apollo 13 is simply one of the most dramatic film this summer ( apart from swashbuckling braveheart ) . 
director ( and former actor ) ron howard ( splash , backdraft , far & away ) , most noted for his dramatic film making , displays again his brilliance in creating drama and suspense in apollo 13 . 
being the second largest box office hit in the us this summer ( with more than us$150 million in the states alone ) , this film is his most successful effort yet . 
perhaps one of the most appealing feature of this film is the pool of talented actors such as tom hanks ( gump himself ) , kevin bacon ( footloose , tremors , a few good men etc . ) , gary sinise ( forrest gump ) , bill paxton ( aliens , true lies , boxing helena ) and ed harris ( the abyss , just cause ) . . 
all of whom gave good performances in their respective roles . 
apollo 13 was the second worst accident ever to occur in the history of us spaceflight ( the worst being the challenger accident ) . 
jim lovell ( hanks ) , the mission commander , together with his crew , fred haise ( paxton ) and last minute replacement tom swigert ( bacon ) are put to the ultimate test when part of their command module explodes on the third day of the mission , more than three quarters way to the moon . 
suspense and drama ensue as the three men are left in space with their spaceship out of control and the problem of surviving the journey home . . . 
if they ever reach it . 
ed harris and gary sinise who play , respectively , the man in charge of the entire mission control and the astronaut who was supposed to fly but was diagnosed with measles , both delve into their roles superbly . 
audiences are shown the chaotic and worrisome state of the entire ground control crew , as they frantically attempt to come up with ideas on how to save the astronauts from hurtling into space . 
also , there are quite a number of real news footages which were broadcast during the accident which took the entire us nation into 5 days of drama in 1970 . 
the special effects by digital domain are up to standard and the music suits the suspense and drama very well , thanks to film-music maestro james horner . 
watch out for the launching sequence , it is simply one of the most breathtaking scenes of the film . 
a bad point though : apollo 13 features much technical jargon and many physics concepts in its script . 
those who consider themselves `scientifically illiterate' might have a slight problem understanding what caused this and what caused that during the course of the show . 
this is however , just a minor point , just forget all those technical bullshit and immerse yourselves into the drama and suspense throughout the film . 
you should enjoy it .