Rameshwar IN Many of us would have debated on either side of whether the man has ever set foot on Moon? Was the footage featuring Neil Armstrong and Co. staged? Was Stanley Kubrick who has just directed a near perfect space adventure involved in anyway? Was CIA involved? 'Operation Avalance' tries to answer exactly that using the found footage style of presentation that feeds on to the conspiracy theories surrounding this event.In the height of cold war and amidst the space race between USA and USSR, Russians are winning by sending a man to space through their Vostok program. John F. Kennedy made a promise to people that they will put a man on the moon by the turn of the decade. There is immense pressure on NASA to deliver. At the same time there is paranoia that Russia could have a mole within NASA to both steal the technology as well as know the latest status of their space program. Matt Johnson and Owen Williams are enthusiastic CIA agents who talk themselves into infiltrating NASA as documentary film makers to identify the Russian mole. During the process they learn that NASA doesn't have the technology to put a man on the Moon and bring them back safely. They come up with another outlandish suggestion to stage the event as an alternative workaround and even get it authorized. How this mission affects their lives, their friendship in a desperation to keep this a secret and inability to trust anyone else and a possibility that their lives could be in danger forms the rest of narrative.Though most part of the movie has an upbeat tone, there is one word that keeps popping in your head throughout - unconvincing. This movie is more of a fantasy that is built on top of the existing conspiracy theories and tries to justify how some of the discrepancies would have come into existence. Acting is natural and since this is all presented as a found footage, thankfully there isn't much scope for melodramatics. The cinematography is as if viewed through a camera from that era (doesn't make sense again since most of the documentaries at that time are done in b/w and this movie presents it in color). This is more of a geek's fantasy to have a closure on one of the most popular conspiracy theories of the past century but I look at it as an opportunity wasted. It neither goes in a comedy route nor as a serious version of the events and just ends up flip-flopping. The screenplay is repetitive and keeps circling back to the same place making it redundant and boring at times. The fact that CIA allows a rookie CIA agent to be at the helm of creating such a staged footage out in the open (even within the watchful eyes) already sounds ridiculous. And allowing to film the filming of this staged event is beyond ridiculous.Unconvincing take on a popular conspiracy theory with an undecided tone. Opportunity wasted!!

EvilDeadChainsaws Just seen this, and reading some of the poor reviews the film is getting here on IMDb, I just had to chip in.I've seen my fair share of 'found footage' films, and many are indeed quite horrendous. Most feel the need to really push the 'found footage' angle by waving the camera around to sell the hand-held aspect, which just tends to lead to motion sickness on my part. This is far more subtle, while believably conveying the director's intent. I think this film is a well thought out and decently executed picture with much to recommend. For the most part, the stock footage and new footage blend pretty well, as do the period set pieces.As an amateur film-maker myself, I know how much of a slog it is to get a low budget picture made, and it's very easy to casually criticize someone else's work. No, it's not a nicely edited package running from start to finish, with all the questions answered by the end, and I never assumed it was meant to be.As a side note, I work at Shepperton Film Studios, featured briefly here. It was interesting to note that beyond not showing any cars, the studios you see here, looks identcial in real life today. Knowing how busy the studios is, and the low-budget nature of the production, I'm assuming they were very limited in what they could do, and couldn't really make any period specific changes.If you liked 'Apollo 18', or the documentary 'The Dark Side Of The Moon', you'll likely get something from this film too.Top work!

cosmicfish14 Forgot to do a review of this one when I originally saw it. But I also rewatched it at some point before I decided to write this review, so it smooths out. Anyways Matt Johnson's found footage mockumentary on faking the moon landing is one of the most ambitious yet amazingly well excited films I've seen in the past few years. He takes this crazy concept and is able to bring a level comedy, intrigue, and wit to it. It starts off a little slow but goes all the way by the first few minutes and is an absolute joy to watch. That with is attention to detail with costume design to the type of camera they used to some of the insane effects used in the middle of the film, there isn't a moment where you feel they couldn't do it because of their shoe string budget. Plus I love how they are to change the tone of the film without it contradicting itself. When it goes from a more comedic feel to somewhat of an espionage thriller is really impressive. Also its really engaging. Probably the best film I've seen in 2017 so far.94/100

walterohlinger Almost found myself tuning out during the first 10 minutes, but then the story started to evolve into something truly interesting and plausible. The idea that a comedy could become a thriller on such a low budget and encompass such an enormous subject is genius. Use of old Apollo films to weave into the story are well done and believable. It remains a comedy most of the way through, but the underlying premise is a masterpiece and very likely to become a cult flick.This is an incredible accomplishment and leaves the viewer thinking...hmmmmmm. I know I was left thinking it just might be plausible, if not likely.