Directed by: Ron Howard
Premise: The true story of NASA astronauts Jim
Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton), and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and
their mission to the moon, which became a struggle for survival when a
malfunction caused their spacecraft to leak oxygen.
What Works: Apollo 13 is a terrific example
of dramatizing familiar history and making it into a gripping story. This is
done, ironically, by not playing the event as a major earth-shattering affair
from the outset, but by focusing on story and character, and building the drama
effectively as would be done in a fictional story. As a historical piece, the
film puts the events in context without dwelling on it too much, incorporating
music and pop culture references to give the film an appropriate backdrop and
demonstrate how the Apollo 13 mission fit into the history of the space program
and more broadly into American history. As a film about space, Apollo 13 is refreshing in its serious treatment of space exploration. Aside from Stanley
Kubrick’s 2001:
A Space Odyssey and Philip Kaufman’s The
Right Stuff, this is one of the only feature films to deal seriously
with the possibilities of space exploration and stay within the boundaries of
facts and science rather than fall into the silly science fiction of films like Space
Camp or Armageddon. Apollo 13 is an extremely well edited piece of film, balancing between
the drama on board the spacecraft, the tension in NASA control, and the anxiety
of the astronaut’s families. Between these three story fronts, there are some
very good performances in the film. The three principle actors work very well
together but there are also some commanding performances in the supporting roles
such as Ed Harris as flight director Gene Kranz, Gary Sinise as astronaut Ken
Mattingly, and Kathleen Quinlan as spouse Marilyn Lovell.
What Doesn’t: Things don’t really get going in
the film until the space accident, which is well into the running time of the
picture. While the scenes that precede that moment pay off, some viewers may get
antsy waiting for the story to get going.
DVD extras: Commentary tracks, documentary,
featurettes, and NASA footage.
Bottom Line: Apollo 13 is a terrific film
and probably the best picture Ron Howard has made. It is also worth noting that
the film inspired the excellent HBO mini-series From
the Earth to the Moon, which dramatizes the Apollo missions.