Apollo 18 is a film I can admire for its production values on such a low budget, but the execution is an entire story. While the set and costume designs are good and the acting is at least OK, this is hardly a compelling movie that is often more boring than thrilling.
Apollo 18 (2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Weinstein Company | PG13 – 87 min. – $39.99 | December 27, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Gonazalo Lopez-Gallego
Writer(s): Brian Miller (written by)
Cast: Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins
Theatrical Release Date: September 2, 2011
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Deleted Scenes, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Full Frame-Widescreen
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 1.75/5
In yet the latest entry into the “Found Footage” sub-genre, Apollo 18 benefited from a fantastic trailer. With the ominous premise that Apollo 17 wasn’t the last mission to the moon, but there was one more and the found footage tells what really happened and what the government doesn’t want you to know. Unfortunately, as most have grown accustomed to, trailers and don’t tell the whole story. What we get instead is an oft boring film with only bits and pieces of thrills but even then they’re more or less jump scares than anything.
The film follows three astronauts as they board Apollo 18 on a secret mission for the Department of Defense. As one stayed on the shuttle, the two others take a lunar module to the moon’s surface where the exploration would begin. Of course, the astronauts don’t exactly know what they’re doing there but it apparently involves another module launched by the Russians, a dead Russian cosmonaut found in a crater, and oh, some little creatures that scramble around the surface, camouflaged as regular moon rocks.
The story all unfolds via static cameras placed on the module and beamed back to Earth, using a handi-cam contraction attached to their suits and home video footage for a closer look at their activities outside. The first 20-minutes or so tries to establish some sort of character development but ultimately it’s a dull drum that keeps pounding and pounding until you’re damn near asleep. Then when you think the story really gets rolling as the astronauts go down into the crater where we only see the surroundings from some kind of flash photography effects, in a truly suspenseful scene, the movie once again falls back. Later there’s the typical “What was that?” or “Did you hear that?” sort of questions as bumps and thumps hit the module every once in a while, but by this point I was looking at the clock wondering when this would all end.
And there’s the rub with Apollo 18 compared with other “Found Footage” movies. As much as The Blair Witch Project has lost its luster over the years and as overrated as the Paranormal Activity movies are (with a third on the way to milk some more money), I can at least say they were not the least boring and brought some tension and suspense to the table.
As far as the acting goes, I guess Warren Christie and Lloyd Owen were fine but by the same token, they didn’t exactly have much to work with. The script, by Brian Miller (debut), and the direction, from Spanish filmmaker Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego (American feature debut), is uninspiring, lifeless and emotionless. Who exactly am I suppose to root for? We’ve got one character that turns into a dumbass and the other is hardly scary and in fact turns into a caricature by the end.
Apollo 18 is like many experimental movies where the idea is cool but often the execution doesn’t quite hit the mark. I admire what the filmmakers did on such a minimal budget with the set and costume designs but the story itself fails to come together in a compelling way. I suppose if “Found Footage” is your thing you might get more out of it than I did, otherwise this is an easy skip for others.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5
Feature Commentary – Director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and Editor Patrick Lussier offer up a lively and informative track explaining how some of it was shot on a low budget, chat about the actors, the creatures themselves and overall how the project came together. I will admit, the track was far easier to get through than the movie itself.
Deleted and Alternate Scenes (20:27; HD) – 16 scenes that didn’t make the cut and frankly I can see why as a good amount of it is just more boring-ass chatter that offers little character development and doesn’t move the story forward very much.
Alternate Endings (4:41; HD) – We don’t get just one alt. ending but four offering up different deaths of one of the astronauts: Suffocation, Infected, Attacked and Crashes.
Previews – Scream 4, The Zombie Diaries 2
The release comes with a retail DVD Copy (with features) and a Digital Copy code (** Blu-ray Exclusive **).
VIDEO – 3.0/5
Alright, so I’m in a bit of a pickle here because the 1080p HD transfer, ranging in aspect ratio from 1.33 to 1.78 depending on the camera, isn’t supposed to look good and in fact at times, supposed to look poor. Examining this video, it’s not very good to look at on Blu-ray but that’s how the filmmakers’ wanted it. Even so, I cannot give it a high grade due to the poor quality that doesn’t really benefit from a high-def transfer.
AUDIO – 3.25/5
Similarly, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is OK but nothing more, nothing less. The audio when we’re on the module is tinny (as it should be) and when outside is flat. The only time this lossless track breaks out is during a couple suspenseful scenes and when the alien(s) attack; otherwise, there’s no score and everything else seems to only come out of the front and center channels.
OVERALL – 2.25/5
Overall, Apollo 18 is a film I can admire for its production values on such a low budget, but the execution is an entire story. While the set and costume designs are good and the acting is at least OK, this is hardly a compelling movie that is often more boring than thrilling. The Blu-ray is also hardly impressive as the video isn’t particularly good though that’s how the filmmakers wanted it, the audio is about the same and the features are minimal.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 12/21/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.