Apollo 13
Tags: mystery, boring, dramatic, claustrophobic, suspenseful, historical

Plot synopsis:
The film starts on July 20, 1969, in the home of astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks). Jim and a number of other NASA families are gathered to watch the moon walk by Apollo 11's astronauts. Later on, Jim contemplates how close he came to the moon when he was orbiting it on Apollo 8, and thinks about one day setting foot on the moon, as his wife Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan) tries to keep from thinking of her husband going off on another mission.Some months later, Jim is informed that due to an ear-infection by one of the Apollo 13 crew, he and his crew members have been bumped up to become the Prime Crew for the mission. Marilyn has some misgivings, given the shortened schedule (and that the mission number is 13), but Jim is confident they'll be ready.Jim works with his crew members Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), and the three seem well prepared for their mission. It is shortly before the launch, that Marilyn hints to Jim about her misgivings about the flight, but Jim assures her she's going to miss a great show.After their discussion, Jim and his crew members attend a small press conference, where they discuss the different ways that the number '13' has worked into the launch (Apollo 13, launching at 1300 hours and 13 minutes, and orbiting the moon on April 13th). Jim also surprises the press and the crew, when he declares that the mission will also be his last.With days before the mission, the Flight Surgeon reveals that one of the backups has the measles, and the crew has been exposed to it. The Flight Surgeon feels that since Ken Mattingly has not had the measles before, he is in serious risk of becoming sick during the mission. Jim is then given a choice: he can have Ken Mattingly replaced with his backup, Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), or the Apollo 13 crew as a whole can be pushed back to a later mission. Though he is upset by the choices, Jim chooses to replace Ken.The crew continues to train in the simulator, though they are not as confident in Jack's piloting skills as Ken's. Even so, Jim promises they'll be ready for the launch.On the day of the launch, Ken watches from a distance, as the rocket takes off, with Marilyn Lovell and Fred Haise's wife Mary (Tracy Reiner) in attendance near the launch site.Eventually, the crew are able to successfully dock the Command Module with the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module), Swigert's piloting skills be up to the task, and the mission continues toward the Moon. The crew also broadcasts a video of being inside the craft, but due to feelings that moon missions aren't exciting anymore, none of the television networks carry the transmission.Shortly after the video feed, the crew makes some 'housekeeping procedures' on the ship, Jim Swigert is asked to stir the oxygen tanks. Suddenly, a loud bang is heard, and the ship begins to pitch out of control, with the system buttons lighting up, and the oxygen tanks beginning to fail.Mission Control (led by Gene Kranz (Ed Harris)) springs into action, attempting to find some way to stop the leak. At the insistence of EECOM member Sy Liebergot (Clint Howard), it is suggested to shut down the fuel cells to prevent further leakage. However, this move comes at a price: with the fuel cells closed, that means the chance to land on the moon will not go through. The procedure is met with some trepidation by Jim Lovell, but the crew makes the move...only for the oxygen level in the Command Module to continue to plummet.With 15 minutes of oxygen remaining in the Command Module, an emergency transfer is made to transfer computer information and the astronauts into the LEM, utilizing it as a lifeboat.Eventually, the crew are secure in the LEM, and Gene Kranz and his men attempt to figure out the best way to bring the men home. While some are for a 'direct abort' (having the crew turn the ship around and head back to Earth immediately) using the Command Module, Gene says it's too risky to light its engine, as they don't know to what extent the 'explosion' that was reported has affected the craft. The plan is for the moon's gravity to slingshot the crew around, and once they come around, they'll fire up the LEM's engine to send them home. The men who designed the LEM do caution that their craft was not designed for what is being proposed, let alone holding 3 men instead of 2. Even so, Gene insists it's the only option they have that's workable.Meanwhile, Marilyn Lovell attempts to keep herself together and be strong for her family. At one point NASA media spokesman Henry Hunt (Xander Berkeley) asks Marilyn if the news stations can set up an antenna on her front lawn. She harshly refuses, saying that they can talk to Jim himself after he comes home.On the craft, the crew passes into the dark side of the moon, and soon passes back around. Though Haise and Swigert are excited to see their landing site below and Jim imagines his own walk on the moon's surface, Jim informs them that they still need to prepare to return home.It is during this time, that the men at Mission Control have determined that there's only 45 hours worth of power left on the craft, which is not enough to bring them home. This information is corrected by John Young (Ben Marley), who insists that they are using more power than the calculations