Very underwhelming and poorly produced, considering the historical significance, talent and anticipation.

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2018)

141 minutes and the producers give us this garbage?
Only the last 30-35 minutes of this film stopped my nausea and kept me awake. Allow me to elaborate...
Either Clint Eastwood or Steven Spielberg SHOULD HAVE directed this film and NOT Damien Chazelle. His atrociously annoying shaky-cam and zoom in/outs were way overdone and unbearable. Has he never heard of a camera stabilizer? Did he film this holding his iPhone? I may have been able to handle it watching 30 mins of The Office, but 141 mins of amateur camera work was garbage and gave me nausea. Only the lift off, flight, landing and moon scenes where steady and enjoyable for the full 30-35 mins, and a few shots where I guess his hands got tired and he used a tripod or stabilizer. This was a HUGE flaw for a film of this caliber and length.
Then there was the hack-job screenplay by Josh Singer (poorly adapted from the biographical book by James R. Hansen) who should have stuck to writing TV series. I mean seriously, 141 mins of irrelevant shots of a swing, long walks, pointless conversations, multiple long shots of the moon, and constant irrelevant directions towards his daughters' grieving? I get this film isn't supposed to be "Hollywood", and instead seen from the perspective of Neil Armstrong, but way too much drama was focused on his struggles over his daughter and wife, and less about his mission and progress towards it. This films pace was WAY too slow it was annoying. Too many dragged out scenes - was this film even cut for final? The pace may have been acceptable had the film been cut down to 90-110 mins tops.
Finally the overly rambunctious and overbearing score was so loud, I missed most of the dialogue during important scenes, especially when Gosling whisper-spoke like he was in a library. Score volume 10-MAX, Gosling volume 3. I get all the producers missed this, but not even Spielberg didn't catch that and all the other flaws??
As for the acting, I'm not sure if (especially) Neil and his wife's personalities were that drab, because if they weren't, then Ryan Gosling sure looked bored acting out his character. The rest of the cast were decent, but nothing spectacular. Corey Stoll as Buzz's character seemed to be the only fully awake actor.
The 1960's sets and wardrobe were impressive, but the winner in this production was the S/VFX - simply outstanding shots of space and the lunar planet.
This film was disappointing and missed the mark for me, by being very underwhelming and poorly produced, considering the historical significance, talented cast, and anticipation of learning more about Neil Armstrong and his mission.
Would I see it again? Certainly not - my time is much more valuable to waste 141 mins again on this mess. I'd rather spend many more hours and read the book by James R. Hansen. Would I recommend it? Nope. Read the book and see Apollo 13. It's a VERY generous 7/10 from me.