I had never heard about this 2009 TV movie titled "Moonshot" prior to sitting down to watching it. With it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, then it was actually sufficient to make me sit down and watch it. But the fact that Andrew Lincoln was on the cast list just helped sweeten the deal.
While the storyline in "Moonshot" certainly was entertaining enough for what it was, if you have an interest in American space aviation, then I was left with an overwhelming sensation of 'was this really a necessary story to re-create in a movie for the world?'. There is something around called history books and the Internet, so it is not like the events in the movie should prove alien and brand new to anyone.
I was familiar with three performer on the cast list, and that was James Marsters, Andrew Lincoln and William Hope. It should be noted, however, that the acting performances in the movie were generally good from everyone involved.
I have to say that I never have been a fan of movies where they incorporate stock footage. And they opted to do that in this movie. It just doesn't sit well with me, as it reeks of cutting corners and just lazy movie-making. Sure, I get that there would be a bigger demand for a budget if they had to recreate a lot of scenes, but it would have added a whole other layer of enjoyability to the movie. And to make matters worse, the stock footage was grainy and very poor quality, so it stood out in contrast to the digitally clean footage of the movie. No. Just no.
Visually, then "Moonshot" was okay, aside from the lousy stock footage.
Watchable for what it was, but hardly an outstanding movie experience. And it is definitely not a movie that will make a second landing on my screen, as there just simply wasn't sufficient contents to the script and storyline to support a second viewing.
My rating of director Richard Dale's 2009 TV movie "Moonshot" lands on a five out of ten stars.
