|
Using the “found” footage style of The Blair Witch Project and countless movies since, Apollo 18 sets the record straight on why NASA never returned to the moon. The movie, while familiar, should thrill gritty sci-fi lovers and anyone prone to embracing conspiracy theories. It certainly won’t please the critics who have (already) thrown some rather large tomatoes at its screen. Highly classified information isn’t for everyone, it seems.
Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, the mock-doc happenings recount what happened to NASA’s hush-hush trip to the moon with the crew of Apollo 18. Commander Nate Walker (Lloyd Owen) and Ben Anderson (Warren Christie), along with lunar orbiting John Gray (Ryan Robbins), are on their own. Very few know about this return trip and fewer still at the Defense Department are responsible for bringing them back alive. It’s 1974 and the Cold War in in full effect, mind you. Surveillance has recorded some pretty heinous-sounding chatter and Russian cosmonaughts have gone missing. What is up there? Three men are about to find out.
Gritty and stylisticly presented on Super-8 stock and vintage kodachrome mixed with authentic NASA footage, Apollo 18 is not a beautiful-looking film. Authentic is the aim of cinematographer José David Montero. In doing so, the film capitalizes on its claustrophobic scenario. Men trapped on the moon. Helpless. There simply is no place to run when in space. The handheld happenings will appeal to a select few and most know the end before the film even begins. That’s part of the contractual deal you enter into when you decide to see these types of films.
Horror hounds looking for gore and flesh-eating aliens will be largely disappointed. The spidery-creature is wisely out of frame for most of the movie. Still, the amount of subversive jabs the film gets in at America’s expense – in light of its Cold War surroundings - is pretty solid while building its momentum and that creature, when revealed, is pretty gnarly. You just have to be patient and realize the reveal is not this film’s endgame…creating an intense atmosphere on a low-budget is.
The dialogue is sparse and pretty routine for astronauts. While never clunky, their lines only give slight nods to the families and lives left behind. They aren’t sentimentalists. Remember, these fellas also aren’t the brightest in the world. Scientists, they aren’t. There’s no explanation for what happens – even in the end. It’s all reaction. Even their moonwalk explorations are done out of fear. Apollo 18 is a slow burn. It builds the tension with workman-like skill. The script, written by Cory Goodman and Brian Miller, isn’t going for gothic-level dramatic depth. Yet, the anxiety and the tension are all present and nagging questions are answered.
Something is out there and it’s their job to document it.
One thing is for damn sure, Apollo 18 is a lot better than that other sci-fi film released this summer about creatures on the moon. That one was directed by Michael Bay. It made some money. It was in brain-numbing 3D. Oh, you already forgot about it? I don’t blame you, however, you won’t forget about Apollo 18 so quickly. I promise you.
Uncharacteristically subversive for its genre and gloriously moody, Apollo 18 isn’t interested in its characters so much as it is in making its audience squirm with the answer to a couple of hypothetical scenarios.
Space is a creepy place indeed.
MPAA Rating: 
