Apollo 13 (1995)

When I saw this in a theater at 13, I didn't like it much. It's big on crisis but not on visual spectacle, apart from a brief nightmare sequence. (The impressiveness of shooting in low gravity goes only so far.) Yesterday, I finally mustered the nerve to give it another try with adult eyes.

In 1970, Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) attempt to be the next men on the moon. They're not superstitious about the mission number, but Lovell expresses concern about Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) being swapped out for Swigert at the last minute because of a positive test for rubella. At first, the voyage is too plain for TV coverage. Things start going wrong on Day 3, when an oxygen tank explodes. Under flight director Gene Krantz (Ed Harris), NASA abandons hope of a lunar landing, and even getting them home alive looks highly improbable.

There is indeed a lot more to the story than I remembered. It also runs longer than I remembered: 140 minutes. As mentioned above, some of it is pretty dull on purpose, if you're not into personalizing details. But mostly, it's cerebral. Quite a few crucial issues crop up simultaneously, and few of them threaten immediate death. No wonder I absorbed little more than the gist as a kid.

Fortunately, that's not who I am anymore. I appreciate when lots of people (even if they're all men) work together on saving the day. And I appreciate when the solution requires thinking outside the box. "Houston, we have a problem" may be the most recognized quote, but I prefer an exchange that better captures the essence of the movie: "This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever experienced." "With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour."

IMDb lists a huge number of factual errors herein. I'm not surprised; Ron Howard's track record for historical accuracy is not much better than Mel Gibson's. With that in mind, I'm glad I didn't take the finer points to heart. The important takeaway is how close the real mission came to total disaster, nonetheless ending in applause.

I'm also glad I didn't rely on my earlier impression of A13 for the rest of my life. It's still not my favorite space drama based on a true story, but it is respectably portrayed.