Slow, responsible, and balanced but produces quite the emotional aspect too

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2019)

First Man is not the film for air-punching relief at the end of tense scenes of danger which have been preceded by tender scenes making us care about the people in those moments; this is not to say that on this basis alone that it is a better film than those that do these things, but it is certainly different. There is an emotional core to the film but mostly it is deliberately distant, cold, and balanced. The Armstrong of the film is all these things, and the film follows him in that way. There are no big moments to speak of - even the moon walk is reflective and silent.
This produces a film that engages by how consistent it is, and the feeling of accuracy and observation. It runs long but if you get the feel/pace early on then it doesn't feel it. Instead it offers more character in Armstrong, as hard as it is at times to like him, it is engaging for how he is. The downside of this approach is that the film can be boring if you aren't going with it or if you wanted it to be more like Apollo 13. While at times I wanted it to have at least some scenes like that, it worked well without them, and the impact of the opening scenes ripples through the final ones because of how restrained it all is.
Chazelle's direction gets this tone right, and produces a convincing performance from Gosling. It is an odd one because it seems so featureless but yet there is a lot there. He is well supported by a host of recognizable but not too recognizable faces, but it is Claire Foy who gives the film its heart, and pulls off the difficult job of having the human, emotional moments but yet not making them feel like they are breaking out into a different film.
First Man is slow and deliberate, but it works for what it sets out to do, and plays like a responsible, balanced, and even-handed bopic which manages to have more of an emotional impact due to how little of it is worn on the sleeve or shouted over the orchestra.