A TV Movie on Huge Budget

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2018)

Ryan Gosling seems able to do just about anything on screen successfully. For director Damian Chazelle, he got La La Land - an otherwise unmemorable film musical - across the finish line admirably, even though he did not receive due credit for it. In First Man, he tries valiantly, but in the end the production values and the enormity of the story weigh him down, a burden he pushed aside in La La. First Man is only incidentally about the moon mission. Principally, it is about Neil Armstrong the man himself. The film practically ties itself in knots - unnecessarily, in my opinion - to show Armstrong as single-handedly committed to making the Gemini/Apollo program a success. The script carefully portrays Armstrong as somewhat one-mindedly committed to his flying career, cleverly linking it to Broadway musicals in his youth - a monomania for some theatre wonks. (He even revered Gilbert & Sullivan, the Holy Grail for true musical nerds). Gosling seems to be finding his balance between the pilot-Armstrong and the family-Armstrong several times , only to be interrupted by NASA wizardry, which would have been better served by being more tightly delineated. Claire Foy ably assists in a role which should have been more a principal focus. Foy's portrayal of Neil's wife, Janet, could have been seen as the home front spouse who nurtured Armstrong's familial side which she surely did. But the only dynamic indications of this we see come across as angry more than determined. However, First Man is Gosling's charge, and he does everything possible to bring it home. Chazelle could have helped a lot had he seen the project as more Whiplash - a virtually perfect film - than La La Land.