The opening of Moon. Man goes about his daily grind, exercises on a treadmill, eats meals, watches TV. Doesn't sound that exciting. Then again, it's not supposed to be. The feeling of utter drudgery is what the movie is trying to evoke.
As soon as I watched this, it reminded me somewhat of Alien and 2001: a Space odyssey. The similarity to Alien comes from the depiction of daily life on board a spaceship/space station. Eating ready meals, and not having much to do except your monotonous job. Moon also reminded me of 2001: a Space Odyssey in that both depict people doing a job far from home, having to contend with isolation and loneliness (or limited human company).
Atmosphere aside, what really struck me was how early the plot twist appears. About halfway, in fact. The protagonist, Bell, wakes up on a medical bed following an accident. Everything is fine, except it's not. With a bit of work, he discovers he is not the first crewman on this moon base but the latest of many clones. He finds the previous one (the one we've been watching) and revives him.
There's a reason why this twist happens so early. To explore the significance of this turn of events. The next half allows plenty of time to show the interaction between the two and thus explore Bell as a character. Neither is willing to believe they are the clone and both are convinced they're the real Bell. Things get violent and fights break out. Earlier on there are hints about Bell's life, including a past history of anger issues that led to estrangement from his wife. He is frustrated at past events, his loneliness and isolation. So when Bell is quite literally fighting himself, it's a reflection of his own personal frustration.
This isn't to say that Moon is flawless. This very interaction I spoke about didn't go quite far enough, so the movie falls just a little short. So to me, not a perfect movie, but one that's still pretty damn good.
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