Apollo 18

I'm not overly in love with the sci-fi genre, and in the case of "Apollo 18", it's supossedly based in some sort of really. NOT! This was what I've deemed as a "reality movie" in that it's made to look like a documentary, the way it's shot, but there's nothing real about it at all, just like a reality show.

Decades-old found footage from Nasa's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts, Nathan Walker (Warren Christie) and Ben Anderson (Lloyd Owen) were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason why the U.S. has never returned to the moon. The rest of the cast is Ryan Robbins as the other astronaut, John

What makes this anything palatable is the approach the writers, Brian Miller and Cory Goodman took to make this appear to look factual when, of course, it was not. This was, at least unique and original. Where it goes a bit flat is that, after a certain point, you see where the film is going, which makes the ending extremely predictable. For a couple of writers with limited experience, not a bad try. It was directed by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallero ("Nomadas" '01, "Sobre el arco iris" '03, "El rey de la montana"'07). Interesting that a Spanish director helmed this instead of an American one, considering its very American roots.

This was interesting in that it was suspenseful, and that made it intriguing. If only, however, the writing could've stayed as original as when it started, this might have been nice, tightly executed project, instead of something that won't stay with you once you leave the cineplex.

Out of 4 stars: 2.5                     Rated: PG-13                    88min.