Magnificent Desolation:
A Walk on the Moon
A Movie Review

By Jeff Hamilton

Magnificent Desolation: A Walk on the Moon is the closest mere mortals will get to being moonwalkers.

Magnificent Desolation shows the evolution of how we traveled on the Moon--from walking, to towing the cart on Apollo 14, to driving a rover. We see the Moon from multiple perspectives--sometimes viewing from a distance, other times seeing through the eyes of the astronaut.

Astronaut James Irwin salutes beside the United States flag during an EVA for the Apollo 15 mission. Photo NASA.

Most of the movie is a re-creation of several episodes from the Apollo missions. There's a superb re-creation of the Apollo 15 landing at Hadley Rille. The view shifts from onboard the Falcon to outside views of the descending lander, which helps give us a perspective to what is occurring. We are then treated to a detailed re-creation of the final moments of the landing, and then the moonwalk. At this point the perspective shifts again so that each of us is the moonwalker looking out through the helmet at the moonscape.

One segment is fictional: a speculation on what would have happened if there had been an accident with the rover. It's very well done; the segment could have confused people who didn't know such a thing never occurred, but the filmmakers make clear that this is a fiction.

In addition to the re-created material, there's much actual footage that was spliced into the movie. It's outstanding to relive those moments--Cernan and Young, Conrad, and all the rest. Of course, Armstrong and Aldrin are saved for some special moments in the movie--but I don't want to give away too much. Dave Scott of Apollo 15 was a special advisor to the movie and provided several narrative moments, but the movie is not about Apollo 15; it's more a compendium of what all the moon landings and moonwalks were like.

Tom Hanks produced Magnificent Desolation and narrated most of it, and his enthusiasm for the subject is displayed in the quality of the production. The special effects are fabulous, especially the 3-D effect. This is the best, most transparent 3-D I've ever seen. Objects have real depth. When "you" reach for a rock, it seems to be right in front of you. It truly adds to the immersive effect of the movie. There were a few scenes where the 3-D effect didn't work, but they were quite rare. There were none of the problems of red and blue shadows or coloration hazing sometimes seen in other 3-D movies.

Seeing Magnificent Desolation on the IMAX screen, in 3-D, was an amazing experience.

I can't recommend the movie more highly.

Copyright © 1998-2007 Organization for the Advancement of Space Industrialization and Settlement. All Rights Reserved.