Movie Review: First Man (2018)

First Man (2018) directed by Damien Chazelle

First Man tells the story of the first lunar landing in 1969 from Neil Armstrong's perspective. It starts with Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) as a test pilot for a private company. He is distracted by his three or four year old daughter's illness. She dies. Armstrong (according to the film) is detached and distant from the family. He's also accepted by the Gemini Program, the precursor to the Apollo missions that will land on the moon. He has difficulties with the training (but not too many) and difficulties with his family (but not too many). After the harrowing deaths of the Apollo I astronauts, a lot of people, including Armstrong's wife (Claire Foy) doubt the value of putting a man on the moon. Are the costs financially and in human life too high? The program goes on nonetheless.

The movie is clearly in awe of the accomplishment of landing a man on the moon in 1969 (as well it should be). The depiction of space travel and the lunar landing is impressive and visceral. Using Armstrong's perspective often becomes literal as the audience watches from inside his space suit. We also see things from inside his head, which is both good and bad.

The movie presents Armstrong as a flawed man who is more dedicated to the task than to his family. He is detached and not very talkative. Even with his fellow astronauts or with the press, he doesn't have a lot to say. His wife forces him to talk to his two sons about the risks before he leaves on Apollo XI. Gosling tries to make up for his lack of dialogue with his visual performance, but doesn't have quite enough presence or emotion to make Armstrong as relatable as I wanted him to be. His obsession with his daughter's death is both low-key and omnipresent. And yet it isn't subtle or the whole of Armstrong's life. The movie winds up following two tracks--Armstrong (mostly not) dealing with his daughter's death and Armstrong dealing with his career. Using her death as a central theme creates a narrative shortcut to connect the two but also makes the movie ultimately unsatisfying. We only see a tiny bit of Armstrong as a person and he isn't so likable or relatable. Turning the moon landing from a euphoric triumphant accomplishment for mankind into a personal cathartic event for Armstrong is disappointing. Even a short bit of online research shows that the movie's interpretation of Armstrong's character is wrong, making the movie even more disappointing.

Not recommended.