When I heard about First Man, wunderkind Damien Chazelle’s third film (his first two were nominated for Best Picture) I wondered where the drama would come from. Apollo 11, which did thrill the world, was fairly seamless. Also, Neil Armstrong, the title character, was a pretty dull individual. But Chazelle does manage to find drama here, both in missions earlier in time, and magnificently presents the majesty of what I would still consider mankind’s greatest accomplishment.
Ryan Gosling is Armstrong, and the script, by Josh Singer (who, judging by his scripts for Spotlight and The Post, is one of the best around these days) and the performance don’t stint on portraying the man as buttoned-up emotionally. The death of his daughter is showed as a significant moment in his life, but he is never able to talk about it, and in one moment on the moon at the end of the film he seems to deal with it (bring a Kleenex).
The story begins in 1961, when Armstrong, a civilian pilot and engineer, tries out for the Gemini program. He ends up on Gemini 8, the first to successfully dock a ship with another ship. When they land, they end up spinning around like a top, but Armstrong is seen as the hero of the day for saving their bacon.
We are introduced to other astronauts, mainly Ed White (Jason Clarke) and Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll). White was the first American to space walk. It’s interesting that Chazelle doesn’t show that, but instead a Russian, who beat White to the punch, and White’s angry reaction. Aldrin is shown as a person who speaks before he thinks. Aldrin’s most recent time in the news was when he punched a man who claimed the moon landing was faked, so I guess he’s still feisty.
The film also shows us the tragedy of Apollo 1, and for those of us who know what happens it’s a stomach-wrenching series of events. But Apollo moves on, and Armstrong is tapped to the commander of the first moon landing, along with Aldrin and Michael Collins (Lukas Haas, whom I didn’t recognize).
The film’s final half hour, which shows the launch, the landing, and the first steps on the moon, are as thrilling as anything I’ve seen in a film in a long time. Chazelle makes a great choice, sticking entirely with the astronauts–there are no cuts to worried faces at mission control, either of mission director Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler), or Armstrong’s wife (Claire Foy). Chazelle knows he doesn’t have to manipulate the audience–the images are all that is needed. For a good five-minute stretch that includes the launch, starting with a dramatic shot of the Saturn rocket all lit-up and waiting, there is no dialogue, just terrific music by Justin Hurwitz and the implications of the history that is about to happen.
To mention Foy, she is probably the front runner for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. I like that she is not a typical astronaut’s wife, like a Stepford wife with a frozen smile. She struggles to deal with a man with bottled up emotions, and makes him tell his sons that there’s a chance he will not make it back from the moon (the statement, that was drafted to be read by President Nixon should the two men die on the moon is read aloud here). At the end of the film, Foy amusingly says that she married Armstrong in order to have a normal life.
Gosling has a tough role–he’s the lead in this film, but he has no Oscar-clip moment. Everything was internal with Armstrong, and Gosling does a bang-up job. Normally Oscar nominations go to the most acting, not necessarily the best acting, so I hope Gosling’s beautifully subtle performance doesn’t go unnoticed.
Chazelle and editor Tom Cross have created an exciting and moving film, that successfully shows us what it’s like to be in space (since indeed this moon landing is fake, maybe that will give the conspiracy theorists more juice, but of course this technology is fifty years more advanced). When Armstrong opens the capsule door and experiences the silence and never-ending stretch of rocks and dust, it’s a take-your-breath-away moment. This is a beautiful-looking film as well as an emotionally-engaging one.
Gone Elsewhere 
Undoubtedly this is an extremely well made film (should get a bunch of technical Oscars) and while it’s admirable in many ways, I didn’t like it as much as JS did.
It’s a pretty dour and glum film at times; certainly this is in part because Armstrong is such an inscrutable, passive character, but I reckon the film falls into the trap a bit of sinking into his mindset and not taking a more nuanced approach in terms of style.
For a film obviously aiming for a realistic take on the space race, I thought it had the chance to go into detail about how NASA progressed through some difficult stages in the 1960s to getting to their moon triumph but while there are bits and pieces of it, not much is shown; a bit of a missed opportunity.
The segment showing ordinary citizens questioning the value and cost of the moon trip felt half-hearted and tokenistic; we see a song and some interviews for 2-3 minutes and it’s then forgotten. If you’re not going to make anything of it why show it?
Still, there was a lot of good stuff in there. Agree with JS that the moon landing finale was extremely well done, especially in how they avoided the easy trap of cutting away to NASA and Armstrong’s wife.
Overall, a pretty decent film and worth seeing on a the big screen, but in terms of movies about NASA and the space race I would put ‘The Right Stuff’ a couple of levels above this.