Apollo 13 (Wide Screen) (Special Edition) > Reviews > Houston, There is No Problem!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Brilliant Story and Great Cast
Disadvantages:	Some real emotional parts

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Winner of two academy awards in 1995, Apollo 13 is in no doubt a wonderful film for all ages, (although PG Certified!)

*****Film Overview*****

Imagine Entertainment presents an amazing film produced by Brian Grazer, which is made even more electrifying in this two-disc special edition.

Ron Howard directs and amazing cast, which includes Academy Award Winner, Tom Hanks, alongside Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris, providing an all star cast with amazing acting abilities which bring the film alive.

What can only be described as an intense suspense-thriller which follows the lead up and journey of a supposed routine space flight which goes terribly wrong.

The space shuttle becomes stranded 205,000 miles from Earth, causing the astronaughts to literally fight for their lives whilst the ground crew race against time and all odds to bring them home safely.

This is one of the most breathtaking stories of courage, faith and emotion that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. Right from the start, we, as the audiece, gets sucked into the intense and emotional storyline with the amazing and true to life characters, each played wonderfully by the fantastic actors.

What striked me down as even more amazing, if possible, is that this entire film, with perhaps one exception, is based upon a true story. With this in mind, the story became even more intense and the actors had an even tougher job before them, giving credit to the real life situation, yet I can tell you now, I was not at all disappointed, and I am sure that you won't be either. The great cast, producers, directors and everyone else involved reconstructed this story just perfectly! (and that is no lie!)

Perhaps, to sum up the whole feeling of the film, you could look at the following quote from the film;

"We've never lost an American in space and we're sure as hell not going to lose one on my watch. Failure is not an option."

*****Historical Accuracy*****

As this film is based on a true story, which many of you might be interested in, I wanted to bring in some details on the technical and historical accuracy of the film.

Based on the dramatic true event during the Space Race, an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975, yet there was one specific disaster in which this whole film is based upon.

It is reported that the majority of this film is as accurate as it possibly could be, except for enhancing it for dramatical effect and the line 'Housten we have a problem', which has become one of the most well known phrases in popular film, yet was never actually spoken!

The inside of the space craft was designed by Kansas Cosmosphere and Space, the same company which designed the original Apollo space crafts to give it just that little bit extra on accuracy and make it, if possible, even more believable.

Although a lot was extremely accurate, there has been some critisism on just how accurate it is, but thats film folks! Everything in film is dramatised!

*****DVD Overview*****

Bothe picture (2.35:1 Widescreen) and sound (Dolby Digital) were perfect. I had no qualms at all with either, and was settled throughout the whole film without disturbance.

*****Special Effects*****

The scenes which invoved zero-gravity weightlessness was actually filmed in NASA's "Vomit Comet", a KC-135 aircraft to give that even more realistic view, and worked perfectly. All other effects, both on the ground and in space, were amazing to watch. I became totally entranced in the film and the effects just helped to build the tense atmosphere and heighten the enjoyment and believability of the story.

*****Extra's*****

* Feature Commentary with the director, Ron Howard and also with Jim and Marilyn Lovell - An extremely interesting viewing with the commentary. I do not usually like this and never waatch it a second time with it turned on, yet this one I enjoyed.

* The Lost Moon - Covers in detail the triumph of Apollo 13. An all rounded extra which is well worth viewing

* Conquering Space - The moon and beyond. For science freaks or people with either a huge interest in the film, story and technology, this is for you!

* Lucky 13 - The astronaughts story. This is well worth watching and extremely interesting.

Overall, there are not a huge amount of extras on this DVD, less that you would expect with a special edition, though the extras it does have are of great quality and quantity and well worth viewing at least once!

*****Other DVD Information*****

Actors: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
Language English
Region: Region 2
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 2
Classification: PG
DVD Release Date: 11 April 2005
Run Time: 134 minutes
Main Language: English
Available Audio Tracks: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
Sub-Titles: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Hearing Impaired: English
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,633 in DVD

*****Costs*****

This DVD can be brought for well under £10 if you know where to look, so without a doubt, this is possibly one of the best deals you can get!

*****And a Final Word*****

It's difficult to say what makes Apollo 13 such a great film, whether it be the fact that it is based on a true story, or the amazing special effects, or perhaps the great cast and believable acting, or maybe simply because it is such an amazing story. Either way, this is one film really worth watching, and well worth buying the DVD!