Seen at the Viennale 2016: It seems that Matt Johnson, an exaggerated enthusiastic filmmaker, had a lot of fun doing this movie. He was able to transfer his enthusiasm onto the movie and the movie was able to transfer it to the Viennese audience. There are a lot of meta levels in the making of this mock documentary. The movie content is based upon the crazy conspiracy theories surrounding the first moon-landing. The main level just shows a documentary that shows the tricks that had to be played that the whole world believed that the landing was real. One sub level is that Johnson interviewed the real NASA in tricky ways to get answers in the right direction, so he was able to include that footage into his movie. Another level is the story of the camera team that develops this story in the movie itself. Johnson is the director of the film crew in the movie and also the director of The Avalanche. Another story is about politics and the power of state to hide its secrets. Even footage of Stanley Kubrick could be used. Quite entertaining. But most impressing: the pictures showing the moon mission of Apollo itself. The result is a homage about this great decade of the US flying to the moon. The mock documentary is not faultless, but quite good entertainment. And also added is a low-budget car chase - a real highlight to see.

Matt Johnson is one of the most inspirational filmmakers today. Although i didn't love his first movie The Dirties, his directing style is really interesting. i liked the dirties but I thought it had a lot of problems. So I thought maybe with a bigger budget he could do a better movie so I was excited for Operation Avalanche. I saw the movie yesterday and I have mixed feelings about it. Some parts are awesome and incredible. Some parts are stupid and boring.

But let's talk first about the good parts. I liked the score and the soundtrack a lot it captured the time period very well. They also captured the sixties feeling in this movie. I was always looking for some time inconsistencies but I couldn't find anything. It had great cinematography some shots were amazing. The improvised scenes in Nasa felt real and genuine. And the scene with Stanley Kubrick was just mind blowing. But by far the best moment in the movie is the car chase near the end of the movie. This was the best car chase scene i've seen since Children of Men it was so amazing and I think it was filmed in one take, which makes it even more impressive.

But sadly the movie had it's negatives. On IMDb it is credited as a Thriller and for a thriller it is really boring. I don't mind slow-paced movies, but some scenes in this movie go on for far to long. It had one scene in the middle of the movie were they used special effects and it just looked fake and laughable. There was a fight scene that you couldn't take seriously, but it was meant to be. And you have the same problem like in all his movies: the acting.

It isn't usual that a movie has so many things it does well but also so many stupid moments. I really hope his next movie will be better because i like Matt Johnson as a person and I think he is very inspirational. I really wanted to love this movie. I can say that i at least liked it better then The Dirties so he has improved.

I would give this movie a 7/10

I can't understand how anyone can not like this. It's ridiculously well written, the acting is incredible and the way it shifts tone is so uncomfortable, in the best way. This is a thinking person's film. If you aren't prepared to fully imerse yourself in it then you aren't going to enjoy it.