Rating: 
Summary: Epiphany
Review: If you're looking for history, skip this dvd. However, if you're looking for a film that will let you experience what it's really like to fly into space and be on the moon, then what are you waiting for? This dvd is for you. I watched FOR ALL MANKIND late at night, the only light in the room coming from the images on my TV screen. I was spellbound. The footage of the Earth from space in this film is so clear and pristine that you feel as if you're actually there. It's really awesome. I didn't mind, as some people did, that the editor mixed footage from different missions and made it seem like it was all from a single mission. I also didn't care that the astronaut speaking on the soundtrack wasn't always the one you saw on the screen. All the voices you hear, just like all the images you see, are the real deal here; it's just that sometimes you hear one astronaut talking while watching footage of other astronauts from a completely different mission. Viewers who expect and demand a chronological history of the missions will be disappointed. This film does not offer that. Watch this film for the immediacy of the experience, which is sublime. Regardless of the editing, all the footage here is authentic. If there's one complaint I have about this edition, it's the extras, which are pretty skimpy. Seeing as how there's miles and miles of footage available, I would've liked to have seen more, especially extra footage of the earth from space and of the lunar surface. What there is of it in the film is so beautiful that you just want to see more of it. I want to stress that this is not your typical PBS/NOVA or HISTORY/DISCOVERY channel documentary. You WILL learn a lot by watching FOR ALL MANKIND, it just won't be about facts and figures. You learn something much more important because it conveys, as immediately and authentically as any film possibly can, the experience of being the first human being to look at the earth from space and to land and walk on the moon. If you're truly open to it and don't mind some creative (and I would say superb and seamless) editing, FOR ALL MANKIND offers an unforgettable viewing experience. It's a wonderful little film that is worth getting and watching over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: For All Mankind - Fantastic!
Review: In a word: fantastic! All the archival footage was cleaned up - Criterion did an excellent job. They showed footage that I had not seen before; specifically, the TLI burn (trans lunar injection), although I don't know what Mission that footage is from. I highly recommend this film/DVD for all space enthusiasts, rocket aficionados and anyone interested in space flight history. To me, this is right up there with PBS's "To The Moon" and HBO's "From The Earth To The Moon." The visual and audio quality rate 5 by 5 for me. Well worth the money for a well produced film.
Rating: 
Summary: Good document but not for beginners
Review: It's a good collectible document for diehard Apollo fans, the sound and music is supperb. But it's no good for beginners - the film editting is very confusing, it mixed the original footages from different space programs and assembled them into one "virtual" mission, the subtitle and identifier are not helpful at all, sometimes even make it more confusing. I for one don't like this kind of compilation style. It should organize the footages in strict mission order and use the interview to link them together chronologically. If you're buying your first Apollo DVD, go for From the Earth to the Moon or Apollo 13.
Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Apollo Montage...
Review: My family and I have watched this over and over!! While never meant to be a chronological sequence, this is a marvelous compilation of the finest footage collected from the astronauts during a great era. It is helpful to leave the astronaut identifications turned on, especially if you are a history buff. The sequences are cut to together so that this is a montage moon shot attempting to summarize the Apollo missions in one 'edited mission'. It makes sense. Historical events are readily identifiable and the names are familiar. My four year old and seven year old are able to follow and enjoy this one with me, as the clips are interesting and exciting. Most amazing is the quality of the color images that remebered by me in B&W from watching this on television with my father. A new generation can now share in that, "One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." More than ever now, it is important to remember our heros!! This is one to own.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty but empty
Review: One day in the USA there will be a revolution in entertainment. At that time we'll discover how good it feels actually to use our brains for something other than passive, thoughtless goggling at spectacles. But until then we'll continue to get things like this. Very pretty pictures, potentially an amazing set of stories, reduced to "wow, would you look at that" cliches.This DVD is a melange of clips from Apollo VIII onwards, strung together as though it were all one disjointed mission. The footage itself is of course incredibly beautiful but there is a paucity of intellectual content. Very little information, less explanation of history and context, and ultimately it's junk food for the mind. With the footage available a really interesting and profound video could have been assembled. But until the revolution we'll just have to get along with this "turn off your brain and open your mouth" prettiness.
