesting machines he’s involved in an accident and wakes up back inside the base, with little memory of the incident. Later he catches GERTY talking with his employers back on Earth and hears them instruct GERTY not to allow him out of the base. Sam then tries to find out what happened to him out there and why he’s not authorised to leave.

There are a lot of stylistic nods towards 2001: A Space Odyssey and Tarkovsky’s Solaris, but the film still has enough of its own identity to show that first time feature director Duncan Jones is someone well worth looking out for in the future. Kevin Spacey is great as the voice of GERTY, and the use of emoticons to convey his feelings added a depth to the character. Also, the use of practical effects was brilliant and the stunning score by Clint Mansell is one of the best I’ve heard in years.