An epic event, a very mediocre movie

Rating: 4/10 (11 November 2018)

"First Man" is a new 2018 movie and this was considered one of the big players this American awards season in fact. Until its release that is because the reception was not extremely positive here. But first things first. The director here is Damien Chazelle, despite his age an Oscar winner already, and looking at the awards recognition for his previous 2 movies it is easy to see why so many thought this one could be a huge hit too. He is not credited as a writer this time, which may be the film's biggest problem because as good or even great as Josh Singer was on Spotlight, here he is extremely underwhelming when it came to adapting Hansen's novel. The subject is of course based on real events, which the name Neil Armstrong should tell absolutely everybody, even people like myself who were born a long time after the moon landing. And looking at words from my mother, I found out how this was really among the most defining moments that she remembers very well half a century later apparently. So it is really surprising why it took this long for a big film to be made around this spectacular subject and looking at the success of the likes of Gravity and The Martian, it's probably no surprise it came out now. But it is inferior I must say. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Chazelle's direction, but looking at how his previous 2 successful films are works of fiction, it may be better for him to return to said approach. Also here the more fictitious sequences are better than the historic ones, even if of course he did not write the script. With the fictitious parts, I am referring to all the marriage scenes mostly. I am pretty sure there is very little real life reference to these with what was between Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong aside from the daughter's death for example which must have been based on actual events. The best moment is probably when Gosling's character tells his kids that he may not return or lets say what follows afterward when we see the kids leave the room. Even in this scene, Gosling feels incredibly bland and I thought he was a weak casting decision here to be honest. Then again, I am not a fan of him at all and I swear he has almost always the same face expression during his films. I wonder why people are criticizing Kristen Stewart for that and not Gosling. Anyway, of course Gosling was the lead in Chazelle's La La Land, so I am not too surprised to see him here again. How much or if he resembles Armstrong physically, I cannot say.
As for the very final scene with the hands and the glass between them, I am undecided. I think it was a bit too long with Foy's reaction, but the very last shot was pretty good and the film could have ended on a weaker note for sure. As for Foy, she is enjoying quite a career these days with her role as Salander in a new film, here as Neil Armstrong's wife or in a recent psycho thriller a(n alleged) stalking victim. And this does not even include her small screen trademark role where she won (surprisingly) big this year again as well over Lizzie Moss. But back to this movie we got here. As you see from my rating, I really don't rate it highly. This also has to do with my personal approach on the idea of higher faster further and the fact that I am completely d'accord with the African American guy who complained how they use so much money for space exploration and lost so many lives of astronauts. Add to that that the concept of space exploration is so far in the past now that it may be a difficult time for releasing a film like that. The epicness that past generations saw in this achievement is lost on today's people and sadly this film cannot rekindle the fire. Interesting references like Gagarin being in space before the Americans felt rushed in and wasted. Same about the very personal story of the girl's death early on. It sure felt a bit clumsy there unfortunately. The big counter plot to the space story here is the family conflict about Foy's character's criticisms of Armstrong risking his life despite being a father of two and the neighbor family going through the same fate cannot alone make up for it. Besides, the film did feel far too long in my opinion. It had some lengths in the first half and it did not feel half as relevant as it should have with one dangerous space mission following the next. Sure there is nothing wrong with the film visually and technically, but this alone is not enough. It lacks way too much in my opinion in several other departments for me to recommend the movie. This is not Apollo 13 and Ryan Gosling sure isn't Tom Hanks, not even in a film that is not among the very best in terms of performances in my opinion for the latter. So yeah, skip this one. It's not worth spending almost 2.5 hours on.