have estimated. John says that the crew has to shut off nearly everything, and get the use of power down to 12 Amps (aka amperes). Gene approves, but then tells the others to do further research, including simulator time to work on a re-entry procedure.Ken Mattingly, who'd isolated himself at home and had missed all the news about the mission being crippled, is called in, and begins to do simulator work. Ken figures that if they can eliminate unneeded procedures from the checklist, he can most likely get the men back with the limited power they have. He orders the simulator team to give him the same conditions and equipment that the Odyssey crew has and begins to work long hours without any breaks to figure out a procedure.Shortly after, a new problem is found when it is determined that all three men in the LEM is using up more oxygen and producing more carbon dioxide than expected. Fred Haise realizes that he made an error when he calculated oxygen reserves for only himself and Jim since they were going to be the only 2 using the LEM. The ground team realizes that the LEM filters are round, and the only other filters on the craft (for the Command Module) are square. A team is put together to create a filtration system from the limited supplies on the craft itself. The team works feverishly to build a new filter and succeeds in relaying the procedure to Lovell's crew and cleansing the air on the Odyssey.When it is determined the crew needs to do a 'manual burn' to correct their trajectory back to Earth, Jim and the crew time a difficult 30-second burn using only rudimentary physics: the course computer had to be shut down to conserve battery power and they can only navigate by using one of the LEM's windows by keeping the Earth positioned in it. The burn is successful.With their course corrected, Jim and the crew are eager for the re-entry procedure, but are told that it is still being completed. However, there is some hope when Ken Mattingly's name is mentioned. The crew are cold since the heaters had to be shut down and Haise begins to feel ill.Ken has streamlined his work as best he can, but the procedure is still going over by 4 amps. It is then that Ken proposes that some of the excess power still in LEM can be reversed into the Command Module. Though power will be lost in the transfer, the amperage needed is found to be enough to complete the procedure without the system losing power.Ken and his cohorts quickly rush over to Mission Control with the procedure. Ken helps guide Jack Swigert through the power-up, while Jim and Fred add ballast into the Command Module pod, which is underweight since the planned addition of moon rocks from the mission did not happen.The crew then jettisons the lower portion of the command module. As it drifts off, the astronauts record what they see: a entire panel of the craft was blown out, and may have damaged the heat shield of the Command Module pod, creating a new potential problem that the Odyssey won't be able to survive the intense temperature of re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.Eventually, the LEM is cut loose, and the crew prepares for re-entry. Meanwhile, around the world, numerous people wait to see if the three men will make it back. Friends and relatives of Marilyn gather at her home to watch the news coverage.As the men begin their re-entry, contact is lost, and a countdown to 3 minutes begins (the average time it takes astronauts to emerge from 'black out'). However, after 3 minutes, no word is heard when Ken Mattingly radios the crew. The time then stretches into 4 1/2 minutes, before suddenly, Jim Lovell's voice is heard, and a video feed shows the capsule with its parachutes deployed. The men are quickly recovered, and taken aboard the USS Iwo Jima, to the cheers of numerous crew.In a voice-over, Jim explains that their mission was called "a successful failure," in that they returned safely, but didn't make it to the moon. It is also revealed that the cause of the explosion was a damaged coil in the oxygen tank that exploded which had been determined a 'minor defect' months before Lovell was named captain of the ship.A summary is then given of the lives of several other people:- Fred Haise was scheduled to be on Apollo 18, but due to budget cuts, his mission never came.- Jack Swigert left NASA and was elected to Congress for the State of Colorado, but died of cancer before taking office.- Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as commander of Apollo 16, and flew the Space Shuttle (having never gotten the measles).- Gene Kranz retired as head of Mission Control in the mid-90's.As stated to the press, Jim's time aboard Apollo 13 was his last space mission. Even so, he hopes that one day, NASA will return to the moon.

Review: Ed Harris excels, as does Tom Hanks - and Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon are each superb in their roles.The most wonderful thing about this movie is that it encompasses so many parts and peoples, and appeals to so many, that by the last reel you feel that if they don't make it through, you have lost some of your closest friends.In short: a minor masterpiece..
Except for some language problems, it's good storytelling and so interesting that it made me want to study the real Apollo 13 astronauts.The movie is fairly long at 140 minutes and there is not much "action" but there is a lot of suspense and first-rating acting, both of which should keep anyone's interest.
