La La Lunar Landing.

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 2018)

'First Man (2018)' all feels markedly real, with the flight sequences in particular being utterly visceral, nail-bitingly tense and yet incredibly intimate. Our perspective is nearly always the same as the protagonist's, right down to several gripping - and often insanely shaky - POV shots. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the flick eventually gets to the moon and, when it does, it all feels suitably majestic - operatic, even. This memorable finale is only ever-so-slightly dampened by the fact that the rocket trip to get there feels quite short and isn't treated with the same intensity as the ones that came before it. Still, the differing style makes for an almost transcendent scene that takes a very personal approach. It also doesn't necessarily need to be suspenseful, anyway, considering that we all know how it turns out. This is something that the piece understands remarkably well, putting its emphasis much more on the 'how' and 'why' rather than the 'what'; it's very much about the journey, internal and external, rather than the destination. The picture does feel a little long but it does have a lot to get through and it's bigger issue, perhaps, is the fact that it sort of floats through its ten year period, skipping out large chunks at a moment's notice. This does make it sort of difficult to care, at least on a deep level, about any of the characters except our lead. Even then, he's usually stoic and puts both us and everyone else at a bit of a distance. The feature is very much a character study, though, and it does a decent job at giving us an insight into the man behind the mission. The focus is always on the way that the events depicted effect him and those closest to him, ultimately making for a much more intimate film than you might expect. It's this that gives it its heart, which is constantly present through the surprisingly restrained - and all the more effective for it - spectacle. 7/10