Not a sequel to Rocky...

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2009)

That's what a friend of mine thought when it was originally released!! Apollo 13 has great potential, but Ron Howard's paint-by-numbers directorial style make this a plodding, documentary-esquire TV movie. In the hands of Spielberg, Cameron or Zemeckis, say, this could have been a nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat adventure. Even the coda lacks genuine thrills because the opening credits state the movie is based on the book by Jim Lovell, Tom Hanks' character.
Only good performances, particularly Ed Harris' director of operations, and a very good screenplay, filled with some great one-liners, give it appeal.