Apollo 13 [DVD] [1995]

We all know how good this film is. But what you may not know is how good the bonus material is. There are interviews with the real astronauts and recording of the actual radio transmitions from Apollo 13. Many of these were used to help with the script.

The film - 5 Stars

The extras - 5 Stars

APOLLO 13 is one of those films you either love or hate, and how you respond to it seems to depend on how important you feel that the story of humanity's quest to reach out into space actually is. However, as a fictionalized account of a true story about trying to survive against all the odds there's precious little to beat it.

The semi-documentary style is a really effective way to tell the story and as such gives a lot of technical insight into the fascinating story of America's quest to put men on the moon. The attention to detail in the production design is phenomenal with both mission control and the spacecraft hardware being recreated in loving detail. Sadly, such meticulous attention to detail cannot extend to some of the finer points of the script because the nature of telling a five day story in just over two hours means that the scriptwriters by necessity have to play around a little with - and add "drama" to - the actual events and personalities involved. Whether such a compelling story needs drama adding to it is debateable, but I suppose that that's just part of the art of moviemaking. In-flight disagreements, dream sequences and the fact that a number of outstanding members of the NASA staff are compressed into fewer characters, are all examples of liberties made to make the story more "cinematic", but despite that, all the essentials of what remains a truly human story despite all the technology are still there and you are left with a vivid and lasting impression of what happened during what many consider to be NASA's "finest hour". Ron Howard proves, once again to be a master at manipulating the emotions as you are carried along with the plight of these brave men, their families and their support staff and you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the ending.

This "special edition" includes 2 commentaries. Ron Howard gives you the Director's opinions from the point of view of a film production on the first and the second is from the perspective of the astronaut played by Tom Hanks in the film, Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn which adds a much more "real world" perspective on the proceedings. The documentary package on disc 2 is excellent with a 58 minute piece on the real flight of Apollo 13, a 48 minute NASA piece looking at a wider history of spaceflight, and a 12 minute US television piece about the mission including short interviews with some of those involved.

This is one of my favourite movies! Starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon and an all star cast. It has been less than a year since man first walked on the moon, but as far as the american public were concerned, Apollo 13 was just another 'routine' space flight. Until these words peirced the imense void of space: 'Houston we have a problem'. stranded 205,000 miles from Earth in a crippled Spacecraft astronauts Jim Lovell (Hanks) Fred Haise (Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Bacon) fight a desperate battle to survive. Flight director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and a heroic ground crew race againt time-and the odds- to bring the 3 men home. It's a breathtaking adventure that tells a story of courage, faith, and ingenuity thats all the more remarkable becuse it is true! The special effects are pretty darn cool. I can't believe that none of the footage of the liftoff is completely original. If you want to demonstrate the power of your home system, this is the chapter for you. Its got amazing sound and visuals. I also love the fact that in the interior spacecraft scenes they are actually floating around in there, and not held up by wires (They did this using a KC-135 weightless environment aircraft). It definitely adds more credibility to this film. The movie is overall fantastic accomopainied by great music from James Horner(who did Titanic and the Perfect Storm). In my opinion, anyone who likes great movies or who is interested in space flight or adventure SHOULD BUY THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!! You won't regret it!