By the way, one of the young Lovell children was played by Miko Hughes, who became a co- star in a film - "Mercury Rising" - several years later.For such a tense story, with these astronauts lives on the line, none of the astronauts or people at NASA or anyone's family members are ever seeing praying throughout this ordeal!
The movie really has done a good job on showing how inventive people can be in times of need, and on recreating the emotions that the crew, their families and the people in the flight command center had to go through.If you ask me, the film really was at its best as soon as the crew was actually taking off in their rocket.
APOLLO 13 (1995) ***1/2 Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan, Ed Harris, Loren Dean, Clint Howard.
Exhilarating and absorbing true life account of the 1970 mishap of the American space program's Apollo 13 that nearly became a tragic catastrophe based on astronaut and team leader Jim Lovell's novel "Lost Moon".
right for Apollo 13 in particular because it's one of those movies that was at the 80s-90s Hollywood aesthetic crossroad.The zero-gravity scenes in the Apollo 13 are still remarkable today thanks to the little 'trick' the filmmakers used to make it seem like the actors were really in space: controlling the trajectory of a plane by having it fly up and down in a way that they emulated the 'weightlessness' the astronauts experienced during the near-disaster that was Apollo 13.
Gravity could almost be interpreted as a plot-point in the story: it shows that the Apollo 13's situation nearly spun right out of control and that without the help of NASA they wouldn't have been able to focus on their rescue effort; this essentially makes Apollo 13 a disaster movie that has three astronauts trying their damnedest to come back home: dear old planet Earth.Apollo 13 is a classic for good reason: its sensual direction, the characters, the music and the space sequences are the stuff of cinematic dreams.
Other documentaries tell the same story, but this 1995 version, directed by Ron Howard, is a must-see masterpiece.The lead character of mission commander Jim Lovell is played by Tom Hanks.
I have almost studied it frame by frame for the unusual camera angles and another time for the pacing of humor to make the tension bearable.I'm not sure I'll ever grasp all the magnificence of this movie, but I think if I keep trying, all my storytelling will improve.Ultimately, there's something for everyone in this film, so watch if you haven't seen it.
It would have been easy for Howard to use stock footage of real NASA missions, but all sequences are recreated by the makers with astonishingly impacting results, thus adding authenticity to the palpable tension when things go belly up.Howard was wise in his choice of leading man, who better than Tom Hanks {Jim Lovell, who's memoirs the script worked from} to portray a bastion of Americana?, nobody, because Hanks is perfect, as are Bill Paxton {Fred Haise} and Kevin Bacon {John Swigart} sitting either side of Hanks, a couple of bona fide solid and respected actors you could not have wished to have.
If you don't believe me, check out the photos of the actual Lovell, Haise and Swiggert.I heavily question the wisdom of casting Hanks and Bacon as astronauts, since NASA usually chooses real men, not pansies like these two Hollywood phonies.
Apollo 13 is a truly thrilling film from start to finish as we watch the wonders as well as the risks of outer space come alive.Apollo 13 is a prime example of the Hollywood machine at work, but this time it produces fantastic results.
Meanwhile, the film rounds up an all star cast with Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinse, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, and many more.
The best moments, as a result, are those at Mission Control in Houston, and the near documentary flavor of these scenes generates surprising tension for such a familiar scenario (facts aside, the outcome is never in doubt: high caliber stars like Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon would never be allowed the indignity of a slow death in outer space).
Too bad the suspense is then diluted by constant cross-cutting to flight commander Jim Lovell's anxious family: Kathleen Quinlan may in fact be the real hero of the film for enduring such a thankless token role (Mrs. Lovell's lonely vigil was certainly every bit as brave as her husband's ordeal, but it belongs in another movie altogether).
But Apollo 13 was famous for nearly ending in disasters, but NASA was able to prevent it.After the success of the Apollo 11 mission veteran astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) and his crew Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) are assigned to the Apollo 13 mission to the moon.
On Earth there is also a personal drama involving the families of the astronauts, led by Marilyn Lovell (Kathleen Quinlan), who can only watch on TV and pray that their husbands can come back to Earth safely.Ron Howard is easily on of the biggest hit and miss director's in Hollywood.
He uses some excellent special effects, has some wonderful camera, shots in real locations and uses low gravity, a good use of real news footage and after a slow build up makes a interesting and exciting film about how NASA got the astronauts back against the odds.
But despite these good aspects, the film does have a very overwhelming score which wasn't needed.There is also a good cast to the film, Tom Hanks, who is very good in the film, Kathleen Quinlan was also very good, Ed Harris, an actor I like, Gary Sinise in one of his better performances, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon.
