First Man

Damon Chazelle's depiction of Neil Armstrong's journey into space and landing on the Moon with his 2018 film, First Man, had been sitting on my watchlist for some time and, following positive reviews, the Oscar for its visuals effects and featuring a talented cast, I couldn't wait any longer to see what I had been missing. The director has proven to be more than capable of crafting engaging drams with the likes of Whiplash and 10 Cloverfield Lane while also mixing genres with La La Land so I had high hopes going into this.

First Man stars Ryan Gosling as Armstrong on his challenging journey through the 1960s before eventually going on the world-famous mission. Claire Foy also stars as Armstrong's wife, Janet, who has to endure watching her emotionally absent husband risk his life as friends and colleagues of Armstrong die around him while trying to hold the family together.

The end result is an intriguing drama with good performances from the cast but there is something missing here that prevented me from truly liking this film. For starters, as solid as Gosling is here, I feel he isn't given enough to do as the seemingly shell-shocked Armstrong while Chazelle shifts more of the spotlight towards Foy where he hopes to form the heart of the film but these melodramatic scenes lack any real impact. This might be because Armstrong's training scenes are just directed in a much more engaging fashion as we are brought into the world of NASA and its complexities that could spell disaster for the astronauts. 

It's these moments with NASA and those set in space where First Man truly shines. The visuals and sound design do not disappoint as you feel the danger of the mission in 1969 before touching down on the surface of the Moon. However, even here, the film wavers for me when, having seen so much effort going into landing, taking off again and the return journey is completely glossed over. It is a nit-pick but for a story as big as this, made with the guidance of surviving members who were involved, it's a pity to rush over these details as it undermines the tension the film had spent two hours developing.

I can't shake the feeling that someone such as the likes of James Cameron or Steven Spielberg would have had a finer control over this story and created something stronger. First Man wasn't quite the emotionally engaging drama I had hoped for but it remains a solid enough film that I can still recommend watching even if only once.