First Man: A Review

I was not even going to see First Man, given that disastrous handling of the whole flag planting by Ryan Gosling a few weeks ago.  I relented and went. 

I have mixed feelings. The film is profoundly powerful in addressing physical risks and personal loss (Neil Armstrong and his wife lost a young daughter to brain cancer just before the Gemini program started, which haunts them both). It is well acted. At the same time, I had problems with the pacing. It is strangely edited, dragging in spots where it doesn't need to do so. It could have been edited differently (and would have made a far better film). It did not have the fluidity and flow of say The Right Stuff.  

The flag issue shouldn't have been an issue. They could have spent a small amount of time showing the flag unfurling and planting, but the whole controversy could have been avoided with some deft response by Chazelle and Gosling when the issue came up after the Venice opening. That was completely botched by them.  

I say it was a botched response because the film is definitely not anti-American. You do see the flag in shots and they just did not shoot the actual raising of it. The astronauts are portrayed for the most part heroically. The focus of the film was on the first step.  I do not want to give the movie ending away, but it was more focused on Neil Armstrong and his dealing with his personal grief (which he carried with him). And to Chazelle's credit that was well handled.  

The lunar scenes are wonderfully shot. Some of the shots are breathtaking. You really get a sense of how precarious it was landing on that surface and how close they came to aborting the landing mission or total disaster. Buzz Aldrin described Armstrong as the best pilot he had ever seen and those skills are well depicted in this film. Still, the lunar scenes are far too brief. 

The film is somewhat unfair to Buzz Aldrin (who also is not thrilled about the flag raising not being shown). Chuck Yeager also joined him in that criticism. I get that Armstrong and Aldrin were apparently not close buddies. Still, I do not recall Aldrin being complained of as an asshole by fellow astronauts. Yet that is what the film does to him. It does not add to the film and story and I suspect it is not historically accurate.

EBL: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin raise US flag on moon

Rotten Tomatoes: First Man It scores 88% with the critics, 67% with audiences.

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Instapundit: John Podhoretz: One Giant Flop for Moviekind, First Man, third in box office: One Giant Flop for Ryan Gosling