Review of Apollo 13 (1995) by Taylor G — 18 Oct 2012

Any space nut or cinemaphile will LOVE this movie! Incredible acting, remarkably historically accurate (if you listen to Jim Lovell's commentary track, you will see little nitpick inaccuracies here and there - ie. his corvette was blue, not red), but what is probably even more remarkable is the special effects. The ENTIRE Saturn V launch sequence is created from scratch! You can see shots that are familiar to you (ie. the close-up of the boosters igniting and sucking in of the exhaust flames), as well as some incredible shots that would have been impossible during an actual launch (ie. what would it have been like if you could have a helicopter shot above the Saturn 5 as it rocketed passed you?). Every single shot was created by the Ron Howard's special effects team. The launch sequence is so good that Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin asked Ron Howard from what vault did he acquire what he thought was stock footage.

What the viewer has to realize is that even though the plot turns play out like a typical Hollywood film, these events REALLY happened (including the panned scene where Marilyn Lovell's ring falls into the shower drain). Therefore, watch this movie and be amazed at the incredible story of how the greatest minds in the world brought three of NASA's finest home.