Not the Best of It's Kind, But Very Solid

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2020)

First Man is not the first of it's craft, in fact, the genre is quite saturated at this point, but what the movie achieves is impressive nevertheless. Everything that you would want from a space biography, First Man has it, the physics, the build up, and the drama. First Man does bring some things new to the table, such as, introducing in Neil's family and the Gemini missions into the equation. Everything that you would expect to see in a film such as this, you get, it's pretty much Apollo 13, except for the part where the spacecraft explodes in the middle of space.
As far as the realism goes, it's fairly realistic. They get a lot of things right, like the haircuts they had and Neil's history. I would've liked to see more physics involved, but the film focuses more on Neil's family, which isn't a bad thing at all. I'm not sure if Neil Armstrong had such a severed family life, but if he did, then the writers did a good job with that subplot. The biggest issue I have with First Man, is the extremely long pacing. I understand the whole build up to the finale, but it didn't have to be almost two and a half hours long.
Technically, First Man was well crafted. The cinematography was very well filmed. First Man won an Oscar for best visual effects, but in my opinion, that's not where the movie strives. First Man should've got the Oscar for best sound editing. The scenes where Neil is in the spacecraft feel so realistic, mainly due to the amazing sound mixing and editing. There is constant ambient sounds in the cockpit that really sells the fact that these characters are actually in a spacecraft.
When it comes to performances, Ryan Gosling takes the cake. This is one of his best performances in a movie so far, and he really sells emotional scenes. Surprisingly, the actors that played the two little boys did a great job. Having young children play characters can be unpredictable, but the two actors did a great job.
First Man on paper is an amazing movie; and it is an amazing movie to watch. The vibe First Man gives off feels so realistic, and that's one of the strongest parts of the film. Seeing that First Man won an Oscar for best visual effects baffles me, as First Man does a better job with sound editing. I wouldn't recommend this movie for casual moviegoers, as it can be very boring, but if you're a fan of this genre, then it's definitely worth a watch.