Nothing about space in this film seems like science-fiction and for all the technical jargon, it's really easy to follow, resulting an a deeply moving film.It might be like "Titanic," where you know that the ship is going to sink in the end, but still, "Apollo 13" moves you through its characters and the way the story is told.
The premise surrounds the historic "successful failure" of the Apollo 13 shuttle's attempt to land on the moon, a mission lead by Jim Lovell, played by Tom Hanks, whose patience and poise make him a fascinating character.
These actors suck you in to the last detail of what's going on, the great screenplay pads that with actual media coverage of the event to convey a sense of how the world is feeling, and then Ron Howard steps in to make the transitions flawless (with the help his Oscar-winning editors) There are times where a scene will show in the shuttle, in Houston, inside Lovell's family's home, at the nursing home where his mother lives, etc.
That is what makes this film a great space film: space is simply a new place for disaster drama to play out and make us wonder about the implications of being in danger so far from home."Apollo 13" doesn't have all the suspense that a film with a lesser publicly known outcome has, but it certainly gets you riding its emotional train to triumph.
Other notable cast members are Ed Harris, who plays the military-like Gene Kranz; Kathleen Quinlan (playing Marilyn Lovell, Jim Lovell's wife); and Kevin Bacon (playing Jack Swigert), the backup command module pilot for Ken Mattingly.The movie is quick, with a lot of technical terms.
This is the greatest true story movie ever created.The effects are just amazing, I would actually believe that they are actually filming in space if no one told me it was a movie.The acting is spot on and everyone does a magnificent job of portraying their character, a lot of them actually look alike which I found funny, you could really see the emotion each actor was putting in to the movie, spot on.The director obviously has a lot of skill as this movie looks more like invisible camera drones have filmed real life events, you know a movie is good when you can't tell that it is fake.Overall a majestic piece of artwork that all space fans (and movie fans) should watch..
Every year on Oscar night, rather than get bored to tears watching Hollywood's annual display of self-indulgence and this year, self-loathing...I put on a truly great movie that has withstood the test of time and last night I throughly enjoyed another viewing of "Apollo 13." How this didn't win a a best movie or best director for Ron Howard and only pulls a 7.6 on IMDb is beyond me, but once again I sat absolutely mesmerized for 2:20 to watch this tale of the near disaster and rescue of this manned space mission to the moon.
Howard captures the drama and tension of the event and the teamwork and dedication of all involved with the space program.Excellent performances by Hanks, Paxton and Bacon as the crew of A13, Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly, who was scrubbed from mission at the last minute but selflessly did so much to help the crew make it back.
Ed Harris was stellar as Gene Kranz, the Mission Control flight director as was Kathleen Quinlan, playing Marilyn Lovell, wife of A13 commander Jim Lovell.And after viewing this again I realized that we have had a couple generations of Americans (those under 50)grow without having experienced and seen the excitement and pride virtually all of us shared in the manned space programs, that climaxed with the moon landings in 69 and the early 70's.
I wish those who were younger (and not foolish enough to believe these accomplishments were not real; tainting a great period of investing in our technological future) would look at it and learn from it and what this nation is capable of when its population is working and leadership strong with some true vision can accomplish.I think this was a well made movie and Ron Howard did a great job of capturing the important aspects of the events around this mission.
Ron Howard the gifted actor/director creates a real-life historical drama with this film called " Apollo 13.
" Nearly a quarter of a million miles into space, the astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and rookie Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) experience a major explosion aboard this space craft and within minutes realize they may not only not reach the moon, but are in danger of dying before they get there.
i remember watching this film eons ago,and thinking it was horrible.in fact,i even fell asleep while watching it.however,i decided to revisit it a few days ago and had the exact opposite reaction.this time,i thought it was brilliant.i thought the story flowed perfectly,and the tension mounted at just the right tempo and hung there until the very end.the acting was spot on.and the music added the perfect atmosphere.i haven't seen too many Ron Howard film's,but this is one of the best that i have seen of his.i would encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to check it out.who knows,you might be surprised,for me Apollo 13 is a 9/10.
From using the real newsreel footage covering the entire event to realistic images of space, Howard has created a perfect realization that captures the tension and especially the drama.As for the casting, nothing could be more flawless with the casting of Tom Hanks as astronaut Jim Lovell (by the way, the real Jim Lovell actually makes a cameo somewhere in the film) who dreams of the stars and sees the chance to reach it when he is tasked to be one of the astronauts manning the Apollo 13 mission.
