No lift off

Rating: 4/10 (15 December 2018)

If The Right Stuff was about the first American men in space. First Man is a kind of quasi sequel about the first man on the moon.
Damien Chazelle follows up La La Land with a breathtaking opening sequence of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) as test pilot. So far it looks like another stab at the Best Picture Oscar.
There are some other amazing sequences including the actual mission to the moon and the scenes on the moon. The scenes where Armstrong looks at the surface of the moon to me felt rather realistic.
As a drama it is listless, even po faced. Chazelle's film never blasts off, maybe the script was at fault for focussing too much on Armstrong who looks impassive when he should be impassioned.
Claire Foy comes across better as his wife with the limited material she is given. The actor playing Buzz Aldrin looks all wrong.
It is such an uneven film with bouts of boredom along with jolts of some wonderful visuals.