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Apollo 13—2–Disc Anniversary Edition

Review by Lando da Pimp

Based on the real-life events of the Apollo 13 mission Ron Howard created a very aspiring film of the successful failure. The events of the Apollo 13 space flight kept a nation on edge as astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert attempted to make their way home.

Synopsis
The movie follows the story of the events with only taking a small amount of artistic interpretation. After the successful moon landing of the Apollo 11 the United States achieved their lunar landing goal. There is little interest in the Apollo 13’s “routine” trip to the moon until a mechanical failure prevented the shuttle from landing on the moon.

The module had a difficult time with multiple problems such as low power and freezing space temperatures. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton portray the shuttle crew while Gary Sinise portrays bumped Astronaut Ken Mattingly working to solve the solution how to get Apollo 13 home.

Extras

Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13 This is a great hour long documentary of the making of the film; included are actual footage and sound of the tragedy from NASA. Interviews with Jim Lovell and other surviving NASA crew give insight to the event. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks provide insightful information about the thinking behind the decisions that were made.

"Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond"
This documentary deals with the history of NASA from the first rocket to Apollo 13 to the Challenger explosion. Forty-five years of space exploration is gone into exquisite detail. Back in 1970 the goal of a lunar landing was a must for the nation. The documentary also details our current goal of exploring the planet Mars.

"Lucky 13: The Astronaut's Story"
A small feature with Jim Lovell and the NASA ground crew, retelling the events of the Apollo 13 mission.

Additional Extras
Also included on the discs are both the Theatrical and IMAX versions of the film with commentary by Ron Howard and a secondary commentary with Jim and Marilyn Lovell. The theatrical trailer is also included.

Overall
Next to Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, is one of Ron Howard's best films. It's hard to believe that this film is already 10 years old. I remember seeing it in the theaters and the film still is an amazing retelling of the Apollo 13 mission. With a great supply of featurettes and great commentary track by Ron Howard this DVD is highly recommended.

Check out pictures, trailers, and more for Apollo 13 at StarPulse.com

Try the LandApollo13.com game. Go ahead, try to reach level 3.

The 10th Anniversary edition of Apollo 13 will be available March 29th, 2005. You can buy it from Amazon.com