CORPORATE LINE: The true story of the near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission. On April 11, 1970, gung-ho astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and last-minute, less experienced replacement Jack Swigert blast-off towards the moon. But while in space, an oxygen tank explodes, putting the trio in peril: they quickly lose oxygen, run out of power, and get exposed to dangerously high amounts of carbon dioxide. Unbeknownst to them, there are more problems to come, including emotional friction when Jack is (wrongly) blamed for the explosion. Intensifying the situation is the fact that these mishaps catch the scientists and technicians at Mission Control by surprise, and they’re not sure how to remedy the situation. Everyone must work together to come up with the right answer — if the astronauts are to survive…
THE VIDEO: Most movie fans will have already seen this movie so the review will focus on the re-issue and how it looks in high definition.
The video is dramatic. The colors are glorious and explode on screen. Apollo 13 isn’t as amazing to watch as Serenity; however it’s still crisp and blows away the DVD version. We would flip back and forth from the previous Apollo 13 DVD release and couldn’t believe the difference. It’s not as dramatic as say going from cassette to CD—but it’s close. Again, HD-DVD will ruin all ordinary DVD movie watching experiences. It’s really hard to explain how much the colors pop. It does compare well to the dramatic difference between watching ordinary television and HD.
THE EXTRAS:
All of the extras are in standard definition.
There are two commentaries. The first is with Ron Howard which is full of plethora of information about the film and behind-the-scenes. The second commentary features Jim and Marilyn Lovell talk about the film and give some information on the real events.
“Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond” – A 45 minute documentary that gives so much love to NASA you have to wonder if it was made by them. It focuses intensely on the U.S. and Soviet Union race to space.
“Lucky 13” – A 15 minute featurette is full of interesting interviews.
FRANKLY: Apollo 13 on HD-DVD is a spoiler. It will cost thousands to get geared up for the HD revolution and yet you get sucked in by the spoils of phenomenal and audio. Not only is Apollo 13 a good film, it is bolstered by the amazing video.
+ Charlie Craine
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