Dull, Dull, Dull

Rating: 6/10 (17 October 2018)

I couldn't wait to see this movie, having grown up in the fifties and sixties wanting to be an astronaut myself. It's how I wound up a cadet at West Point which is where I was when Apollo 11 made its miraculous journey to the moon. I remember the excitement when we marched from our barracks in the middle of the night to go watch the landing. I remember the awe as we sat in the North Auditorium transfixed on the largest tv screen I'd ever seen as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface. Unfortunately there was very little of that excitement or awe in this movie. I don't know where the filmmakers went wrong, but I suspect it's because they failed to capture the context. In the world of 1969 landing on the moon was an extraordinary reality altering event. It was beyond our collective imagination. There was nothing mundane, tedious or remotely boring about it or the amazing people who pulled it off. The same cannot be said of this film.