When the movie "Saving Private Ryan" came out (another Hanks vehicle), everyone crowed about the first 40 minutes and how realistic, wonderful, and powerful it was.
I had the same problem with both films. With SPR, I had seen real footage of real bodies on the real beaches of Omaha enough times to get it. Seeing actors on a stage through a director's and cinematographer's eye simply can't compare to seeing black and white footage of real blood washing away from a real American soldier with real Navy ships in the background and real smoke still hanging in the air. The very thing that people thought made SPR wonderful was the very thing that would always disappoint with me. If you want power, you have to go to the real thing, not some made-up, fictionalized account, no matter how accurate it intends to be.
The same was true with A13. After seeing this movie:
in the theaters, no fictional account could possibly compare. Real documentary film footage of actual people doing their actual jobs performing the miracle of sending a two men to walk on the moon will always outclass a fictional account--even if it is filmed in the Vomit Comet.
I highly recommend this film, it is really wonderful. It is one of the few movies I ever went out of my way to get the movie poster for (thanks to the Oriental's annual poster sale!)
P.S. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to shake hands with Buzz Aldrin. It was a thrill. (Not to mention the fact that he is a voice of sanity in the whole global warming thing today!)
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