Yet another Ron Howard movie that doesn't dig very deep...

Rating: 6/10 (7 August 2005)

True story adapted from the book "First Moon" by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kruger about a trio of astronauts (headed by Lovell, played here by Tom Hanks) who encounter disaster in space while on 1970 lunar mission. The public's indifference and the finger-pointing at NASA get the short shrift in favor of the hand-wringing wives--an excruciating subplot--and the outer space camaraderie (leave it to director Ron Howard to turn even the most harrowing circumstance into a warm fuzzy). Good performances and an undeniably emotional climax make "Apollo 13" worth-watching, but the film is fairly humorless, and technical without being particularly enlightening. **1/2 from ****