The concept of the first moon landing being a possible hoax is something that’s intrigued conspiracy theorists and Hollywood for years. Some films make subtle jokes about it, or have jabs within their dialogue, whereas other movies have had plots centered around it. One of the latest to explore the concept is OPERATION AVALANCHE, which implements the found footage motif to show some CIA agents who took on the task of fooling the world and the Russians into thinking we were the first to set foot on the moon. This comes from the co-writing team of Matt Johnson and Josh Boles, who previously gave us the very smart dark comedy THE DIRTIES. And not unlike that film, this one uses a sort of “meta” idea in that what we the audience watch what is supposed to be a sort of documentary-esque presentation of found footage shot by guys playing fictional characters in history who were faking that they were shooting a documentary… everyone got that?

In the mid-to-late 1960s, CIA agents Matt Johnson and Owen Williams (the boys used their real names here) don’t quite fit the mold of a standard agent, and as a result don’t get picked for the more exciting missions. They find out that a Soviet mole is believed to be snooping around at NASA, and the agency plans to send someone in to expose whoever it is. Matt and Owen come up with a plan to be the ones going undercover, using the guise of being a documentary film crew, and selling to their boss the idea that they would be less conspicuous than some tough guy agent. The agency goes for it, so our boys and their film crew head to NASA, documenting their journey along the way. Once there, they find out some rather important news regarding the American/Russian space race. Turns out NASA doesn’t feel confident they can land on the moon at that time. At this point Matt and Owen realize they have a chance to save the day, and they soon pitch a new mission to the CIA – that they will produce and shoot a convincing short film that will fool the world into thinking we landed on the moon successfully… and first. This new scheme takes them to the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 film, where they learn revolutionary techniques to make their work look legit. As they pull things together, paranoia sets in and they begin to feel like someone is watching what they’re up to. This also creates tension between them, and they start to wonder if this mission is really worth it.

There’s a strangely endearing quality to OPERATION AVALANCHE in that none of the principal characters really should be all that likable, yet somehow we find ourselves rooting for them. Maybe it’s the underdog personas in a world where they never quite fit in, but Johnson and Boles found a way to write these guys so that we fall in love with them, warts and all. Johnson especially, who is very much the leading figure in the story, has a wonderful awkwardness to him that we can all relate to in some way. He’s constantly looking at the camera with a childlike sense of wonderment, not unlike how we all do when someone has a lens on us while we’re doing something really cool or unexpected. As the plot unfolds, some of what we see is quite clever and honestly pretty plausible, while other things feel more than a little far-fetched. But the film does a nice job of balancing the fun and adventuresome tone, while still mixing in just enough serious material to keep things grounded. Probably the most impressive aspect of the film is that when it begins to shift in tone, you don’t even realize what it’s doing until it’s over. And like any good conspiracy theory, the ultimate conclusion isn’t exactly pleasant of happy, though that’s not a bad thing in this case.

There’s some truly inspired visual gags in the film that stretch the previous boundaries of found footage projects. One particularly awesome sequence involves an intense car chase in which the camera is in the back seat the whole time. So it’s all in one take and from the closest possible perspective to the protagonist – this is a really impressive segment. There’s also some creative work involved in a sequence where the boys go to Stanley Kubrick’s closed set, using “hidden cameras” to capture their interactions. The filmmakers creatively used archival still photographs to create a 3D environment in which the actors could be added in, and the elements (like Kubrick himself) look alive and moving in almost impossible ways. There’s a great YouTube video out there that illustrates how they pulled this off, but in the finished film it’s quite impressive.

OPERATION AVALANCHE was actually a very low budget film, but in many ways feels more competent and effective than most bigger budget productions like it. The scope of the story feels big and impressive, and the script is smart enough where it needs to be that you can easily get lost in the story to where it feels very real. Knowing that the guys actually snuck into the real NASA to steal shots without permission makes it all even better. Johnson and Boles have proven twice now that they excel utilizing this style of filmmaking, so hopefully this will lead to even bigger projects down the line. Without any star power to put butts in seats, this is a film that will rely heavily on word of mouth, and if we can contribute to audience interest we gladly will. This is definitely one of the better film offerings of the year, and absolutely deserves a look.

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