Review of First Man (2018) by Jeremy G — 15 Oct 2018

What should have been an Apollo 13 for the 2010s ends up being a very inconsistent film. While its full of neat sequences and awesome historical events, it is juxtaposed with a crawling personal story that itself is too inconsistent to create a connection. Yes, Neil Armstrong was a hero for history but Goslings portrayal turns him into an aloof stuck up jerk. I read that they strove for accuracy in this film so maybe he was that way. I don't know. I do know the story of Apollo 11 and the film does a good job recreating that. I didn't know much about the Gemini program so that was a neat part.

Like I said, the film could have been so much greater and fat could've been trimmed to increase the pace. I'm sure there are those who enjoyed the backstory of Armstrong but I felt it was a tad bit overdone. Where this filn shines is the camera work during the space missions. It also has decent acting by the rest of the cast. I bet I'm alone in this but I'm not a big Gosling fan because all of his characters seem to have the same presentation to them. Thus I would say wait for Redbox on this one.