A Biopic Gone Wrong

Rating: 1/10 (25 March 2019)

In July 1969, the world watched on their televisions as Neil Armstrong became the 1st man to set foot on the moon. The film, First Man, should have been a celebration of this man and the events that led to his momentous achievement but such was not the case. What I ended up seeing was a dull, passionless, drawn-out account of those events and a bland portrayal of a man who is an American hero.
Where do I begin to describe how bad this film is? The director's obsession with death throughout the film; the lingering camera holds at the end of scenes that are meant to draw out emotion but last three to four times too long (if edited correctly, the film would have been 15 minutes shorter); in every flight scene, the camera is jumping about, the plane/capsule/rocket is about to come apart at the seams, and the noise is deafening; the sheer lack of chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy; the lack of any passion throughout the film.
Claire Foy, whose portrayal as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown is superb, is wasted in this epic blunder. Ryan Gosling needs to expand his emotional range beyond sullen, angry, dispassionate, and moody (try smiling for once - it means happy). His portrayal makes Armstrong look like a self-centered jerk instead of a hero.
If your looking for a film that will make you admire the first man on the moon, avoid this one.