Thirteen is Bad Luck in Apollo 13 (1995)

I've been meaning to see Apollo 13 for ages! For some reason I would just keep forgetting about it. That became a little different after the recent release of Apollo 18 which has had Apollo mission and general moon landing talk everywhere. I finally made the call to step up to the plate and watch the Ron Howard directed, Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon starring juggernaut of a film. I had pretty high expectations, and remember that I just saw Apollo 18 which has the same look, but done with cutting edge special effects. Can this 11 year old movie hold up in the visuals department? My thoughts after the jump.


For those who somehow don't know, the story is a dramatic retelling of what really happened during the troubled Apollo 13 flight. Not that any of this was a secret, I just mean that none of this was made up just for the film. Apollo 13 was originally planned as another mission to land on the moon, but after a catastrophic malfunction resulting in an explosion aboard the spacecraft, the mission changed to one of survival; to simply get the 3 astronauts aboard home safely.

Preparing for lift off

I always knew Tom Hanks was in Apollo 13, but I figured he was the big name of the whole picture. Turns out I was wrong as there was also Bill Paxton (Aliens), Kevin Bacon (everything), and a personal favorite to see, Ed Harris (The Abyss). While not as famous as the rest, I was also pleased with the performance of Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly, who I recognized from CSI: NY. Hanks as Jim Lowell, did a great job as usual, but this time I bought him more as this character than say his role in Road to Perdition. I thought Kevin Bacon as Jack Swigart, would have a larger role than he did; he actually didn't have that many lines, but he was good as the "rookie" member of the time. Bill Paxton took a much more forward role as Fred Haise, and I thought he was really good. Ed Harris really stood out for me though, with some solid scenes as Gene Kranz, the Flight Director struggling to keep everything and everyone together to bring those aboard the Odyssey module home.

Ed Harris was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar for his role as Gene Kranz

Ok, so before I get to anything else, I want to talk about the special effects. This film used computer effects to show the launch of the rocket and many other scenes, like the decent back into Earth's atmosphere. For the most part they still hold up, which is pretty amazing. I can't believe what it must have been like to see this film in the theater when it came out, and nothing existed that looked like this. The problem that time has laid upon the film though, is that the graphics sometimes look too sharp. Basically, they tend to stand out just a little too much from the backgrounds, giving away was is real and what isn't. Even so, I only noticed this a few times and it is still pretty subtle, but I wonder if the problem could be even more noticeable in an HD version (I watched an old DVD, not a blu-ray). On the practical side, all the scenes of the astronauts once they are in space worked really well. They all flipped, floated and tossed items all in perfect weightlessness. Of course I know now how this is possible, but it still looks really cool and makes it all that much more believable.

What hasn't aged, and still holds up amazingly well though, was the music. The score is so sweeping and emotional that it really boosts and adds to many of the scenes. I don't always notice a score or a musical track in a film, but when I do I know it's really good. No surprise then to find out it was nominated for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score, and also won the Oscar for Best Sound.

All the weightless scenes looked flawless

I really liked Apollo 13 and it actually does put Apollo 18 to shame. Of course they're not nearly the same style of movie, so that has some baring on the final films. I think the difference for me is that I like seeing the weightlessness scenes more than the just walking around on the moon scenes. Interesting note, 13 does have a scene on the moon when Jim Lowell imagines what it could have been like if the mission didn't have such a failure. What I wanted to note is that the "on moon" scenes of 18 looked a lot better than the scene with Tom Hanks. Even so, I just enjoyed the more dramatic, traditional take of 13 than the thriller/horror "found footage" style of 18. While 18 will only appeal to a certain kind of audience, 13 seems like a film that almost everyone can enjoy. If you haven't seen Apollo 13, I definitely recommend it! I'll admit thought that the crew of Apollo 13 is probably better off not having gone to the moon, now that I know what's really up there. ;)