A long time ago in a galaxy that looked an awful lot like southern California, the science-fiction genre was completely redefined when George Lucas’s Star Wars hit the big screen. Since then, sci-fi films have come with a certain set of expectations: alien planets, eye-popping special effects, nerdy fan conventions where even the biggest Star Wars geek wouldn’t be caught dead … (I was 10 years old, OK? Get over it.) Basically, science-fiction has become more of an industry than a movie genre, concerned more with the marketability of action figures and video games from a summer blockbuster than with the film itself. But this is all about to change thanks to the arrival of Moon, the first feature film by Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son).

Moon is an incredibly engaging glimpse into the life of astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), whose three-year contract as the lone human director of a lunar mining facility is about to expire. Unfortunately for Sam, so too is his mental stability. Accompanied only by his dubious robotic assistant GERTY (Kevin Spacey), Sam mechanically repeats his daily routine in solitude and slowly deteriorates in both body and mind. Since the majority of the film is concerned with Sam slowly losing his mind and the sinking feeling that something is not quite right, Moon is, at its core, a character-centered drama that actually has very little to do with its lunar setting or futuristic plot.

But what truly sets Moon apart from other science-fiction films is its strikingly human subject matter. A far cry from aliens or spaceships or epic battles that are the focus of many sci-fi films today, Moon is instead about one character’s struggle to retain his humanity in a world where it becomes increasingly unclear what exactly it means to be human. Even though he lives on the far side of the Moon among a talking machine and other space-age technology, Sam occupies a world that is surprisingly earthly. His bedroom looks like any other, an alarm clock wakes him up every morning and a Tennessee Titans poster hangs over his bed. For all we know, he could be in Memphis, not on the Moon. Moon’s visual effects enhance the reality of the story rather than trying to steal the show, and the film never indulges the stereotypical silver jumpsuit or other futuristic clichés. Instead, it is concerned with telling a very human story that just happens to take place in a predominantly nonhuman environment.

The story is brought to life brilliantly through superb film-making by rookie director Duncan Jones and remarkable acting by his small, but versatile cast. Sam Rockwell delivers a fantastic performance, capturing every nuance of his emotionally-fragile character from his initial hallucinations and failing sanity to the heartbreaking agony of a man who seems doomed to never return to the life he once knew. And Kevin Spacey lends his hauntingly robotic voice to GERTY, the apparent evil twin of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey who, whether he actually is as evil as he sometimes appears, always seems like he’s up to no good. GERTY literally wears his emotions on his sleeve in the form of instant message emoticons, and as a result we’re never sure whether he is friend or foe.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Moon is its incredible emotional range. The film is sometimes eerie and mysterious, sometimes ominous and dramatic. There are several funny moments, such as the line when Sam tells GERTY, “You think too much, pal. You need to get laid.” There is also a pivotal moment of profound sadness, occurring when Sam realizes he is helplessly trapped on the Moon and whimpers in desperation, “I want to go home!” How many science-fiction films contain moments of laugh-out-loud humor and tear-jerking sadness? Moon is a rare breed of film with the power to transport its audience, quite literally, to the Moon and back again.

Not your average sci-fi flick by any means, Moon is so groundbreaking that I’m not even sure it belongs in the same category as today’s sci-fi moneymaking machines. It’s an extremely intelligent film that keeps its audience guessing and forces them to think well beyond the limits of traditional science-fiction. It won’t make a big splash at the box office and it probably won’t be turned into a LEGO product any time soon, but Moon is perhaps the biggest thing to happen to science-fiction since Star Wars, and that’s coming from someone who had a life-size Darth Vader cut-out in his room until high school (I know you’re secretly jealous). So fear not sci-fi fans, it looks like your beloved genre will live long and prosper, for the Force is strong with Duncan Jones. Now let’s just hope he doesn’t ruin everything and start making sequels.