Could have been better/

Rating: 6/10 (21 October 2018)

I was born at a time when the "Space Race" was rife. Yuri Gagarin had shocked everyone in the West when he, in 1961, when he become the first human to orbit in space on Vostok and this just showed that the Russians were ahead in the race. And then came the announcement by John F Kennedy about putting a man on the Moon. There were Mercury and Gemini Missions into the Space and it was these that led to the Apollo Missions and this is what this movie shwed - how the Apollo Missions came into existence and the life of the famous Astronaut, Neil Armstrong during his life as an Astronaut.
"First Man," based on the book by James R Hansen, is Directed by Damien Chazelle and stars Ryan Gosling as "Neil Armstrong," Claire Foy as "Janet Armstrong, Jason Clarke as "Ed White," Kyle Chandler as "Deke Slayton," Corey Stoll as "Edwin Eugene "Buzz Aldrin"", Olivia Hamilton as "Pat White," Shea Whigham as "Virgil Ivan "Gus Grissom,"" Pablo Schreiber as "Jim Lovell, Lucas Haas as "Michael Collins" and Corey Michael Smith as "Roger Chaffe." The movie is produced by Steven Spielberg.
Ryan Gosling is good in the role that he portrays and especially when it comes to showing emotions when his daughter dies and also when he hears the deaths of other Astronauts, including Ed White, Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffe, who are killed on what is now known as "Apollo 1." Claire Foy is perfect as "Janet Armstrong." But the movie fails elsewhere. There's no mention of Neil Armstrong participating in the Korean war as a fighter pilot. There's no mention of NACA, which was the predecessor to NASA. It also fails to show the Astronauts training and how hard it really is / was for them. And it did not show the backup crew for Apollo 11, which consisted of James Lovell, William Anders and Fred Haise training either. Lastly, though there was a small hint about the political pressure as to why send humans into Space, very little of it is really mentioned and it failed to explain why Armstrong was sent to "The White House." A lot of other aspects of the Apollo 11 Mission could have been explained but were not. It could have shown how close-knit Astronaut community was at that time. But it did not capture that. Lastly, having lived through the times when the Apollo missions were taking place, it felt like that Director almost failed to capture the euphoria that took place at the time.
Conclusion: It could have been a better movie. Nevertheless, still worthwhile watching it once.