The Movie
Movies such as Apollo 13 are rare in their ability to not only recount a true story with precise factual accuracy (with a few forgivable exceptions) but to take us on a genuinely thrilling ride. With the world watching and no chance of rescue, a mechanical malfunction on board the spacecraft of astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert leaves the crew potentially stranded in space to slowly freeze, starve or suffocate. And so, working with technology laughably crude by today's standards, the men of NASA scrambled tirelessly for days to rewrite virtually every procedure and find some way to bring the trio safely home, with only the thinnest margin for error, while worried families and a once-apathetic viewing public waits in hope.
Director Ron Howard and screenwriters William Broyles, Jr. and Al Reinert manage to make the audience understand what matters to the extended team of astronauts and scientists, and it soon matters to us as well. The sense of danger is palpable, the drama delicious. Painstakingly shot with techniques such as carrying a full-scale recreation of the modules inside the belly of a zero-gravity training aircraft, actors and all, and using every trick they could devise, Apollo 13 achieves authenticity beyond any other fact-based tale of space exploration. This Blu-ray lands not on 13th anniversary of the movie but the 15th, albeit 40 years to the day--April 13--that the flight was scheduled to enter the moon's gravity, the day the infamous "problem" began.
The Picture
The 2.35:1 image exhibits a high level of film grain, which gives way to video noise on out-of-focus backgrounds and foregrounds. It's also moderately soft in places, with some ringing in the glow of the engines, smoke and elsewhere. Black space is appropriately deep however, and fine details like the slow progress of the team's five o'clock shadow is well-preserved. The Oscar-nominated Digital Domain visual effects still hold up admirably in today's rapidly advancing era, even in high-def.
The Sound
The Oscar-winning sound meanwhile is has been given an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 presentation. Rear-channel activity is remarkable, be it for the illusion of music playing in another room, unsettling onboard alarms, assorted technical noises or the scrambling in the crowded command center. Off-camera voices are also placed within discrete channels. The subtle room tones are distinct and thoughtfully added, the prolonged, detailed tinkle of shattering glass is crisp, and bass is especially generous, as in the unhurried flyover of a very credible jet. This audacious mix even stages an important conversation while a huge, heavy-metal machine drives through the scene, with dialogue always perfectly clear. And the lift-off in Chapter Four remains classic demo material.
The Extras
The legacy features from DVDs of yore still engage. "Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13" (58 minutes) is a thorough, well-researched "making of," while "Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond" (48-and-a-half minutes) informs us on the subject of space exploration. "Lucky 13: The Astronauts' Story" is excerpted from the July 29, 1995 installment of Dateline NBC (12 minutes), built of more terrific interviews from the time of the movie's initial release. All of these are in standard definition. The two audio commentaries--one from director Ron Howard and the other from the real-life Jim and Marilyn Lovell--provide rich and equally fascinating perspectives on the movie and surrounding events.
Kudos to Universal for giving us still more, new for Blu-ray The pair of "U-Control" features provides optional, interactive data while we watch: "The Apollo Era" serving pop-ups of mission background and cultural context, in addition to "Tech-Splanations," picture-in-picture analysis of the underlying science. The disc is BD-Live-enabled, D-BOX Motion-Enabled, and supports the pocket BLU application of iPod touch and the iPhone, for remote/keyboard control plus accessible bonus content for these portable devices.
Final Thoughts
Apollo 13 spins a true tale of heroism, dedication and resourcefulness into a pulse-pounding big-screen adventure, undeniably improved for Blu-ray with its high-def audio and interactive bonuses in particular. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that this disc belongs in your collection.
Product Details
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