[yasr_overall_rating]
In 1967, four undercover CIA agents were sent to NASA posing as a documentary film crew. What they discovered led to one of the biggest conspiracies in American history.
When I heard about “Operation Avalanche” a number of months back, it really intrigued me. A story about the supposed cover-up of the 1969 NASA moon landing sounded like a terrific premise but little did I know, instead of witnessing a tense, nail-biting thriller, something which the movie could very well have been, we get “The Blair Witch Project” at NASA. The entire film is shot utilizing a hand-held camera, a gimmick I personally loathe and for the first time in a long time, I literally had to look away from the screen to avoid being consumed by nausea. This is lazy filmmaking at its worst. It’s so easy to run down a darkened corridor in an apparent tense scene but when all we can see is the cameraman’s shoes, all anxiety and apprehension gives way to motion sickness and ultimately, betrayal. Yes, using a hand-held camera means you don’t have to set up with a tripod, it cuts down on the amount of time it takes to actually shoot a movie but the final product, sadly, speaks for itself. If the filmmakers had shot this conventionally, setting up the tone of 1960s Houston and inter-cutting it with news reel footage from that era, including news bites of John F. Kennedy and Walter Cronkite, it might have been one of the years’ best films, but I feel it will be quickly forgotten about within a few weeks.
It is 1967 and when the CIA suspects that a mole is working at NASA, sending vital information back to Moscow, trying to undermine the Apollo space program, they gear up to send in two agents to try and capture the traitor. When one of their newest trainees, Matt Johnson, hears about it, he puts forth a pitch to the head of the agency to send him and three of his friends into NASA instead, where they will pose as documentary filmmakers wanting to capture NASA’s race to the moon. It is agreed upon and once they are inside the hallways of NASA, they go around bugging people’s phones by night and acting as filmmakers by day. When they intercept a phone call stating that NASA won’t have the ability to land on the moon until the early ’70s, Matt approaches the director of the CIA and spins an incredible tale of how he feels he can fake the Apollo moon landing so that the Russians won’t beat them to the punch. Reluctantly, they agree and Matt and his fellow agents go about setting up a large sound stage and filling it with rocks and sand, similar to the moon’s atmosphere, and eventually have a replica of the Lunar Module Eagle placed on set. When strangers begin appearing outside the stage, and following them to holiday parties, the agents initially suspect it is the Russians but as the moon landing approaches, they gradually realize that they are part of what will become one of the biggest conspiracy theories in the history of the world, and that their participation in it, is no longer required.
The premise for “Operation Avalanche” is brilliant, and for all the conspiracy theorists out there who believe that we didn’t go to the moon, they will have a ball with this movie, if they can actually see what is happening onscreen. For all of the negativity associated with this film, there is one hilarious scene in which Matt and his friends travel to London to meet up with Stanley Kubrick while he is shooting “2001: A Space Odyssey” because it was reported that he had two NASA scientists on his payroll, in order to help him achieve authenticity within his film in regards to the moon’s atmosphere and geography. Aside from this one entertaining scene, the rest of the movie is utterly forgettable and should come with a warning: “Will cause headache and nausea.” No joke.
In theaters Friday, September 30th
