A gripping real-life story of a near disaster in space

Rating: 9/10 (21 July 2017)

On the 21st of July 1969 man first walked on the moon; that was the Apollo 11 mission, a few months later NASA is preparing for the third mission to the moon; Apollo 13. That mission is to be flown by Apollo 8 veteran Jim Lovell, Ken Mattingly and Fred Haise, who were originally due to fly the Apollo 14 mission. They train for the flight then, a matter of days before the launch, Mattingly is grounded because he may have the measles. He is replaced by standby astronaut Jack Swigert. This isn't the last of their problems by a long way. There is a problem with a rocket shortly after launch but that doesn't threaten the mission. Three days later when all appears to be going well Mission Control orders Swigert to stir the oxygen tanks; something goes wrong and there is an explosion. It soon becomes clear that they will not be landing on the moon; success will just be getting back to Earth. Everything from now on is far from routine as the crew, and those on the ground must solve problems that had never been envisaged.
Given that this film is based on real events and I knew how it ultimately ended it is surprisingly gripping. The depiction of the events in space are particularly good; we get a real feel of what the crew are going through as conditions in their cramped living quarters deteriorates. Even those who know how the story ends are likely to learn new details such as the way everybody on the ground worked to find solutions to the various unforeseen problems and Mattingly tries out various ideas on a simulator. The biggest revelation for me was the fact that until things went wrong the American public seemed so indifferent to the mission so much so that the crew's broadcast from space wasn't aired by the TV networks. The cast does a fine job; Tom Hanks is great as Lovell and is ably supported by Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon as crewmates Haise and Swigert. Those 'on the ground' impress to; most notably Ed Harris as mission controller Gene Kranz and Gary Sinise as Mattingly. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody interested in the Apollo 13 story or gripping tales of men struggling to overcome adversity in general.