Decades-old found footage from NASA's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where three American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moo... Read allDecades-old found footage from NASA's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where three American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon.Decades-old found footage from NASA's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where three American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon.
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations
Michael Kopsa
- Deputy Secretary of Defense
- (as Mike Kopsa)
Andrew Airlie
- Mission Control
- (voice)
Kurt Max Runte
- Lab Tech #1
- (as Kurt Runte)
Jan Bos
- Lab Tech #2
- (voice)
Thomas Greenwood
- Ryan Anderson
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
John F. Kennedy
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Brian Miller
- Cory Goodman(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia(at around 52 mins) As Cdr. Walker's mental condition worsens, he mutters "Fate has ordained the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace remain on the Moon to rest in peace." This line paraphrases the beginning of a contingency speech, drafted by speech writer William Safire in a memo entitled "In Event of Moon Disaster," which was intended to be delivered by President Richard Nixon in the event that the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the lunar surface without hope of rescue.
- GoofsWhen moving around on the moon, the astronauts do not appear to be affected by the lighter gravity. They walk normally, even shuffling their feet at times, except in the stock footage from actual astronauts. Even the footprints from the cosmonauts are evenly spaced, as if they had been walking in earth's gravity.
- Quotes
Deputy Secretary of Defense: [over comms to Ben] We're aware of your condition, and we've made a decision. We can't bring you home.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Cinematic Excrement: Found Footage (2017)
- SoundtracksWorld Spinning Sadly
Written by Paul Samwell-Smith
Performed by The Parking Lot
Courtesy of EMI Music Canada Film & Television Music Placement Division
Featured review
Faux space documentary better than predicted
Framed as leaked "found footage" from the era of space exploration in the 1970s, Apollo 18 is an attempt to out conspiracy the already rife conspiracy theories concerning the lunar landings. The trouble with framing something as being documentary style footage is you have to get the science right and be free from any loopholes that might break the audience out of the illusion. Apollo 18 falls short on this count. López-Gallego manages to recreate to a certain extent the lunar missions. Portrayed through the various cameras feeding live footage back to Earth we have a Big Brother style look into the doomed from the start space mission. The two man crew of the lunar lander also film themselves on 16mm cameras. Herein lies some of the flaws in the director's logic. We need to get into the character's perspective to relate. This is solely done through these 16mm cameras. They film themselves on the moon's surface as well as personal records in the module. The rest is all caught on remote cameras, the audience being allowed to see the threat before the crew do, privy to the danger the Department of Defence has exposed them to. The live footage makes sense to have been documented; however the 16mm film rolls do not make it out, they share the crews dire fate. How then are we seeing the actions of the crew amidst this found footage? It makes no sense pulling any reasonably astute watcher beyond the line of suspension of disbelief.
It seems clear López-Gallego wants us to care about the cast. We need to care for the conspiracy theory to resonate. The story very directly harks into the era of Watergate where the powers that be cannot be trusted. But his illusion of found footage does not stand up at all well. Does the story really fail on this account? No. It's actually fairly entertaining as it goes. The tension builds; the threat is revealed and played out. However the conspiracy theme and the documentary framing lend the film no real benefit and do not pay off. While there is reams of data on the films website to build the conspiracy it is not present enough on screen to sideline the notion we are victim to a none to subtle slight of hand.
What the film did do with the early footage was remind me why, as a child, I was so fascinated with space. It shows with sufficient realism what the actual Apollo astronauts did and how we as a planet reached for the stars. This is not history as it tries to suggest, but it is a reminder, to me at least, of how sad it is that we no longer pursue such epic destinations as the moon or beyond.
It seems clear López-Gallego wants us to care about the cast. We need to care for the conspiracy theory to resonate. The story very directly harks into the era of Watergate where the powers that be cannot be trusted. But his illusion of found footage does not stand up at all well. Does the story really fail on this account? No. It's actually fairly entertaining as it goes. The tension builds; the threat is revealed and played out. However the conspiracy theme and the documentary framing lend the film no real benefit and do not pay off. While there is reams of data on the films website to build the conspiracy it is not present enough on screen to sideline the notion we are victim to a none to subtle slight of hand.
What the film did do with the early footage was remind me why, as a child, I was so fascinated with space. It shows with sufficient realism what the actual Apollo astronauts did and how we as a planet reached for the stars. This is not history as it tries to suggest, but it is a reminder, to me at least, of how sad it is that we no longer pursue such epic destinations as the moon or beyond.
helpful•8424
- richard-s-bellamy
- Sep 20, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Tàu Apollo 18: Bí Ẩn Mặt Trăng
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $5,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $17,687,709
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $8,704,271
- Sep 4, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $26,236,153
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 1.85 : 1
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![Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins, and Warren Christie in Apollo 18 (2011)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk5MTk3OTk3OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzg4MzgxNg@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)