Apollo 11 4K Review

Todd Douglas Miller’s version of Apollo 11 uses mostly archive footage (including some 65mm footage), to tell an engaging tale. From its crawler transporter at launch pad to Walter Cronkite’s newscast oratory – you are there. This docudrama leaves no one wanting more.

Visuals look incredible, particularly the newly discovered 65mm footage. Everything looks clear and sharp from computer monitors to clothing folds.

Audio

Images from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission are stunning in any format; but director Todd Douglas Miller takes them a step further by emphasizing who drove it forward: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins themselves.

Archival footage is combined with real recordings from those involved, including astronauts, their wives and Walter Cronkite during the broadcast–to create an absorbing “you are there” docudrama. Through minimal text and illustrations highlighting its path from liftoff to landing to return home safely.

While the film highlights iconic moments such as Neil Armstrong’s famous quote of “one small step for man”, such as when he said it himself, filmmakers also showed all of the meticulous calculations required for such an endeavor. Too often it is forgotten that this wasn’t just three individuals doing all the hard work themselves – rather, hundreds of scientists, engineers and support personnel played vital roles as well.

It is fascinating to witness how astronauts’ heart rates fluctuated at key junctures during their eight-day voyage. Houston’s mission control recorded astronauts’ physiological states to demonstrate just how mentally taxing this task was for each astronaut.

Dogwoof’s region free UK 4K Blu-ray uses the same transfer as used for its 20th anniversary release and it looks stunning. Featuring wide color gamut and HDR as well as an HEVC codec support.

The primary audio is provided as a lossless English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, with an optional 2.0 stereo mix available as an extra option. Due to being created from vintage recordings, expect some radio crackle, crosstalk or other artifacts; nonetheless, this still sounds very good overall.

No new bonus features were included on this disc, however audio commentary by Ron Howard and Jim and Marilyn Lovell from their 20th anniversary release has been included here. Both commentaries make an excellent listen.

Visuals

This riveting documentary on the 1969 moon landing will make you appreciate what the human race achieved, with extensive use of never-before-seen archived footage that chronicles it all from start to finish.

The recently discovered 65mm film looks absolutely breathtaking, with mind-boggling clarity. Everything from tracks moving toward the take-off pad to vast overviews of Cape Kennedy to space shots is incredible to look at – not to mention all of the incredible archival footage which shows details such as writing on papers, wrinkles in clothing and so forth!

At the heart of it all lies sequences depicting the launch, orbit and landing on the moon – they truly bring home how tremendous an achievement it was! Each of these sequences are grippingly real – each moment made more powerful knowing you’re seeing exactly what the astronauts saw!

Astounded by the size and power of the Saturn V rocket – at 363 feet tall and longer than a football field it had the capacity to push ten million pounds of thrust! Miller expertly captures lunar landing itself with subtlety.

Not only is The Martian mesmerizing visually; its captivating human drama will enthrall audiences. Between Armstrong and Collins in their Apollo module chatting amicably and Mission Control being overrun with missions, to Mission Control becoming overwhelmed and crowds below cheering, even mundane details like astronauts donning white spacesuits gleam with an otherworldly beauty.

“Silence” is an absolutely captivating film and looks magnificent on 4K Blu-ray. The image quality is crisp and clear, with natural colour balance enhanced by Wide Colour Gamut and High Dynamic Range technologies. While some red hues may look slightly overblown at times compared to standard 1080p footage, that difference only really becomes apparent in comparison with standard 1080p footage. Furthermore, 4K provides extra depth that seems to bring objects and faces alive onscreen as if sitting in an actual cinema hall.

Extras

Todd Douglas Miller chooses not to create an exhaustive docudrama out of Apollo 11 like previous filmmakers did with 1989’s For All Mankind or 2007’s In the Shadow of the Moon by drawing footage from NASA archives. Instead, his documentary style treatment of Apollo 11 remains focused. Instead, he carefully explores the archives, culling out enough materials to craft an engaging narrative without resorting to lengthy exposition. Its focus largely allows it to avoid mundane aspects of the Apollo program such as construction crews and spectators at launch sites; yet at the same time it allows audiences to experience its most exciting parts, like Armstrong and Aldrin’s intricate lunar walk docking maneuver, conveyed with one shot that beautifully displays how complex such an operation was.

Though the film’s primary strength lies in its reconstruction timeline, each piece of archival footage looks fresh and clear in this new format. Restoration work for 16mm, 35mm and 65mm footage looks excellent; especially 65mm’s stunning clarity makes you think those astronauts had just left their Lunar Module Eagle only yesterday rather than over half a century ago!

Criterion offers this release with many extras, including commentary by director Al Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan as well as a 30-minute documentary detailing archival materials used in the movie. Most other extras from earlier DVD and Blu-ray releases remain, including excerpted interviews with crew members; Alan Bean’s space-related art pieces (he was an Apollo 12 crew member); Moog synthesizer playing the “Houston We’re Home” music sequence; short video.

This release is truly spectacular in terms of documentaries about human spaceflight’s early years, making this release essential viewing on any collector’s list for both its audio/video quality and images of humanity’s first steps onto the Moon. Watching these materials unfolding before your very eyes on a big screen serves as an amazing reminder of humanity’s accomplishments when we all work towards one goal together.

Overall

The 1969 landing of Apollo 11 stands as one of mankind’s greatest scientific feats and an unforgettable event, forever imprinted into global memory. To properly appreciate it in all its 4K HDR glory requires a big screen experience; thus this 2019 release from Todd Douglas Miller is so timely – its combination of previously released archive footage with meticulously restored 65mm captures is sure to put viewers into Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins’ shoes as they made history!

Experience an epic voyage through time with this new release in IMAX format – you won’t want to miss this experience! Enjoyed best with friends or alone, it should be shared widely and seen by as many people as possible – share this unforgettable film experience and make sure your tickets don’t expire before watching again in this release.

The 4K remaster of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is truly breathtaking to behold, especially thanks to newly found 65mm material that’s simply jaw-dropping in terms of clarity. There’s so much detail here from tracks moving a crawler-transporter onto its launch pad to shots of the rocket itself; less so in more conventional archival footage like computer monitors writing on paper or clothing folds; yet all are easily distinguishable here.

Although this film is mostly visual, there is also plenty of informative audio commentary provided by producers Miller, Andrew Koenig, John Dower (who also wrote the screenplay), Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mission Control staffers Michael Collins and Michael Eisner as well as astronaut Neil Armstrong provide plenty of fascinating details regarding every aspect of their mission – from rigorous preparations through flight and landing – as well as uncovering small but integral components like technicians and engineers who helped drive it along as well as any personal sacrifices they were asked to make by each.

This mesmerizing film deserves to be watched by as many people as possible and its Ultra HD rendition is truly beautiful to witness. Dogwoof offers a Region Free UK 4K Blu-ray with native 3840 x 2160p resolution image and supports HDR10. Additionally, this disc offers 10-bit video depth, Wide Color Gamut support and uses HEVC codec encoding for optimal viewing experience.