First Man

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 2018)

Biopic of Neil Armstrong from the early Gemini projects to the historic space flight in 1969.
The story focusses pretty much exclusively on Armstrong and his wife. He, who never recovered from the death of his only daughter is insular and stubborn and determined, despite the risks to get into space. His wife in turn has to live with his moods and the very real prospect of him not returning. Both Gosling and Foy and very good and should get nods at awards time if there is any justice. The real thrill of the movie though is through the space sequences, which demonstrate perhaps for the first time how terrifying and uncertain these mission were. Oddly enough this applies to earlier tests etc in the film more so than the final Apollo 11 mission, but given the outcome is so well known this is not surprising and filmed accordingly.