APOLLO 13 is...A-OK. In an era when cinematic heroics seem to be defined by bullets and brawn, it is a pleasure to see a movie in which the good guys triumph by using their brains!!!

| Jan 5, 2018

Tom Hanks is on his way to becoming the American Everyman, an exemplar of boyish goodwill and quiet moral force.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 22, 2014

Ron Howard's pop-entertainment you-are-there space thriller is easily the most rousing film of the year. And it might make real spaceflight just as nifty as Star Wars for youngsters.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 22, 2014

Even if you know how it all turned out (and you should), this amazing journey is harrowing and exhilarating.

| Jul 30, 2013

The film succeeds brilliantly at organizing great gobs of information into powerful drama.

| Jul 30, 2013

Hanks is a terrific choice for the lead because he can appear strong and military without slipping over into Sgt. Rock corniness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 30, 2013

Apollo 13, one of the most exciting adventure movies of the year, proves that science history can be just as thrilling as science fiction.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 30, 2013

Howard is not above pushing buttons of his own and milking the big moments. But they are indeed big moments, and the manipulation is not intrusive. He has made a can-do movie for our can't-do age.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 30, 2013

The film, despite its raggedness, is stirring. In the end, this failed mission seems like the most impressive achievement of the entire space program: a triumph not of planning but of inspired improvisation.

| Jul 30, 2013

This meticulous but ultimately rather pedestrian drama gradually won me over as a minor if watchable example of the "victory through defeat" brand of military heroism that John Ford specialized in.

| Jun 1, 2011

Thrilling, heartwarming, scary, and superb.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 22, 2010

Self-conscious about its heroism with portrayals that lean toward the glib and the professionally uplifting, the film milks our sympathies too readily to be emotionally convincing.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 6, 2010

This engrossing account of the nation's most perilous moon shot embodies what many people consider to be old-fashioned American virtues in a virtually pristine state.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2010

Apollo 13, Ron Howard's soaring salute to space exploration, lifts off with a payload of the right stuff-courage, can-do, grace under pressure and other qualities derided as machismo by some and applauded as old-fashioned values by others.

| Jul 6, 2010

Major, rousing, thoroughly professional Hollywood entertainment that will dazzle you with its re-creations of historical events, take you inside the space capsule and the Houston command center, and leave you wondering where our heroes [have gone].

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 18, 2008

In an age when we rely on computerized directions and GPS devices to drive to the next town, it seems an almost mythic scenario.

| Original Score: A | Feb 11, 2006

For a 'space movie', both the special effects and photography are surprisingly pedestrian. Where it scores is in subtly restating traditional notions of male heroism.

| Feb 9, 2006

It may not be the best film of the year, but it's certainly made of the right stuff.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 6, 2005

Playing the tough, commanding Jim Lovell is a substantial stretch for Mr. Hanks, but as usual his seeming ingenuousness overshadows all else about the role. There's not a false move to anything he does on screen.

Full Review | May 20, 2003

If you thought Tom Hanks was just an ordinary big-screen star, wait until you've seen him eight stories tall.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 20, 2002