Apolo 13

Apollo 13 (1995)

**** (out of 4)

Ron Howard's excellent re-enactment of the Apollo 13 mission, which left three astronauts in space with a damaged ship and not knowing if they'd be able to return to Earth. It's always a wonderful achievement whenever a filmmaker can take a story that everyone knows the outcome to and still manage to make it intense. APOLLO 13 is without question one of the most intense films you're ever going to watch because as soon as the trouble starts in space, you the viewer, are pretty much curled up in a ball worried about every other problem that pops up throughout their situation. It's really amazing when you think how intense it is to just watch a movie so just imagine what it would be like really being up there not knowing your fate or being a family member on the ground not knowing if they are going to see their loved ones again. Director Howard perfectly mixes in these personal dramas with the stuff going on in space and I thought he did a wonderful job at balancing the two. Needless to say, the most amazing stuff happens in space as we see the three men trying to work their way out of the situation. How the film bounces from them to the families to the people in the control center is just remarkable to watch and the level of drama is just so high. Another major plus are the terrific performances. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan are just flawless in their work but so is the rest of the cast even down to the smallest role. APOLLO 13 is great entertainment that works on pretty much all levels and is without question one of the best of its type.

I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, i was simply compelled to watch it until the end. I already knew how it ended so i was surprised it commanded my attention so intensely.

The fact is the characters were all so realistically portrayed and the film was so expertly directed that it was almost as if the Apollo 13 disaster was filmed and that is what i was watching.

Now this film is certainly not to everyone's taste, it is quite slow in the build up and the film relies almost entirely on the script and ability of the cast.

If you like your disaster films loud and in your face then this is probably not for you, but if you like them realistic (slightly dramatised) then watch it and be astounded.

9/10

APOLLO 13 (1995) ***1/2 Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan, Ed Harris, Loren Dean, Clint Howard. Exhilarating and absorbing true life account of the 1970 mishap of the American space program's Apollo 13 that nearly became a tragic catastrophe based on astronaut and team leader Jim Lovell's novel "Lost Moon". Hanks is excellent as Lovell, grace under pressure realized, as is the rest of the fine ensemble and perfect visual effects of space travel and ingenuity. Harris won a nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Mission control's chief. Noteworthy: that's director Ron Howard's real life mother as Lovell's mom and look sharp for Lovell himself at the film's conclusion. Oscar winner for Best Editing and Best Sound.

I can watch this film over and over. Not only because I am so terribly interested in the exploration of space and the historical events that have taken place - but because it's a great film with excellent performances and a truth-telling style. Heck, even Lovell's wife dropping the wedding ring in the shower the day of the launch is true!

Just the fact that this film is true makes it even more enjoyable. It's hard to understand how in the hell one can make it back to Earth and survive with a fatally crippled space-craft. It's even harder to appreciate just how close they actually got to dying out there.

The performances are astounding. Ed Harris is just stupendous as Gene Krantz, and Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Garty Sinise and Bill Paxton (who seems to always get the role as the whiner...) are also great.

As Hanks put it: this story is one of the greatest ever. The question is, how do you get home? That question is as old as humanity itself.

You can tell he put his heart and soul into this one. And the fact that this happened to the American space explorers is hardly noticeable. Good job.

I don't know what the real event was like, because I wasn't even born then, but I guess it must have been really shocking to see how these astronauts were fighting for their lives. The movie really has done a good job on showing how inventive people can be in times of need, and on recreating the emotions that the crew, their families and the people in the flight command center had to go through.

If you ask me, the film really was at its best as soon as the crew was actually taking off in their rocket. Before that the movie was a little bit too slow to my taste and it didn't have that much to say. However, from the moment the problems with Apollo 13 started I was sitting on the edge of my seat. It all felt very real and you just have to empathize with the crew and their family.

Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton,... all did a great job showing us the astronauts, their families and the flight crew on this doomed mission. Their performances made "Apollo 13" one of the better movies of the nineties. I reward it with an 8/10.