The year is certainly young, but with Apollo 11, we have what might be the coolest movie of the year. It will be hard to match the grandeur and sheer awesomeness that director Todd Douglas Miller manages by reconstructing the Apollo 11 mission using the archival footage that was recently discovered. It will make you feel like a young child discovering something new and wonderful and at 93 minutes, simply breezes by and presents a wonderful double bill with last year’s First Man.
Apollo 11 would have been a delight to see in any form but coming on the heels of that aforementioned film it gains added significance. Just to see from the vantage point of a camera that is on the outside of a spaceship is a treat. However, under the expert hand of Miller, Apollo 11 rises about just a document of the facts. This movie is cinema, pure and simple. Miller constructs the story without using any talking heads or unnecessary emotional beats, which could render most documentaries inert. Apollo 11 has a kinetic energy from the second it opens and you watch the rocket being rolled to it’s destination. The talking heads are replaced by audio from the crew and the flight command in Houston. There’s no added stress that isn’t present in what actually happened.
But what made this a dazzling experience for me was that sense of pure wonder and connection I formed watching these men do the then impossible. My jaw dropped at several moments and I just could do no more than sit and take it in. My nerd credentials are well documented and when I was young, I dreamed of being an astronaut for a while. Oh to get to go to the moon! Well, with Apollo 11 everyone can experience this landmark human achievement and be wowed anew.
NEON and CNN Films are releasing APOLLO 11 in IMAX March 1st exclusively for one week only and nationwide on March 8.