The Luckiest Crew with the Unlucky 13

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2015)

Tom Hanks plays Jim Lovell in this space epic retelling the real life story of the Apollo 13 Mission. When fortune gives Jim the chance to actually walk on the moon after the successes of the Apollo 11 & 12, he jumps on it, though he is only given 6 weeks to prepare. He works alongside 2 of the best men to be ready for the mission, but a medical emergency causes a team change at the last minute, which replaces a member of Lovell's crew with a man without much training just 2 days before the flight. Together, these three men travel into space, where everything seems to be going OK. That is, until a major explosion causes massive damage to the Oxygen tanks, and overall ship. To survive, the men must preserve what little oxygen remains, what little fuel remains, and what little power remains to slingshot around the moon and reenter the Earth. This movie is accurate in its portrayal of the time period as well as its source material: the real Apollo mission. The actors all played their parts beautifully, with special credit given to Tom Hanks, who, in my opinion, is incapable of doing a bad job in a role. The special effects continue to hold up really nicely. This is an epic and a classic. A must-see film.
10/10