Apollo 13 Review

        It’s rare for a moment to happen and think that it only happens in a movie. Apollo 13 proves that idea wrong. An event where NASA hadn’t prepared for and didn’t think could happen in a worse place imaginable. The movie is considered one of the best, by how accurate it was in terms of NASA lingo and the many ways the men at Mission Control tried to bring the crew of the failed flight back home. 

1. Successful Failure

        The phrase is a perfect example of what an oxymoron is. To put it simply, I think it fits with the whole mission when its presented in the movie. Seeing just how much the trio of astronauts train and the last-minute change in the line-up. Tom Hanks does a great job of playing the lead as Jim Lovell. No actor had a great decade in terms of acting than Hanks. He was everywhere, and he has that aspect about him where he can be the guy. 

        It wouldn’t be a film about space travel without Ed Harris. I think that his performance was so good in The Right Stuff, that director Ron Howard gave him the role because he’s the on earth counterpart with everyone reporting to him. Before I talk about what goes on in the failed flight, I just love what happens in Mission Control. It's the constant communication where everyone is on top of what they're supposed to be looking at.  

        As soon as the event happens, everybody scrambles but not panicking. Harris’ character calls a meeting to figure out how to bring the crew back. I just love this scene since for one thing, everyone’s smart. They spitball ideas but I just love Harris’ tone and challenge for them to conjure a plan. The best scene is when a small crew of guys create a makeshift device out of just leftover equipment they had lying around. 

        Those moments represent the overall themes of the movie. Adapting and persevering or managing to control what they can control. This is something where it can be easily relatable to anyone who has that moment where they can only control what they can during chaos. When we see the Lunar Module blow up, the astronauts all remain calm. Managing to be reasonable and levelheaded. Anyone will lose their minds if something unexpectedly happens. 

        It just sets up the overall tension for the astronauts’ families watching to see what’s going on. I appreciate that the film is committed to the time era via the news broadcast and we get to see bits of the NASA guys sleeping and working around the clock. Prior to that, there’s a certain dread where everything gets changed or something unexpectedly happens. To me, it sets up what’ll happen, but I’ll admit its on the nose when Lovell’s Corvett is acting up on a drive. 

        One last thing, this is one of those rare underdog movies where everyone shines in the darkest moment. We don’t a single scene where a fix comes in and the problem goes away. There are bits in the film where there’s another problem that impedes the astronauts from building a makeshift device. That’s where one of the themes comes in. 

2. Lost Astronauts 

        The thing that makes the trio of astronauts work as characters is that they are human. Like duh right? We see them as heroes in the film, but what I like is that we see more personality and that gets the best of them. Aside from Lovell and Bill Paxton’s Fred being chummy, they have a subtle discontent with Kevin Bacon’s Jack Swigert. 

        Through Swigert pressing the button, it unintentionally ruptures a tank inside the space craft. While we see the three of them working together and hearing Mission Control’s plans, I love the moments where they get frustrated. It shows that in an obvious situation they are vulnerable. Just the shots of the trio together show that Jim and Fred are close, while we see Jack slightly out of the duo. 

        Now, when watching the movie, you’ve wondered how they managed to pull off the convincing zero gravity. Obviously, they didn’t go to space since it would be a tough sell to the government. In fact, NASA has a specific plane that gives Astronauts a tiny glimpse into weightlessness. Dubbed the Vomit Comet, the plane was used for the interior of the lunar module. From what I read, they had about 20 seconds to experience zero Gs. Which meant that you could probably tell that the footage they used was cobbled together as a way to show its one scene. 

3. Overall 

        Apollo 13 is considered the best in terms of Space Flight movies. Everything is perfect enough where it can be pulled off as an in-depth documentary.