First Man

Director: Damien Chazelle

Screenplay: Josh Singer

Minutes: 141

Year: 2018

Score: 7.20

Release: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

It takes a tremendous amount of effort to make someone so naturally charismatic become so tragically boring. I have to assume that Ryan Gosling went above and beyond to portray Neil Armstrong as accurately as possible, because I trust him as a performer, and if this is the case then Armstrong had a similar level of personality as the ships he piloted.

From UPHE.com:

Oscar®-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for the riveting story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight. A visceral and intimate account told from Armstrong’s perspective, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the film explores the triumphs and the cost—on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues and the nation itself—of one of the most dangerous missions in history.

As engaging as First Man is the film is equally as boring and it feel like they are forced to stretch the drama to its breaking point with every chance they can to make the film palatable. The bizarre thing is that I still found the film enjoyable. I don’t want to equate the quality to the films of Bela Tarr and Andre Tarkovsky, but it is clear that Chazelle is a student of their films and employed techniques to make his film a meditation to innovation.

It is not uncommon for films to be at odds and suffer at the hands of their marketing campaigns, but I fear that First Man is one of those films. It certainly isn’t fair to equal the quality of the film based on this promotional material and I always try and separate the two. But, I am also a flawed human and I was too excited going into the film to be asked to rest comfortably and let the filmmaker gently transport me into another time. Alas, if this affected me I have no doubt that it will also tinge the experiences of other watching. The film is straight drama, while there are a few thrills and frills they are hidden behind the meditation of wonder.

First Man is a very well-made movie and I suspect under different circumstances I will really enjoy the film. It feels like a very old film released out of time. Jason Clarke was the standout performer in the film and I am eager to revisit it, someday.

The special features are plentiful and, forgive the pun, Universal Pictures decided to shoot the moon with this release. Rather than slowly peppering featurettes over a half dozen releases they went full splashdown to release and very packed edition and to the right audience they will be a worthy addition to their collection. Maybe someday I will appreciate it a little more. 

Special Features:

• Deleted Scenes
• Shooting for the Moon
• Preparing to Launch
• Giant Leap in One Small Step
• Missing Gone Wrong
• Putting You in the Seat
• Recreating the Moon Landing
• Shooting at NASA
• Astronaut Training
• Audio Commentary

Director: 7 – Cinematography: 10 – Edit: 4 – Parity: 2 – Main performance: 10 – Else performance: 7 – Score: 10 – Sound: 10 – Story: 6 – Script: 4 – Effects: 10 – Design: 8 – Costumes: 6 – Keeps interest: 9 – Lasting: 5