Easily Ron Howard''s finest work, "Apollo 13" is a tense thriller and powerful drama all rolled into one. Now out on a 10th
Anniversary DVD Edition, it''s a good time to look back and realize just how extraordinary this movie is.
Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris all turn in tremendous performances as the astronauts and NASA employees who pulled off the miracle of a lifetime - bringing back three men stranded 200,000 miles away from Earth. I was only twelve when I first saw the previews for the movie and, not knowing anything about the real-life incident, laughed, shook my head and said, "How are we supposed to believe this?" I thought it was impossible.
This new DVD package comes with two versions of the film, the original theatrical release and the IMAX release. I don''t know why you would want to watch the IMAX release, as not only are you not watching it on an IMAX screen but, due to the film capabilities of IMAX projectors, more than 20 minutes had to be cut. Film students might find it interesting to see what Ron Howard considered to be the least important parts of his Oscar-nominated movie, but to me it''s just a travesty; every minute of the movie is excellent.