I agree you should go into the film as blind as possible. The script struck me as just a touch weaker than I would have preferred, but Rockwell really hit it out of the park. I don't want to spoil for people, so I can't talk about specifically what about his acting really blew me away, but I'll just say, damn, it had to have been hard to do that.

I'd definitely recommend seeing it. It's a very sad, somewhat slowly-paced movie, but you'll be pulling so hard for...well. I'm glad I spent the money on it.

I also saw a dude who I'm pretty sure was the arthouse theater's owner (though I wouldn't swear to it) very drunkily (and unsuccessfully) try to pick up a woman in the audience. The very very large man who went over to tell him to STFU put the kibosh on that quick.

Saw it last night. Great flick. A little too reserved and understated at the climax. But still. I really liked it. Definitely go in as blind as possible, almost the entire plot was easy for me to predict, in the same way an episode of Law & Order is pretty predictable but still good. It didn't detract from the experience for me.

Yeah, I figured out what was happening really early on, but Rockwell's performance made it compelling regardless. In fact I was glad that the plot twist WASN'T really the point it was all balancing on. The story is much stronger than that.

I don't want to spoil for people, so I can't talk about specifically what about his acting really blew me away

I think I know what you are saying, and you're right.

I have one spoileriffic question about it that is really a minor point anyway, but if you haven't seen the movie, DON'T READ THE REST OF THIS COMMENT.

The spoileriffic question: Did the real Sam Bell ever do a stint at the mining station? Or was he a scientist working for Lunar Industries who just learned all the procedures so he could serve as the "model"? I lean toward the former idea, my partner thinks the latter. I think the real Sam had to be up there at some point, and all the later Sams are living echoes of his life at the station.

He might have gone for a short stint, but if he'd stayed for a tour he'd have been killed by the radiation same as the clone-Sams.

Hmm, I didn't get the idea it was radiation killing them, but that that was how long their lifespan was. (It happens with cloned animals- they start out okay, but break down after a very shortened lifespan.)

The relevant Sams's symptoms fit radiation poisoning pretty well. Puking blood, teeth falling out, chills and fevers, another one had hair falling out.

I think the idea was that the three years was a good guess about how long it would take to become symptomatic under repeated doses. Like, only one Sam mentioned losing hair. So we set their "go home" date short enough that they haven't started to suspect. But Rover-Crash Sam spent who knows how long baking in just the rover, with minimal shielding, so he got really sick.

Besides, if it were just clone lifespan, it wouldn't make sense to have the clones. There are plenty of people who'd take a three-year tour for good pay, and plenty of people who'd take a three-year tour alone for a chance to Write Their Novel during their copious downtime, and there's no nasty publicity if that gets out.

But if any reasonable tour of duty is likely to kill you from direct rad poisoning or cancer and properly shielding everything would be too expensive, then clones make more sense. Of course, just having more automation would make even more sense, but still.

Same thing happened when we saw the film yesterday -- biscotti and I both thought they did a good job of flashing IT'S RADIATION SICKNESS in meter-high flashing letters without having Basil Exposition tell us, but other people walking out assumed it was just Dolly syndrome.

Hmm, that puts a less depressing spin on the ending, then, if the one that made it home isn't facing a three-year lifespan.

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The way it was explained to me is was that it was radiation sickness, but I thought at first it was a clone lifespan thing. I mean, why else would they have had so many backups up there?