First Man, A Slog

Rating: 5/10 (10 October 2018)

First Man has the look and feel of a horror film. It feels very long and boring although it runs just over 2 hours. There is no sense of triumph, discovery, or success in the film. Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy have no chemistry. Ultimately Neil Armstrong is a very dull characters without clear goals or ambition. Do not watch this film expecting triumphant or patriotic look at scientific discovery. It isn't that kind of film. It appears designed to elicit depression from the audience and it succeeds. One watches anxiously waiting for the climax, the moon landing, which feels anti-climactic and leaves viewers empty. Both the writer and director are out of their depth with this ambitious film. The strong elements of the film are the visual effects and production design, convincing and state of the art. If not for these elements the film would get a 2.