Okay, I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for "found footage" movies. Maybe it's the added sense of realism the style provides. Maybe it's the fact that, with the right tools and enough imagination, I could probably make one myself. I don't know what it is, but I've always found myself intrigued by them. But most of them don't really differ too much from one another. There've been some that featured giant monsters rampaging through major metropolitan areas, or the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse. Most of the ones I've seen, though, have been about ghosts or demons. Supernatural beings striking suburban homes or rural areas have been a popular way to approach the whole "found footage" thing.
But if you want to shake things up a little, why not take it to an extreme? That's how I'd explain Apollo 18, a found footage movie unlike any of the others I've reviewed. What makes it so different? All the action takes place on the moon. The whole idea of a found footage movie set in outer space was enough to get my attention from the second I first heard about it back in January. And after having its release date changed five times, Apollo 18 has finally arrived in theaters. So how was it? It was kind of a mess.
Officially, Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon. But in 1974, the Department of Defense revived the previously-cancelled Apollo 18 mission for a top-secret mission. Of the three astronauts sent to the moon for this mission, it's Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen) and Ben Anderson (Warren Christie) who take the lunar module down to the surface.
Their mission was to install a defense system that would alert the United States of any impending Soviet missile strikes. But when Nathan and Ben discover a Soviet lander and a cosmonaut's mangled corpse, they begin to think there's more to this than what the Department of Defense has told them. And that's when things get worse. Pieces of their equipment turn up wrecked and Nathan develops a bizarre wound on his chest. As they add it all up, they realize that extraterrestrial life not only exists, but it doesn't like humans.
You know what I hate? When a movie's advertisements get my hopes up, and the movie itself turns out to be a huge disappointment. And that's exactly what Apollo 18 is: a huge disappointment. It's the worst kind too, because it has so many good elements and so much potential, yet it totally falls apart. I don't like saying that. A negative review is the last thing I wanted to write about Apollo 18. I wanted to sit down at my desk and write a review that was full of nothing but glowing praise for the movie. But I can't.
I think a lot of the problem is how director Gonzalo López-Gallego approached the movie. López-Gallego's direction is all over the place, seemingly unsure of itself. He tries to make the movie more atmospheric than scary, yet still tries for jump scares in more than a few moments. But it's barely scary at all, to tell you the truth. While going for a feeling of dread have worked for many horror movies in the past and present, but neither dread nor suspense are to be had. There are a few really good scares, but they're sadly few and far between.
The majority of the movie is simply dead air, the astronauts standing around waiting for something to happen. And in a movie that clocks in at 88 minutes, that's unbearable. That's not to say López-Gallego doesn't succeed in a few areas, though. The scene where the astronauts find the cosmonaut's body is very suspenseful, and the climax is an exciting piece of work. It's just unfortunate that the rest of the movie can't compare.
And if anything, I thought it was one of the more believable uses of the "found footage" style. While a lot of found footage movies feel artificial, like they're not even trying to hide that it's being shot by a Steadicam operator on a studio backlot. But while I wasn't 100% convinced they were actually on the moon (it looked like there was a wee bit too much gravity), I at least bought that it was shot by a bunch of astronauts in the '70s. Visually, the movie is grainy, choppy, and looks like the film stock was rubbed with steel wool. It looks like it could have been real footage from any of our trips to the moon.
The only problem is that the use of the "found footage" style causes something of a plot hole. I say this because of how the movie ends. I can believe that NASA and the Department of Defense acquired the footage from inside the lunar lander, since that's broadcasted back to Earth. But the two astronauts on the moon have portable 16mm cameras attached to their suits, and how the hell did the footage shot with those cameras make it off the moon? I guess it'll just have to be one of those things that fall under the umbrella of "suspension of disbelief."
And then there's the screenplay, penned by Brian Miller. Most horror movies, especially "found footage" horror movies, don't really need a very strong script because they primarily rely on the visuals and performances. But I thought Miller's script was particularly weak, as it had absolutely no character development at all. There's nothing to these characters; they're just there to have things happen to them. There's tiny little references to their families and their lives outside the space programs, but that's all there is.
I did get the feeling, though, that some things might have been left on the cutting room floor. That could justify the unexpectedly short running time, the lack of character development, and why the movie's climax feels rushed. It could also explain why the movie's release date kept getting shuffled around. I have no way of knowing this, so I could be pointing fingers at things that aren't there. But maybe if the DVD were to include an extended cut of the movie, that might help patch up some of the movie's flaws. We'll just have to wait and see if that happens, though.
At least the cast, as minuscule as it is, is good. It's basically a two-man show, and both actors definitely do their best. Warren Christie is convincing in his role, playing his character as increasingly worried, paranoid, and desperate. But he is outshined by Lloyd Owen, who I thought was awesome. Owen is really intense, really spooky. In a better movie, his performance would have been absolutely perfect. I wish that Apollo 18 as a whole was as good as Owen is, because then the movie would have been as awesome as I'm convinced it could have been.
And that's the thing. I'm absolutely convinced that Apollo 18 could have been an awesome movie. It's one of the most original premises I've seen for a found footage movie, and there are times that it shows a lot of promise. There's a great movie just beneath the surface. But unfortunately, I felt like it let me down. As much as I wanted to like it, I can't say that I really did. Maybe upon a second viewing, I'll change my mind. I don't know. And is it wrong that I kept hearing Jim Carrey's "we landed on the moon!" line from Dumb & Dumber in my head through the whole movie?
Final Rating: **½
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