A Musical Account of First Moon Landing

Rating: 2/10 (16 February 2019)

Let me start by saying I am a fan of Damien Chazelle and was deeply impressed by his creativity with La La Land. He's a talent, to be sure. But his attempt to direct a film about Neil Armstrong's life leading up to the moon landing was really poorly done.
First, it was difficult to visually relate to the film because so many scenes were intentionally underlit. Contrast that with better illuminated sets of Apollo 13 and the Right Stuff and you'll see what I mean. Secondly, Chazelle loves extreme closeups (spaghetti western style) in this movie, which at least for me was uncomfortable viewing. It just sucks the oxygen our of the scene. Third, he chose to emphasize the personal trials and tribulations of the lead character, rather than on the profoundness of the event and its impact on all of humanity. In other words, what Armstrong achieved by studying, training and landing on the moon transcended the personal issues he struggled with. Every great hero has deeply personal challenges. I felt 65% of the film dealt with his pent-up emotions and aloofness, while 35% was devoted to the men and women behind the exciting achievement of man's first moon landing. I would have reversed the ratio. The whole world (and thus greater box office revenues) would have been more interested in how this extraordinary feat was accomplished.
But my biggest criticism is his obsessive use of loud orchestral music throughout much of the film. It was maddening. Virtually every scene had a score --- and I swear some of the music sounded an awful lot like the themes in La La Land.
Simply put -- First Man should not have been directed by Chazelle, and the studio who approved that arrangement really screwed up. Again, he's a tremendous talent with musically- oriented motion pictures, but he was totally out of his element with this film. I can only imagine how Chris Nolan or Ron Howard would have approached this subject. And perhaps we will one day see the definitive motion picture on how mankind was able to pull off this history-shattering feat. First Man was just a first (and disappointing) attempt.