To boldly go where no man had gone before

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2018)

Well after being inspired by the NASA exhibit yesterday what better way to reinforce the experience by catching the biopic on Neil Armstrong and his mission to the moon. We thought it best to catch the picture on IMAX to immerse ourselves in the experience.
This is more of a character driven drama that focuses on the sacrifices made by those that dared to venture beyond our earthly realms and go where no man had gone before. The story begins in 1961 with Armstrongs acceptance into the Gemini program and culminates with him ultimately stepping on the moon. What transpires between those two points is what grounds the entire film. We see a young astronaut who detaches himself from his emotions after the loss of his daughter to cancer, his inability to share his emotions with his wife or children, and his single focused mindset on the missions at hand. Ironically from my perspective, it is these qualities that likely allowed him to achieve the success that he did. He was a solitary man, with a solitary focus, and had a distaste for the fame and attention that would follow him through his career. The character side of the story was balanced nicely with the frailties of the tin cans these brave souls were placed in. You truly experience the cramped and extremely fragile nature of the capsules the astronauts endured. The sets were accurate for the time period and certainly brought back memories of my childhood when I watched that landing on our old RCA black and white television in Glamorgan.
Gosling was good as he consistently is but the true star in my estimation was Claire Foy playing Janet Armstrong. She beautifully displayed what every spouse endures on every mission and struggles to balance her devotion to her husband with the conflict of his detachment.
This film was a nice departure from the influx of superhero movies that seem to dominate the screens these days and remind us what real life heroism is all about and the costs that come with it.