Heart-Stopping Every Time I See It!

When I was a child, my mom could never wake me up. Morning was always a struggle and my mom sometimes resorted to telling me lies to get me out of bed. I will never forget the morning she came into my room gave me a jiggle and whispered in hushed tones, "There's a problem on Apollo 13." I remember opening one eye, seeing the fear on her face and thinking to myself, "Boy, she's getting good at this acting thing." But she wasn't acting and once I realized she was telling the truth, I ran down the stairs to the black and white TV... where my family (and the rest of the nation) stayed for the next several days.

This amazing movie by Ron Howard brings backs those horrible moments. The fear, the uncertainty, the drama are retold with all the power of real life. Tom Hanks at Jim Lovell is brilliant. Kevin Bacon as the playboy, second choice pilot is outstanding. For that matter, the entire cast is amazing.

We saw the movie in the theater and bought the video as soon as it was released. I have lived through it in real life and watched the video many times. Even still, every single time Apollo 13 goes into the 3-minute blackout I hold my breath. It doesn't matter that I know how it ends... the movie is so real I'm afraid it might end differently this time.

There were also many small details of the movie that I enjoyed. The costumes were so perfect. The engineers are all dressed perfectly for 1960's techno-geeks. I also love it every time they whip-out their handy-dandy slide rules (I often wonder how many youngsters watching the movie even know what they're doing.)

By trade I am engineer and I love how little things in that field have changed. I crack-up every time an engineer says, "Well, we didn't test it to do that." I also really enjoy the evident lack of communication between design teams on the same project. Anyone who has worked more than a few days in engineering will recognize the assignment to fit a square peg in a round hole.

The photography is breath taking. The Apollo 13 lift-off induces just enough vertigo to make it FEEL real.

I may end up watching this movie 100's of more times in my life. And I know what awaits them on the other side of the 3-minute black out. But I also know that I will hold my breath each and every time. This movie is not only a "Must See!" it's a "Must OWN!"