Obviously, from my point of view, I was not alive when the Apollo program was initiated nor during the events of Apollo 13. But reading history surrounding Apollo 13, I was skeptical in how the mission was going to be and what happened during the mission and how NASA got the three astronauts back to Earth safely. A true fact is that this one of the first live-action movies I saw on VHS when I was around four or five. Granted, I did not see the whole movie but I saw most of it and I was dazzled by the look of the movie because I thought the actors were in space. Yeah, it was all special effects but I did not know the concept of special effects at that time.
Director Ron Howard, in my mind, had the difficult the task of re-creating the events from both a historical and a personal point of view. Yes, he had historical footage to back his movie up but he wanted to re-create the events of the launch and the landing and the behind-the-scenes panic after the accident that was up in space that prevented the astronauts from landing on the moon. He did a brilliant job of capturing the dramatic event that was "one for the books." I think this is one of the most remarkable true stories captured on film from a technical and dramatic level that captures leadership, perseverance and team work quite effectively, all three themes that I will talk about. Plus, Howard captures the cold desperation quite well too as the three astronauts want to get back home alive.
In July 1969, guests are at Jim Lovell's (Tom Hanks) house as they are having a party to commemorate Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon as they watch it on television as Walter Cronkite is hosting the show. Lovell has been in space three times but wants to go to the moon. Three months later, director of Flight Crew Operations, Deke Clayton (Chris Ellis) informs Lovell that Alan Shepard's ear got infected. So, Lovell, Fred Haise (the late great Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) are bumped to the prime crew of Apollo 13. They train for their new mission as everything is going well.
Some days before the launch, Lovell's wife, Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan), has a nightmare of her husband getting killed in space and is having thoughts about not attending the launch. There is even a bigger problem, Mattingly is exposed to the measles. The flight surgeon demands that Mattingly should be replaced by the backup pilot, Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon). Lovell is reluctant but makes the final call that Swigert becomes the prime pilot for the Apollo 13 mission to which Mattingly becomes disappointed at the news.
On April 11th, Marilyn and Fred's wife attend the launch as the three astronauts soar out into space at Cape Canaveral whereas Mission Control with Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) at command in Houston takes over. Swigert performs the maneuver for the Command/Service Module Odyssey to connect to the lunar module, Aquarius, and go straight to the moon. Three days later, Swigert stirs the tanks per instructions from NASA and one of the tanks explodes, emptying it out into space. The other tank is leaking and they shut off the fuel cells, preventing them to land on the moon.
There are not many themes going around in this movie as you observe the themes on-screen because it is straight forward. After the problem occurs, again, it is all about teamwork, leadership and perseverance. What is so fascinating is the quick transition from switching missions at hand and how they HAVE to improvise to get them home successfully. According to people, it was a "successful failure" because even though they did not get to land on the moon, the astronauts made it home alive.
Now, leadership is brought about where both Jim Lovell and Gene Kranz assumes command at their own stations. Lovell has to take command and maintain a balance. For example, when Haise blames Swigert for his inexperience whereas Swigert suspects Mission Control has the inability to get them home and blames it on the capsule. But, Lovell assumes command and focuses on how to stay alive. Tom Hanks gavev one of his first dramatic performances after his Oscar winning roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump and can now, at that time, be known as one of the finest actors ever because of his versatility. You believe Hanks as Lovell as he knows what he is doing because of his experience as both a pilot and an astronaut from his three previous missions.
Gene Kranz has both leadership and perseverance from trying to get home. Yes, the three astronauts have perseverance but they cannot do much about it because they have lack of control and they have Isaac Newton in the driver's seat until we get to our last theme. Kranz does whatever necessary to get them home even if they have to use old controls, old maneuvers or invented maneuvers. Ed Harris gave an excellent performance as a no-nonsense flight director who thinks whatever is necessary and manages the situation at hand. He does not even give odds as to if they are going to get home. He is "not losing those men". Harris' portrayal of Kranz when he is relieved that they make it home got his nomination for Best Supporting Actor as he is both thrilled and teary that they nearly lost their men because of the heat shield.
Now, team work comes in handily as it is noticeable in the clip above as how the team engineers communicate about the crisis. One is prepared because he has checked the data as to why they have to shut the power off. It leads to them to work with Ken Mattingly to invent a new procedure to squeeze out amps to have enough juice to power back home, which also requires them to literally drive it, which was a scary sequence. The whole theme of team work illustrates throughout the whole storyline as there are components of the mission regarding the fuel, re-entry, power and carbon dioxide situation that needs looking at. I do not think that I have ever seen such precision with that theme in any other movie than this one. They are calm and willing to get to solve the situation.
Well, this is one of the shorter analyses of my GREAT SELECTIONS because it is not as deeply analytical as you might perceive. It is analytical in the movie because it is required to be analytical in arithmetic, physics, scientific formula and also common sense. Theories are not great ideas in a crisis as they could threaten the astronauts' lives. It is also about stating the problem, stating the goal and leading the engineers to re-evaluate the problem in each component to reach that goal. It is because that they are in a time crunch is what makes the scientists and engineers nervous.
This movie could be Ron Howard's best movie, if you can maybe debate either Parenthood or A Beautiful Mind. But, it is a great space movie, a great historical movie and a great drama, from the personal and dramatic levels. Plus, the score by James Horner is what propels the movie into another level as his suspenseful eeriness captures the tension, his patriotic trumpet section to capture the nation's hope and the loud bravura capturing the relief of them making it home. This is a fantastic movie from beginning to end that we rarely get anymore.
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