First Man

The struggles to make big achievements in American history can reach the hearts of many audience members who lived it when seeing it being shown on the big screen. A common topic found with these can range from sports dramas taking place during racial segregation, making strides in important court cases, and the life of an individual whose actions led to powerful movements. This brings us to First Man, a biographical drama that explored Neil Armstrong and the struggles it took to land on the moon, which was directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash), written by Josh Singer (Spotlight, The Post), and is based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. It's a funny coincidence with this period of history because back in 2016, Hidden Figures also premiered to talk about the history of this event but from more of a behind the scenes background. The marketing campaign seemed interesting and it gathered a good word of mouth from its premiere in the Venice film festival in August. It gained a positive critical reception with some Oscar potential and was one of the first first contenders that showed up in the beginning of awards season. I entered the auditorium to see how much of its hype was warranted and left it satisfied enough though I can see why some would have trouble with the viewing experience. 

Plot: The events being told follows Neil Armstrong in dealing with some family trauma in the 1960s during the Space Race as NASA's efforts are shown in their success and losses in landing on the moon. From what I've heard, the execution of these details are pretty accurate almost all the way through. It's fascinating watching this process from hands on perspective rather than the behind the scenes mathematical aspect of it. It manages a competent job in balancing the tension in Neil's family following a sad occurrence and the tensions/pressures NASA faced in attempting to achieve their goal. What makes this worth the big screen treatment are the sequences where space craft is being piloted as the execution.

There are some noticeable issues holding back the delivery of its story such as the pacing problems that are hard to ignore. There's also a minor controversy revolving around the actual landing. If you're hoping to see the flag planted on-screen, it's not included here. It's not as if it didn't happen but it's just not shown in front of the audience as a fictionalized little personal moment is there instead. Considering how long the film is and how much of it is actually spent on the moon (at most 10 minutes I think), it's not that big of a problem in the grand scheme of things but it's just worth noting.

Characters: The people to focus on are Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and Janet Armstrong (Claire Foy). Claire does a great performance with her role as a wife dealing with the pressures of being a housewife of a NASA pilot and is allowed better range of emotions as she strives to strong for her family. Ryan, however, is a mixed bag in terms of acting execution: while he’s good here with what he’s given, it doesn’t feel like he’s portraying a different character. He seems like he’s being typecast as a stoic character with a portrayal that’s not great or groundbreaking but is good but not memorable (similar to Meryl Streep except less memorable). I’m not hating the actor but it’s an observation that needs to be stated in regards to him appearing as if he's on auto-pilot and not taking any risks. in general.

Overall Consensus: First Man does a great job with true telling of sacrifices to achieve an amazing fear in history and is carried by some good performances, despite suffering from pacing issues.⭑⭑⭑1/2🎟 Runtime: 2 hours 21 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors and/or Damien Chazelle. You are curious about seeing the moon landing on the big screen. You enjoy biographical dramas about scientific achievements. You want to see how historically accurate it is. You want to see how much of an awards contender this is.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors and/or Damien Chazelle. You have an issue with 2 hour movies with pacing issues. You aren't interested in awards contenders or biographical dramas.