Rating: 
Summary: Great footage disappointingly presented
Review: Other reviews have touched upon what I found fatally distracting about this disc: the "artistic liberties" taken constitute inaccuracy. Much is shockingly out of order or just plain wrong. We see Ed White's Gemini spacewalk presented as though it occured during an Apollo mission, we see the wrong astronauts' names in captions (subtitled), we hear Apollo 12's liftoff distress call seamlessly integrated with Apollo 13's post-TLI distress call...all apparently for no reason. I was able to enjoy this film for other merits. Al Bean's paintings and commentary were beautifully done, and I had not seen much of the footage. I was particularly struck by long sequences in which we third stage ignite and the Earth rush away, the disappearing descent stage as the ascent stage takes off, and the LM approaching the orbiting CM. Beautiful. But if you're looking for an informative documentary, this slipshod random splicing of clips is not for you. Get Moon Shot or From the Earth to the Moon, instead.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: Science fiction movies and computer digital effects are great, but they don't compare to seeing actual footage shot in space, such as the case for this documentary. The scenes are spell-binding as ships manuever in the cold blackness of space, eventually landing on the surface of the Moon. The feature follows the sequence of an Apollo mission from the astronauts' dressing rooms, through the launch of the mighty Saturn V rocket and traveling through space, climaxing with views on the Moon's surface. Scenes are inter-mixed with footage from different Apollo missions, but it's not that displeasing and shows particular highlights such as Man's first step on the Moon, to later missions when astronauts had a lunar vehicle for traveling on the barren landscape. Brian Eno's music is perfect for this feature; if you could hear music out there - this would be it. Listening to the astronauts as they narrate this feature is nice and makes you feel even closer to them as you watch them progress through their missions. What's great is that it is all real footage, there are no actors and no FX, you get to see how it really happened.
Rating:
Summary: Some reviewers missed the point
Review: Some have dubiously criticized "For All Mankind" for being inaccurate, because it's a pastiche of footage from different NASA missions (mostly Apollo) edited together as a single moonshot. These people completely missed the point. I think it's obvious that Al Reinert deliberately chose not to take a purely historical approach, which I found refreshing. He was trying to convey the experience of leaving the earth and walking on another world, the mysteries of the universe vicariously through the astronauts in a spiritual and aesthetic way; not to present a factual account or chronology of historical events. There are plenty of other documentaries about the Moon landing available to fill that need. I found it moving and beautiful. Mystery is the soul of beauty, to paraphrase Einstein. Brian Eno's music is perfect, too -- haunting and dreamlike. It's available on his ambient "Apollo Atmospheres and Soundtracks" CD for any interested.
Rating:
Summary: Great footage. Not perfect.
Review: The DVD was exceptionally well done with respect to the footage used and, as another reviewer has noted, makes the viewer feel like they were there. Due to the fact that footage from all missions was combined into a 'conglomerate' mission, some sequences seem out of place. In addition, there's virtually nothing on the return journey or re-entry/recovery. For the historians looking for 'hardcore' accuracy, this product is somewhat lacking. For everyone else, it's a visual triumph worth repeated viewings!
Rating:
Summary: Succeeds in intent & we sent the right folks up there
Review: This beautiful looking and beatifully sounding film achieves its intent of capturing the feeling of the space flights of the 1960's. It was not meant to be a supplier of trivial information concerning pounds of thrust or specifications of spacecraft. This movie starts you out at at pre-launch, taking you through an amazing launch sequence, into orbit, off to the moon, around the moon and on it and then back to earth. Other than the visuals and the amazing Brien Eno soundtrack, what I like most are the commentaries by the astronauts. Listening to them, you understand that they realized the magnificence and importance of their journey. Whether NASA or the US government were flying people to the moon for Cold War sabre-rattling or not, the astronauts truly thought of their mission as one "for all mankind."
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