Review of The Right Stuff (1983) by Aaron A — 23 Aug 2011

"Our Germans are better than their Germans.".

Synopsis: A biopic chronicling NASA's early transition from breaking the sound barrier in 1947 to the expeditions of the Mercury astronauts in the 1960s.

It doesn't have any profound message, and it's nowhere near as historically preachy as I thought it was going to be. It's is however an incredibly filmed, historically accurate (from my understanding) adventure. There are some memorable surrealistic images during John Glenn's space flight, apart from that however, there isn't much focus on space. The film mainly (and smartly) focuses on it's characters and the trials and tribulations they went through during their tenure with the NASA programs, it's more of a really exciting, really funny history lesson than a piece of cinematic fiction, and I suppose such is the reason for it being such a good picture.

The main reason I feel this is an Elevated piece of filmmaking however, is how it's directed. Most film's reserve their most challenging thinking until the second half and even the finale of the feature, The Right Stuff however, is peppered throughout it's epic 3 hour+ runtime with unnerving short intervals of unexpected, intelligent storytelling decisions that make sense as you watch the film and continue to understand and know the characters of the film.

The Right Stuff is a fast-paced epic biopic that's funny and superbly directed, and serves as a great work of American patriotism.