Very disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (26 October 2018)

I was born two years before the Apollo 11 mission and was very influenced by the achievements of everyone involved in the race to the moon. Neil Armstrong was my childhood hero.
I have read an awful lot on both the American and Russian Space missions of the era, both factual accounts and novels that draw from that exciting period of human exploration; including the book First Man. The achievements of both sides were fantastic. I would say the most fascinating period of technological advancement in the history of man.
So onto the film. How can any account of this period be so dull and poorly presented?
Neil Armstrong was a very understated man, he didn't have the same character as some of the others involved, Ryan Gosling's performance is probably very close to the actual man and I applaud that in the film. I understand that the accounts of the space flights were supposed to be shot from Neil's point of view, but for anyone not familiar with the real story behind the film they could be excused for thinking that the Apollo missions were really laborious events. The launch scenes portrayed the event in a way to lead the viewer to believe that the astronauts were simply shaken as hard as possible in capsules laden with instrumentation that they could not refer to because they were just being shaken. I wasn't there to experience it and have never believed that reality was serene as portrayed in Apollo 13, but really?
To me this was simply a self indulgent film that really adds very little to the historical account. Which is so extremely sad, given the accomplishments of the moon shot programme and all the people involved. Although I do appreciate that this film was strictly about Neil Armstrong and so the focus was quite rightly on him.
I appreciate that I was probably looking for something more from this film than it was intended to offer, but my belief is that a young person watching it would take away none of the excitement, achievement and pure wonder that the Apollo programme actually was.
For me Neil Armstrong will always be a hero, I just wish that I hadn't seen this film.
To sum up the film in my eyes: Quiet understated family man sadly loses a child, seeks new challenges, is shaken very seriously in several space rockets, excels in a quiet way, goes to the moon as mission commander and subsequently is the first man to step on the moon. The end.