Review of First Man (2018) by Michael M — 21 Oct 2018

I feel like Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling are giving us the Emporer's New Clothes. This film had no discernible dialog and left the entire audience nauseous as the camera never once stopped moving.

It would have been nice to see the outside of the rocket every once in a while and I'm pretty sure Neil Armstrong said more than a few grunts here and there. I'm a huge fan of the space program and I marvel at what these men did to risk their lives to make it to the moon.

But they did it with a sense of excitement, not dread. I felt Ryan Gosling looked way too melancholy and depressed as he focused on his deceased daughter the entire time. I had high hopes for this movie but it quickly turned into some weird expose on Neil's depression that never existed.

Neil might have been the reluctant hero, but it doesn't seem to me that he was always moping around with his head down. I felt this movie focused WAY too much on some a weird dark side of the space program that didn't exist.

It felt as if Michael Moore was the secret producer of this one to discredit one of America's greatest men. It also focused so much on Neil that if felt as if he made it to the moon by himself. There were so many people (and I get it, many, many movies) that contributed to this amazing achievement, but apparently only Ryan (as Neil) and his isolating moodiness were the only ones who made it.

Also, why did they pick very un-opportune times to tell Neil the most important news of his life? "Hi, you're going to be the first to the moon," really should wait until they have walked out of the bathroom.

Weird and very disappointing.