Truly fascinating Man!

Rating: 8/10 (16 October 2018)

Going into a film like this one there are some preconceived notions about the film that most people would have and I definitely had. The main one being that majority if not all of the film would be dedicated to the moon landing and nothing else. Its pretty obviously notion to have but I couldn't have been more wrong and for the right reasons. If anything the moon landing takes a back seat and the film primarily focuses on telling a story of Neil Armstrong's life. You know what I am so glad that it did that and not focus on the moon landing because the story of his life is fascinating.
Damien Chazelle deserves a huge amount of credit for making this film because not only does it telling an fascinating story but is also visually stunning when the film eventually gets into space. The gamble of making a film that is a character study that takes its time and pays off big time towards the last 45 to 30 minutes. Chazelle easily could have skipped over so much of the background of Armstrong for a multitude of reasons. However I am so glad that he didn't and he let the film breathe and take its time in setting up the characters and the story. Brilliant story telling and directing from start to finish.
Ryan Gosling is on a roll, the guy just doesn't put out half decent work its always stellar acting and once again in probably one of his best performances so far. He shows such an array of emotions in Neil at various moment within the story that are extremely powerful. The part I love the most about the performance is the quiet awkwardness and motivation in the man, its best shown when he is sitting down with his children explaining to them that he may not come back. He is telling them as if his was in a board meeting at NASA and not at home with his children. Another demonstration is during the press conference when he says he'd rather take more fuel that jewellery. Its a perfectly legitimate reason but comes across in a weird way, that makes the man and performance that much more believable and special.
Other performances such as Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler and Jason Clarke are all really strong across the board, however in my opinion don't quiet match Gosling.
Overall this film is very good 80% out of 100 or 8 out of 10, I would go as far to say that this is Chazelle's best work (even though saying that I've never watch la la land, but i will never watch musicals......but thats a whole other conversation). This film is actually in a weird way not for everyone, its slow, methodical and only a small percentage of the film is actually in space. Don't go into the film thinking its gonna be like "Apollo 13" because it definitely isn't.
Lastly there was some backlash against this film due to it not showing the planting of the American Flag on the moon . Fully disclosure I'm not American but I cannot see how this film is anti American, the main story of the film is about how the Americans beat the Soviet Union to the moon. How much more pro-American can you get??? Im so confused on this tiny and insignificant issue, its was a giant leap for mankind!