Kathleen Quinlan, however, provides what may be the film's more challenging performance as Lovell's wife Barbara, who experiences the dread, fear and drama back on earth as his husband and two of his companions are trapped inside the bowels of the crippled ship Odyssey, slowly running out of fuel and oxygen, aiding the help of Mission Control, led by Gene Kranz (Ed Harris), back at NASA.The pacing is a little slow during the first hour, but everything picks up real quickly as Howard jump-starts the tragic events.
With his performance as Jim Lovell in "Apollo 13," Tom Hanks has proven he is the best actor in Hollywood and makes "Apollo 13" one of the greatest space films ever made.Hanks is joined by Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris and Bill Paxton as the astronauts and flight crew on the doomed mission.
The performances by each main character made "Apollo 13" one of the best films of the 1990s.The performances given by Tom Hanks and Kathleen Quinlan were among the best because they didn't have to act much to convince me that this was really happening to Jim and Marilyn Lovell.
You can't mention these two without mentioning what a wonderful directing job Ron Howard did as he put together the greatest compelation of talent in the best film of 1995."Apollo 13 is acted, directed and written to perfection.
Just purchased the Collector's Edition DVD, and I'm somewhat ashamed of myself for a) waiting this long and b) buying it used.This was my first time viewing the film digitally (after seeing it once in the theater and countless times on VHS) and I must say that, with the DVD format's perfect picture & sound quality, I felt like I was seeing this perfect film for the very first time!As someone who has followed the Space Program closely all his life, I consider this to be the most accurate depiction of manned spaceflight ever committed to film, and feel it should be considered an historical document, rather than "just a movie".It breaks my heart when I see comments from uninformed & uninspired individuals, who come out of the woodwork for the sole purpose of spitting bile on this masterpiece, inventing flaws where none exist.I know how NASA personnel behave and communicate, and these performances were absolutely flawless.
Watching the problems the crew are faced with, and the solutions they come up with (with a little help from their friends at Houston) makes me proud to be a human being - that's the effect this film has on me.Then I think of the layers of bureaucracy and mismanagement that have since come to represent NASA, and I wonder if a similar crew would survive if they faced the same problems today.The story itself is standard fare - a group of people must overcome technical obstacles and personal differences in order to survive in the face of unlikely odds - but you're never allowed to forget that it all happened for real.
Luckily for Apollo 13, Ron Howard - a Lucas protege - decided to stick to a more realistic subject matter than those caped crusaders or moist Mad Maxes.With the help of Cameron's effects company Digital Domain and the Midas touch of Tom Hanks (as Jim Lovell), Howard brought to the big screen a gripping tale of three astronauts trying to get back to earth when all hell breaks loose on their eponymous spacecraft.On a critical level, Apollo 13 succeeded where so many other movies failed by spending a little more time on the characters than on the derivative eye candy.
Watching how the crew at NASA - led by the excellent Ed Harris - solve the problem of getting the desperate astronauts back home with next to no fuel and far from compliant equipment will leave your heart in your mouth.Although the third act was written in reality 30 years ago, Howard has you gripped throughout, partly because he went to extraordinary lengths to achieve a degree of realism for the movie.
While effects could successfully remove any wires holding up actors these days, many of the zero gravity effects were achieved by taking cast and crew up in a special aircraft and then filming certain scenes while the plane went into a zero G nose-dive.If you're a gadgets whiz, then chances are you'll already be watching in ear shattering stereo but if not then it might be time to invest in the relevant equipment - if only for that launch scene.As Apollo 13's engines fire and ice breaks away from the body of the craft, you'll be slack of jaw as the sound crew give you the sort of experience only usually possible by strapping your head to the space shuttle.For that alone, it's an unmissable experience.
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 story chronicles a true event where a space mission had problems and the astronauts had to scrape their moon landing and just figure a way to get back home and it has some interesting moments.
Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" is an innovative and interesting film that is dramatic in spite of the fact we already know what's going to happen.
Full credit to director Ron Howard and his brilliant ensemble cast of wonderfully talented performers.Apollo 13 tells the story of a 1970 American space mission gone terribly wrong.
Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, the movie follows the three astronauts of Apollo 13 trying to get home safely with the help of their ground crew, including a subplot with one of the astronaut's wives waiting for him to get home.