Review of the film “Moon” by Kim Yong Hwa

The sci-fi drama “Moon” by Kim Yong Hwa is being released, embodying the dream of the first South Korean astronaut landing on the moon. Having looked at her, Yulia Shagelman I became convinced that the propaganda of the national space industry in all countries looks approximately the same – even if its authors do not go into real space to film.

Planet Earth, 2029. South Korea’s Uri Ho spacecraft sets off to land the first non-American astronaut on the Moon. This is already the second such attempt, and the first, undertaken five years ago, ended in disaster. And on all fronts: the launch vehicle exploded, the astronauts died, one of the designers committed suicide, the second, the then director of the Mission Control Center, resigned in disgrace, and as a result of all this, the space powers refused to accept South Korea into their international association . Now everyone involved in the new mission feels a double responsibility, especially the Minister of Science and Technology (Cho Han-chul), a humanitarian who curses the day he was appointed to this position (in the future, his role, by and large, will be limited to , to yell at everyone and get in the way of other characters).

The Uri Ho crew consists of two experienced astronauts and former special forces soldier Hwang Sun Woo (To Kyung Soo, who looks more like a member of a K-pop group, which he actually is, than a tough Marine, despite having honestly completed military service service). When, due to an unexpected solar wind, the ship loses contact with the Earth, the astronauts, contrary to the instructions of the Mission Control Center, go into outer space, leaving Hwang worried on board (in general, for a special forces soldier, he is very emotional).

The repair of the communication system is proceeding as normal, but anyone who watched Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” (2013), to which the creators of “Moon” owe about the same amount as Klim Shipenko with his “Challenge” (2023), knows that the heroes should not have hurry up to turn on soothing music. And, of course, as soon as they fix one breakdown, another one happens, this time fatal; both astronauts die, and Hwang finds himself completely alone on the ship, which has lost control and half of its other functions.

The minister decides to involve in the operation to save him the former director of the Mission Control Center, Kim Jae-kook (Sol Kyung-gu), who is vegetating at a distant meteorological station along with a young assistant (Hon Seung-hee). When he, having resisted for the sake of form, arrives at the place, the melodrama of the film soars to truly cosmic heights: after all, Hwang is the son of that same designer-colleague Kim, who committed suicide, and the latter is weighed down by a heavy burden of guilt. Nevertheless, he manages to change at least something in the current situation for the better, remotely rebooting some systems on the ship so that Hwang at least doesn’t freeze there.

The young man, despite all the problems, insists on continuing the mission. He even manages to land on the moon, unfurl the Korean flag there and begin collecting soil samples, when he is covered in a meteor shower. All the equipment that had not broken before is now breaking, there is panic in the control center, the minister is convulsing and blaming Kim for everything, because who else? At the same time, officials are trying to come to an agreement with NASA, but the Americans, who do not need competitors in space, flatly refuse to help save Hwang. It’s good that their MCC is headed by a Korean woman, Moon En Eun (Kim Hee Ae), who is also Kim’s ex-wife. Although she calls herself Jennifer Evans, she remembers her historical homeland and still has warm feelings for her ex-husband, so she decides to help out the Koreans, despite the resistance of her unpleasant big-faced boss.

Despite the cosmic troubles that befall the heroes every now and then, there is little suspense in “Moon” – it is clear that a patriotic blockbuster, although with a much more modest budget than the Russian “Challenge”, cannot end with anything other than a happy ending. Hwang, of course, will be saved, the whole question is who and how. However, in his quest to raise the emotional stakes and justify the two-hour running time, director Kim Yong Hwa is scattered with several interfering storylines from which he cannot decide on the main one. Here is the survival of a heroic loner in space, and the moral torment of Kim, and, it seems, an attempt at satire on incompetent space officials, and a thoughtful statement that ordinary people from different countries are always ready to help each other, no matter how much they are hindered politicians. Perhaps in its homeland the film is capable of causing a surge of pride and inspiring heroic deeds, but after two hours it is not very clear why it should be shown outside of South Korea, especially to those who have the same thing at home.