Review of First Man (2018) by Mike A — 12 Oct 2018

Well, this movie is being touted as The Best Movie of the Year! What??!! If that is the case, they must be talking about a year before television and movies! I was very unhappy with the movie. I expected a movie that captured the awe of such a monumental accomplishment. It totally failed to deliver.

The worst part of the movie (and it continued through 80% of the movie) was the horrible videography! For whatever effect they were going for, what I saw was the effect of having a 5-year-old holding the camera - scenes moving up and down, side to side continuously - almost enough to make you nauseous. Also, a preoccupation with closeups of faces, eyes, etc. Way over done! And during the rocket scenes the attempts to show vibration and power were horrible and ridiculous! If anything shook that much they would pour you out into a shake when it was over. On the opposite side, the awe of the Saturn V blasting off was totally lost!!! I was in an IMAX theater and the power of this event seemed like any other scene such as driving a car. No rumbling at all! The bright side of the movie was the VERY LIMITED scenes of the moon's surface and the actual event of him stepping onto the moon. Also looking at the Earth from the moon's surface.

The movie also poorly explained how Neil Armstrong got picked. The movie portrayed him as somewhat of a screwup and not impressive AT ALL as an aerospace engineer! The portrayal of the family/personal life was totally BORING with a capital B!!!! When Neil was told that he was picked for the mission to go to the moon, his reply, "Ok...". WTF?? Was there no passion in this man?? The personal life side was devoid of any positive emotion! It was all downtrodden and negative.

To continue - what the heck was up with Neil Armstrong's character? Did he have a lobotomy? The end scene was horrible - him in isolation after WALKING ON THE MOON and his wife walking in to see him - there were no words spoken! WTF? Didn't he just come back from the moon!!! How about (at the very least), "you did it!!" or "I'm so glad you're home" from the wife or, "it's so good to see you" from Neil. Not even a smile between them. There was nothing but silence!

To end: where was the coverage of the family as the news was showing their husband and father stepping onto the moon's surface??!!! Nothing was shown on this. The family dropped out of the picture during the most awe-inspiring parts of what was happening. Terribly done movie in my opinion.