Apollo 11 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Apollo 11 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 6, 2019

The dawn of this day heralded the dawning of a new age. A time of exhilaration, reflection, hope, fulfillment.

Not only does the magnificent Apollo 11 -- sourced entirely from archival footage and photographs to tell the story of man’s first journey to the moon -- reveal a cinematic elegance and excellence rarely realized by the most skillful hands and biggest budgets, but the film is a reminder of the might and majesty of its time, a time defined by social upheaval but at the same time lofty aspirations for all mankind. The film is a time capsule to another era, revealing and remembering a different side of man that seems lost today, a time of great drive and vision and determination for the future, a time of hearts for exploration and a souls for conquering challenge. The film is a masterpiece for its assembly but also for the story it tells, a story that extends well beyond the stars and deep into man himself.

Official synopsis: From Director Todd Douglass Miller ('Dinosaur 13') comes a cinematic event 50 years in the making. Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, 'Apollo 11' takes us straight to the heart of NASA's most celebrated mission - the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future.

Apollo 11’s greatest success is not in its narrative, not in its linear depiction of the events leading to the launch, the crew’s arrival at the moon, the first steps taken, and the return to Earth. Miller certainly accomplishes that basic story delivery with exceptional grandness and grace. The film’s greatest accomplishment is instead it’s feel for scale and history. The film’s beating heart is obvious with its first shots, capturing the mammoth size and scope and scale of the rockets and launching pad, contrasted moments later with intimate shots of the astronauts preparing for the launch. The imagery fully and tellingly gazes into their souls. One can see and read the emotion on their faces and feel “the enormity of this event” as a commentator says atop the scene. Miller constantly balances the film between that scope and sense of history and the intimacy of man within that enormity of history. It’s extraordinary to watch unfold, all through legacy video and sound that has been painstakingly, but perfectly, edited into what may very well be the most remarkable film of its kind ever made.

The film's photography is a work of art. There's a majestic splendor about it, a feel that the photographers who made it -- entirely unaware that the footage would be destined to be compiled in this manner -- were not just capable of shooting a person or a rocket but fully aware of the history appearing before their lenses. They capture a number of critical shots: of the astronauts preparing for takeoff, the rocket on the pad, the spectators eagerly awaiting the event from miles away. The film is made of both material the public has never seen before and familiar footage: Apollo 11 blasting off and leaving Earth's atmosphere and the various film footage and stills on the lunar surface. The editing is first-rate and the presentation's sights and sounds fluidly come together to not just tell a story but to bring history to life in a format and sense of scale heretofore rarely encountered in the medium.

Apollo 11 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Apollo 11's 1080p Blu-ray release is one of the most beautiful the format has yet seen. The 65mm footage, particularly in the film's first act (everything prior to lift-off), yields tremendous filmic clarity and stability. Grain is light and complimentary. Clarity is flawless and details are striking. The level of intimacy is off the charts, revealing the rocket, the astronauts, command, and the spectators gathered to view the launch with startling intimacy. The footage fills the frame with grandeur and precision that's second-to-none. The odd stray hair or speckle is visible but never in any quantity or level of intrusiveness to warrant a reduction in score. Colors are just as impressive. The palette is gorgeously lively and stable, perfectly saturated, with contrast dialed in just right. From sunny Earth exteriors to the lunar surface, colors are perfectly true. Skin tones are healthy and black levels are intensely deep. No encode issues of note are readily obvious with the exception of a shot at the 1:03:27 mark in which the grain field moves with an individual as he's shifting his weight but it's really the only major oddity to be found. This is a beauty and would have certainly been even more impressive on UHD; it's a shame Universal didn't make that happen.

Apollo 11 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Apollo 11 features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track finds perfect balance in presentation, handling everything from the most intensive bass lines to the most insignificant ambience with equal precision. One of the first sounds of note is a helicopter rumbling through the stage with a true sense of direction. The weight, and clarity of it, is terrific. But the audio highlight is when the rocket lifts off. The thrust and weight are startling, delivering tremendous low end execution and full stage saturation. Clarity is terrific even for what is an innately muddy, crunchy sound. The track also integrates gathered crowd din and background public address announcements at the spectator's area with exceptional detail and immersion. Comms chatter is by its nature a bit scratchy but delivery is authentic and placement and prioritization are pure.

Apollo 11 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Apollo 11 contains a featurette and a trailer. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Trailer (1080p, 1:53).
• Apollo 11: Discovering the 65MM Featurette (1080p, 2:54): Finding and scanning the footage by new means and methods. This piece also explores the cinematography, matching up the video with the audio, file sizes and the computer power necessary to manage the data, and more. It's a surprisingly thorough piece for one that lasts less then three minutes.

Apollo 11 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's been a good little run for Apollo 11 films these past few months. The Oscar-winning First Man told a dramatized account of Neil Armstrong's personal journey to the moon while Apollo 11 assembles brilliantly photographed and edited archival sights and sounds into a compelling recreation of one of the great moments of human history. Indeed, history will be richer for having Apollo 11 in the archives. It's not a complete Apollo 11 experience but it's a concise, gripping telling of the tale of man's journey to the lunar surface, exactly as it was seen and heard decades ago. The moments in time are a treasure and never have they been so wonderfully revealed to the world. Universal's Blu-ray delivers first-rate video and audio presentations. The absence of a more thorough supplemental section and the lack of a UHD option on the marketplace are both disappointments, but considering the fine tech presentation as-is and the extraordinary quality of the film, it's impossible to complain too loudly. Apollo 11 earns my highest recommendation.