Apollo 18 (spoilers hidden)

I've been waiting to see this film for quite a while now.  It seemed designed for me.  Moon landings and aliens.  What more could you want?  I deliberately kept my knowledge of the plot as low as possible, though it seemed that the poster pretty well spelt it out.

I wasn't disappointed with the film.  It starts out looking very much like Apollo 13 in style.  There's some home video of the crew and their families.  Followed by more cinematic looking footage from NASA.  The actors are all completely new to me making it easier to sink into the telling of the story quite quickly.  The performances all held together for me.  They weren't great but good enough not to take me out of the story.

The story starts off explaining the 'found footage' with text across your screen.  Then it's all found footage throughout.  This is a good thing in my view.  The presence of 'conspiracy theorists' or deniers on screen would have weakened the viewing experience for me.  I enjoyed this film.  I haven't yet read any other reviews but I have seen some ratings.  It seems my appreciation is in the minority.  My only real bugbear which isn't huge, is in the spoilers below.

SPOILERS BELOW  rollover to view

I liked the inclusion of the dead Russian Cosmonaut and his ship.  It helped to give some warning signs to the men from the Lunar Capsule.  It also is a good explanation (in the realms of this being true) of why the Russians didn't take to the Moon after the US had abandoned their programme.  The added tension of a possible escape was used pretty well too.

It did seem blindingly obvious to me that the crew member who had stayed behind in the ship was never going to be allowed home.  The easiest solution to him ever spilling the beans seemed to be to not allow his return to Earth.  I'd already said goodbye to him before the Russian ship left the surface.

I did feel a little let down by the aliens.  However, on a low budget it was a clever idea to go small.  They stood up to on-screen scrutiny much better than something a lot bigger.  It would also explain why we hadn't noticed them before.  The idea of some of the aliens having returned to Earth on previous Apollo missions weakened it for me though.  That statement should never have been scrolled across my screen.  It would surely have occurred to the viewer anyway.

END OF SPOILERS

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this in the cinema.  I was going to give it 4 pawprints.  But, as I was writing this I started to see flaws I had ignored as I was watching.  I don't think this would stand up to repeated viewings very well.  I am glad I've seen it though and I'd mark it as a Damn Good Effort.  I definitely want to see more of Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego's work.  Mention has to be made of the miniscule budget.  I didn't feel this film looked cheap at all.  I'd lump it in with Moon.  Though not as great a film as Moon.

3.5 out of 5 pawprints