Somewhat Cold And Detached, But More-Than-Worthy Look At Neil Armstrong

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2019)

On July 20, 1969, the history of the human race changed forever when Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the Moon, making "one small step for man...one giant leap for Mankind". What not too many people outside of the American space program may have known about, however, was the psychological strain that Armstrong's astronaut training and his ascension into immortality has on him and his family. This was detailed in the best-selling 2005 biography "First Man" by James Hansen, which received that year's American Astronautical Society's prize for Astronautical literature. And in 2018, that book was turned into an incredible historical drama on the same name.
The film follows Armstrong, portrayed by Ryan Gosling (who had starred in the Oscar-winning 2016 film LA LA LAND), during his first years as part of NASA's astronaut corps, as America races not only to catch up with the dreaded Soviet Union in putting human beings into space (after the humiliations of seeing the Soviets beat them with a pair of Sputnik satellites and Yuri Gagarin) but also to meet President John F. Kennedy's stated goal of launching a man to the Moon and bringing him safely back to the Earth before the end of the 1960s. The race to the Moon means he has to be quite psychologically detached from almost all considerations, including what would otherwise pass for a "normal" relationship with his wife (Claire Foy), and still have it in the back of his mind that his chosen line of work puts him and others in NASA's manned space lineup in extreme danger during these missions. This is borne out when his flight on Gemini 8 in the spring of 1966 goes almost fatally awry, followed by the loss of his three fellow astronauts Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham), Roger Chaffee (Cory Michael Smith) and Ed White (Jason Clarke) in the horrible Apollo 1 flash fire on the launch pad on January 27, 1967. And then there is, of course, the media asking questions whether such risks are worth expending billions of dollars on (even as billions more are at the same time being spent in Vietnam on a war that is increasingly splitting the country apart). And in the final days before Gosling makes that trip to Kennedy Space Center to embark on Apollo 11, he has a confrontation with Foy about the possibility that he won't be coming back. The family strain is exceptionally palpable by this time. Nevertheless, the mission happens; and the rest, as they say, is history.
While the Apollo 11 flight is likely the most examined case of human technological might in history, FIRST MAN, due to the combination of director Damien Chazelle (who directed LA LA LAND and WHIPLASH) and screenwriter Josh Singer (who co-wrote the screenplays for SPOTLIGHT and THE POST), makes for a hugely interesting film. What is strikingly unusual about the film is the fact that much of what is done is played out in a low-key and arguably cold, detached way. Such an approach, in an age where overemphatic acting and hyperbolic action scenes remain the rage in Hollywood, was one thing that seemed to turn off many viewers to this movie, even though it worked quite well for director Stanley Kubrick and his 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, which FIRST MAN pays homage to. But anyone who read Hansen's book will know that such detached behavior among the astronaut corps was part-and-parcel for that time. Like Kubrick, Chazelle also knows a thing or two about how to make real the incredible silence one finds in space. And while some "uber-patriots" severely slammed FIRST MAN for never showing the U.S. flag being planted by Armstrong and Aldrin on the Moon, the truth of the matter was that the Apollo 11 mission wasn't just strictly an American endeavor, but the ultimate Human endeavor as well.
Justin Hurwitz, who provided the Oscar-winning score for LA LA LAND, provides another great music score (with the occasional "2001" references); and FIRST MAN rightly won an Oscar for its realistic special effects work. Gosling's portrayal of Armstrong is also spot-on, regardless of how detached one might say he is, as are Foy, Kyle Chandler, and Ciaran Hinds. And even if the approach it takes might turn off those who want a lot more of heat, sound, and fury, FIRST MAN should rank up there with films like APOLLO 13 and THE RIGHT STUFF in terms of depicting not only America but all of humanity itself at its absolute best.