First Man - Review
Rating: 6.5/10
FIRST MAN is a technically stunning and chillingly sombre historical drama about Neil Armstrong’s training as an astronaut and his inner struggles with grief as he prepares to make history by being the first person to land on the moon. It is a transfixing and sorrowful story, but it left me wanting a little more out of it.
This story focuses on 2 main aspects of Neil Armstrong’s life, which is the scientific and the personal. The scientific aspect, which is the space training at NASA and the race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to become the first to reach the moon, is the most compelling part of the film. The personal aspect, which is Neil’s domestic life with his wife and kids contains the emotional core of this film, but it is a slow-burn and grueling at times to watch because of its somber tone. What makes this story so unique is that it doesn’t deify Neil as a heroic and legendary figure but instead gives an uncompromising look into his life and the film isn’t afraid to get gritty and show the darker sides.
Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy give phenomenal performances as Neil and Janet Armstrong. Neil becomes emotionally detached from his family and friends after a tragic loss and buries himself in his work at NASA, which Ryan Gosling portrays with nuanced intensity and stoicism. Claire Foy brings a different type of intensity as her character is also going through a lot of inner turmoil, and she's essentially the heart of this film. A few secondary and tertiary characters that give great performances are Jason Clarke and Kyle Chandler.
My biggest negative for this film is the pacing. I mentioned before that the personal aspect of the film (i.e. domestic life) is a slow-burn and I understand that it’s a crucial part of the story and the characters, but some of these scenes were dull and I found myself losing interest in the film during these moments. All the scenes involving the space training at NASA and discussing the mission is so riveting that I was glued to the screen during these scenes, but whenever it would cut to the Armstrong kids running around the house or Janet meeting with the other astronaut’s wives, it would just pull me out of the film. I personally think that if around 5-15 minutes of these types of scenes were cut out and the film instead delved deeper into the geopolitical context surrounding this monumental mission, it would have sped up the pacing and significantly enhanced my enjoyment of this film.
On the other hand, a few more positives of this film are the technical and thematic elements. The cinematography from Linus Sandgren is astounding and the score composed by Justin Hurwitz is hauntingly captivating. The sound design during the test runs and the climax is incredibly eerie as well. The other positive is the powerful themes of grief, sacrifice and isolation. Rather than focusing on the vastness of the universe, this film focuses on the vulnerability of the humans who explored it and delves into their grief and sacrifices that were required to achieve their mission. it’s a creative choice that makes this film truly stand out from most space dramas.
For the 3rd act, director Damien Chazelle does a fantastic job of creating suspense and dread for the final mission, even though we already know the outcome of it. He does this by showing the cost of human lives during NASA’s lunar missions and test runs leading up to the final mission and also giving the viewer a visceral feeling of claustrophobic tension during the launch sequence. Just like great war films put you in the battlefield, this film immerses you in the spacesuit and cockpit, and you really feel the tension that these astronauts are going through. The final sequence is nerve-wracking as you feel the creaking metal and tight spaces as the ship shakes and rattles its way into the sky as these brave astronauts venture blindly into the stars with technology and machinery that is by no means perfect.
FIRST MAN is a technical marvel and an emotionally resonant story, but it suffers from pacing issues. I personally had very high expectations from the director of one of my favorite films WHIPLASH and although this film is somewhat underwhelming, it’s definitely a worthwhile watch.
Director: Damien Chazelle
Writer: Josh Singer
Runtime: 2h 21m
Release Date: October 2018
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