October Sky 1999
This was a good solid movie with some good performances by a cast completely unfamiliar to me (except Laura Dern, and the mother seemed familiar). The movie is about 4 high school students in a coal mining town who start building rockets after Sputnik opens everyone’s eyes about the possibility of space exploration. I wish all 4 boys’ characters had developed more, but instead it largely focuses on the one leader and his interaction with friends, teachers, family, and adults who can help him build a better rocket. As such I think the movie fails because the story it does tell, though apparently true, is too much of a movie plot. The favored older brother jock, the kind mom, the stern dad, the inspiring teacher, and, oh!, the coal mines. Every overplayed card in the deck is here.
Don’t get me wrong, some people throw all the cards in there and still have nothing, but this movie does it’s job well. Towards the end it pulls on the heartstrings a little too hard, but the story develops well and by the end you realize that all this work the boys have been doing makes a good story. It just seems like to me the movie had too many producers afraid to do a science movie and so we had to plug through all the emotional stuff. But then I’m an engineer and I was disappointed The Bridges of Madison County wasn’t really about bridges.
I have to give this movie a B-
Owned on: Digital