near perfect

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2003)

This is one of the very few movies that go very deep. This is way beyond entertainment. It is a document, not your average documentary film.

What looks like American patriotism at a first glance is in reality nothing but people rooting for the human race in general. What an achievement to bring back these astronauts alive. I remember the real event. I was age 9.
One of my favorite scenes is when the team of astronauts walk their lonely way into the spacecraft and we see it from a distance. Then we hear a solo trumpet within the wonderful musical score accompanying these men and we are aware of the incredible scope and importance of this mission - and of the incredible courage of a few men.
It is very hard for me to really judge this movie since I always look through the actors and see the real men and the real story behind them.
The special effects are O.K. but we can see clearly that CGI still has a long way to go until it will be able to produce 100% convincing images. Nevertheless the launch sequence is great as we see it from a camera angle that is freely flying through the dramatic event. Hopefully they will replace it in, say, another 10 years - as George Lucas did with the Star Wars trilogy - with better technology when it can be done 100% convincingly.

Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton and Gary Sinise are enjoyable but try a a bit too hard for my taste.
Tom Hanks and Ed Harris are natural talents and enlighten the movie as they always do.