APOLLO 13. Directed by Ron Howard; written by William Broyles, Jr. and Al Reinert; produced by Brian Grazer for Universal. Starring Tom Hanks, Gary Senise, Kathleen Quinlan, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon. Rated PG.
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What is the world coming to? I waited in a much longer line to see Apollo 13 than to see Batman Forever. Could it be that truly adult entertainment is making a comeback?
Now, to be sure, Apollo 13 's special effects are every bit as impressive as Batman 's. But they are in the service of realism here, and are adjunct to a really terrific story played out by first-class performers. Unlike in several other movies I could mention.
This movie's title tells you all you need to know about the plot. That is, if you're old enough to remember the near-tragic 1970 moon mission that went awry. A mysterious explosion scrapped plans to land on the moon and turned the operation into a desperate battle to get the three astronauts home.
Apollo 13 gives us the whole story (at least, it seems that nothing of significance was left out). It takes its time, both in setting up the situation, and in playing it out. We understand the events from the standpoint of the astronauts, their families, and the space program itself, which, after the dramatic first moon landing the year before, is beginning to seem routine to the public and to Congress.
Although the movie's pace is deliberate, it never seems slow. Part of that success is due to the excellent performances (Hanks couldn't possibly win three Oscars in a row, could he?), part due to flawless byplay between the astronaut, family, and Mission Control locations, and part to the entertainment value of a perfectly-realized era.
And once the explosion occurs, even the most action-picture- addicted viewer in the audience will be glued to his seat. The astronauts in their tiny craft seem so fragile, so vulnerable, their return to the safety of earth so beset by difficulties as to be impossible to imagine. Who says suspense needs car chases and flashy weaponry?
A can-do, feel-good movie of the first order, Apollo 13 just may end up being art influencing life. A friend of mine remarked that we should be able to go to Mars with all the hardware at our disposal now, if those guys (and they were all guys, you notice) could manage such an incredible rescue without even calculators! What do you say, NASA?
July 12, 1995