Movie #198: Apollo 13

Movie #: 198
Movie Title: Apollo 13
Year Released: 1995

Director: Ron Howard
Notable Cast: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, Chris Ellis

Short Description: Three astronauts must devise a strategy to return to Earth safely after their spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage. (IMDB.com)

Rank on the Top 100 Lists

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #74
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A

Date Watched: 7/23/2013

What I Liked: I swear, if I didn’t know I was watching a movie, I may have thought that this was actual footage from the space shuttle and NASA. Having not been alive in 1970 I can’t vouch for its historical accuracy, but as far as I’m aware this is a spot on account of the Apollo 13 mission. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, and Gary Sinise were so into their roles that they had me believing they were real astronauts and Ed Harris displayed total command of his scenes as the head of Mission Control. Even after having seen this movie countless times, when the astronauts finally come out of radio silence during splash down and Mission Control erupts with cheers, I can’t help but get a little emotional along with Ed Harris’ character.

What I Disliked: While no movie is perfect, I struggle to find something I didn’t like about Apollo 13. If I had to choose something, even if it is a bit picky, it might be that the first half an hour was a little too slow paced. Obviously this movie has a ton of story to it that needs to be setup so I don’t really view the pace as a fault of writing but as a necessary evil of developing characters and situations.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding)
Rationale: Apollo 13 has always been one of my favorite movies and it’s a shame that six of the seven top 100 lists I used to make my 251 list failed to realize how great it is as well.