FIRST STORY THEN FIRST MAN...!

Rating: 5/10 (23 October 2018)

A dramatic misfire from the reliable Damien Chazelle depicts our first successful mission to the moon from the standpoint of the first man to step on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Having the twin stars of astronaut cinema to contend with, namely The Right Stuff & Apollo 13, First Man needed a lot to bring to the table. Sharing the same faults w/42, the Jackie Robinson biopic, we have a film w/an unknown cipher in its center. Armstrong, along w/Robinson, was an intensely private person who rarely granted interviews, so making him the lead provides an inert, soulless arena where the audience can find no footing so w/o that, the film becomes a sort of documentary w/sprinkles of character trait dropped in like a clogged IV feed tube. Claire Foy comes off best as Armstrong's beleaguered spouse but perhaps focusing on Buzz Aldrin (played by Corey Stoll) would've done the trick since even to this day Aldrin remains one of the most vocal cheerleaders for NASA & space exploration.