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The Apollo 13 mission was a piece of cake compared
to "Apollo 18". Taking the "found footage" and conspiracy
theor to absurd extremes, the makers of "Apollo 18" propose
that the space program continued AFTER Apollo 17 and a secret
DOD mission was sent up to set up ICBM monitoring devices
on the moon. There was one problem. The astronauts found
out we aren't alone.***
The film itself has plot holes big enough to fly the
now retired space shuttle through and the film is all set
up with very little in the way of plot development. The
main flaw that dogs ALL found footage type of films also
exists here--we really can't have much in the way of dramatic
developments because we can't SEE everything that has happened
outside the scope of the camera shooting the "real" drama.
The film feels padded at a paltry 90 minutes and seems twice
as long. The premise and execution might have worked well
as an episode of "The Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits"
but without any major plot developments over the course
of 90 minutes (look their doing another EVA)the film feels
89 minutes too long.***
There's the kernal of a good idea in "Apollo 18" but
because of the execution and decision to shoot it as a "found
footage" type of film, the plot isn't allowed to pop to
life and fulfill its potential. "Apollo 18" would have worked
much better as a science fiction or horror thriller shot
like "Alien".***
Image & Sound:
If you bought the Blu-ray for this you've wasted your
money as the image quality is comparable to a standard DVD.
The director does a nice job of mixing real NASA footage
with the soundstage footage of the Apollo 18 crew exploring
the surface of the moon but, honestly, the BD doesn't provide
an improvement in image quality making it worth the extra
expense.
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