Review of Apollo 18 (2011) by Krisstolliday14 — 11 Aug 2016

Riffing off the current hype of found footage movies, Apollo 18 fails to build any of the suspense of tension that earlier instalments, such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, had in abundance.

What we get instead is ninety minutes of not a lot. It takes plenty of time to get going, then nothing really happens, and then it ends. It feels overly drawn out considering it is a short movie but what it should be is a fifteen minute short movie that really nails the premise.

There is potential. During one scene the film felt claustrophobic despite being set in the vastness of space. This is a feat that suggested greater things to come and despite the odd jump it doesn't bring anything good let alone great.

There is nothing to the characters giving any emotional appeal or empathy to their plight. Maybe this is because their situation is one we will never find ourselves in?! As the film plods on there are no great escapes, no dices with death, no challenge for our characters to overcome, meaning we are left with something rather dull.

The story could work however the found footage idea and the lack of depth suggest this shouldn't be a cinema release and instead a short movie watched online.