Film Review: APOLLO 18 (2011)

Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego
Writer: Brian Miller
Running time: 83 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller
UK Release date: 2^nd September 2011

Watched on Sky+ Friday 24^th August 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I must admit I was quite excited about this one when I first heard about it way back in 2010. A film about a secret Apollo mission to the moon was bound to get my interest; I’m old enough to remember the moon landings! Sadly this one didn’t live up to my expectations, but I feel I wasn’t wrong to have high hopes given Timur Bekmambetov produced and the Weinstein’s were also involved. But I digress, here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

In December 1973 Apollo 18 blasted off from Cape Canaveral on a secret mission to the moon. The crew, Nate Walker, Mission Commander, Ben Anderson, LEM Pilot and John Grey were to deploy some special monitoring equipment for the Department of Defence. Having set up the equipment they begin to experience problems with communications and things start to go missing. They also find something that puts a whole new complexion on their mission. I guess I had better not say any more or those guys from the Department of Defence will be knocking on my door (again).

Made in the style of a ‘lost footage’ film, it never really has enough to grip an audience. Yes, there are a few ‘jump out of your seat’ moments, but they’re very few and far between. To be fair though, the performances weren’t too bad; Warren Christie as Ben Anderson, Lloyd Owen as Nate Walker and Ryan Robbins as John Grey all did a decent job.

By the time of the last Apollo mission in 1972, the public had lost interest in spaceflight and, sadly, that’s exactly what I felt about this film. After the first thirty minutes or so I had lost interest. I do wish the Hollywood machine would realise that if an audience doesn’t care about any of the characters, they’re not going to want to watch. I stuck with it until the end but I can imagine many around the world turning this one off. A nice idea that was poorly executed… Certainly not one I’ll be watching again.

SteelMonster’s verdict: NOT RECOMMENDED.

My score: 3.8/10

IMDb Score: 5.3/10 (based on 25,850 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1772240/

MetaScore: 24/100: (Based on 19 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 24/100 (based on 66 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 24/100 (based on 38,438 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/apollo_18/

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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Nate: Get it out. It's so cold. Get it out, Ben. Get it out, get it out! Damn it Ben get it out!

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://apollo18movie.net/
Trailer: