In space you can't escape to hear an audience member snore. Even if it's a good film

Rating: 7/10 (15 October 2018)

Talk about an inpatient crowd at the cinema. I heard snoring, people moving around, feet stomping on the floor and even saw some walk-outs. The guy on the row in front of me kept re-arranging how he was sitting. He was either unsure whether to put his feet up on the chair infront of him or to tap his fingers constantly as if he was listening to music the entire time. It's annoying to see crowds like this, especially when you get a slower moving dramatic film. Regardless of the distractions, I liked "First Man". A complaint I've seen is that the plot gets un-engaging by the middle act. And I can see what they are talking about, but it didn't bother me. It's a realistic approach. Ryan Gosling as Armstrong will of course be a quieter performance. He's got subtlety. Sadness is seen in his eyes and whenever Armstrong would show more emotion it landed a bigger mark in the story.
It doesn't move very fast. Chazelle decides to spend a lot of time with the characters on the ground. They're at a house, conversing calmly and then occasionally you go back to Nasa's space research. So that's the aspect I can see not working so well on repeat viewings. People will probably wanna fast-forward to a training scene with the ships. It's shot on film which I adored. Although I would have preferred to skip the documentary like camerawork. It got shaky in a way that's not my taste. All the pictures in space or in the ships are stellar though. Claire Foy is here too and I remember that she was brilliant in "Unsane". I was hoping to not get distracted and see too many elements of her character from that film. But I ended up being surprised as she delivered a different performance to Gosling. They balance each other out. He keeps the emotions hidden, while she puts them front and center. The stand-out aspect is when she insists that Armstrong has to talk to their sons before he leaves to space. It's a difficult situation which makes you think. What would you say? Anything can go wrong considering it's a mission that's never been done before.
Landing on the Moon was a giant leap for all of mankind, and this story makes you understand the hardships that go into achieving such a goal. It's a drama that tells the story of this man. The Nasa and Moon landing plots are integral, but remember that it's gonna be from the point of view of this character. Not a thrilling ride into space, but a nice film about one guy's journey which left a place in history. Not bad. Loved the opening scene which was riveting and the actual landing sequence makes you hold your breath. The biggest negative is that as soon as there's no sound in space, I only hear the snoring man (from two rows back) louder and clearer. If you wanna sleep, why do would you go to the cinema and disturb others?