Blu-ray™ Review: Kim Yong-hwa’s “The Moon” Far Surpasses Hollywood In Terms Of Action, Spectacle, And Human Emotions

In the near future, South Korea’s first manned mission to the moon ends in a tragic disaster. Five years later, a second spaceflight leaves astronaut Sun-woo stranded in space. Facing another fatal catastrophe, the Naro Space Center turns to its former managing director, Kim Jae-guk, to help bring Sun-woo back home safely.

“The Moon” tells the story of a Korean astronaut, Sun-woo (Doh Kyung-soo), who is left stranded aboard a spaceship orbiting the moon when strong solar winds cause the ship to malfunction, inadvertently killing his two fellow astronauts. With no communication to space control, he must make a decision: return to Earth or land on the moon, winning the space race for his country as the first ship to land on the lunar surface in decades, with the very real possibility that if he does, he may never make it back home again.

I heard nothing about this film before viewing it, but I was intrigued when I was sent a review copy because I love science fiction. To say I enjoyed it is an understatement. It runs circles around most of the Hollywood science fiction dreck released over the years and reminded me that the South Korean film industry, or Hallyuwood as it is known, has produced some tremendous movies across multiple decades, including “Parasite,” “The Wailing,” “Train to Busan,” and, of course, Park Chan-wook’s ultra-violent classic, “Oldboy,” but “The Moon” is the first big-budget sci-fi production and director Kim Yong-hwa knocks it out of the ballpark.

The movie is filled with fantastic, realistic, and frightening visuals, especially when Sun-woo is pummelled by a meteor shower while trying to collect rock samples from the moon. The CGI effects are destructively authentic and add to Sun-woo’s growing list of concerns as he navigates his way across the lunar surface. We are given an obstacle that Sun-woo must overcome to get back home, but once he triumphs over it, he then encounters another complication that he must gain mastery over, and the list goes on, but these inclusions never once feel tacked on, for drama’s sake, they are legitimately indisputable and what an astronaut in Sun-woo’s situation could most certainly experience.

The cast, overall, does a fantastic job while composer Jae-hak Lee delivers a heart-pounding score that would rival Hans Zimmer. Cinematographer Kim Young-ho shoots the film in digital IMAX in a glorious aspect ratio of 1.90:1, keeping the image sharpness high and the clarity pristine. This has no potential for a sequel as everything is wrapped up by the film’s end, but I would love to see more big-budget Korean movies tackle the science fiction genre. If you should get the opportunity to see this on the big screen, I would highly recommend it. Otherwise, you can watch it on Blu-ray™, DVD, and Digital beginning February 27th.