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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Ron Howard's "Apollo 13"
(1995) is a compelling account of the bravery and
commitment that men of character faced during the
initial and dangerous days of the space race. The
film stars Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell, devoted family
man and adventurer who's dream of outer space
turns into a nightmare when a serious malfunction
jeopardizes the safety of his crew orbiting the
earth. Along for the ride are Fred Haise (Bill
Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon). Grounded
after a bout of measles, but ever the committed
optimist, is Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) -- aiding
in the morale boosting efforts of NASA specialist,
Gene Krantz (Ed Harris). The talented Kathleen
Quinlan is wasted in the role of Jim's devoted
wife, Marilyn Lovell -- an insult to her
formidable talents made all the more obvious when
one views the new IMAX edition of "Apollo 13"
presented on Universal's new 2-disc edition. Her
performance has all but been distilled into a
cameo.
About the transfers: both the original 1995 2 hour
and 20 minute Panavision 2:40:1 aspect ratio
feature and its new 1 hour and 57 minute 1:85:1
IMAX aspect ratio incarnation have been digitally
remastered by Universal for DVD. In both cases
image quality is quite superb. Colors are bold,
rich and vibrant. Whites are white. Blacks are
deep, solid and rich. Contrast and shadow
delineation is stunning with fine details
appearing throughout both versions, even during
the darkest scenes. The audio on both editions is
5.1 and will give your speakers a healthy workout,
particularly during the blast off and re-entry
scenes.
What is particularly irksome for the film purist
is the way director Ron Howard's original pacing
has been butchered on the new IMAX edition. Nearly
35 min. of footage has been excised -- presumably
because anything more than two hours of a really
big image is just too much for audiences to
endure. As a result, the IMAX edition loses some
of the film's most poignant scenes to the cutting
room floor. Also, the original scope and depth of
the Panavision aspect ratio is compromised greatly
during several space scenes. The bone of
contention here is in today's ever increasing
ability to make disposable art that is more user
friendly to the masses. The IMAX version fills all
of one's widescreen television with the film's
image. The original presentation results in thin
black bars filling the top and bottom of the
screen. And yet, that is the way the film was
originally intended to be seen, with more width
and a longer running time. Purists will
undoubtedly agree with this assessment. The
average consumer will easily overlook the both
absences.
Extras include some very nicely packaged and quite
comprehensive documentaries on both the real space
mission and the making of the film, as well as an
audio commentary and theatrical trailer. Since
Universal has given us both versions to experience
in pristine image quality, this edition of "Apollo
13" comes highly recommended. |
