First Man Movie Review by Sputnik

On the heels of their six-time Academy Award®-winning smash, La La Land, Oscar®-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for Universal Pictures’ First Man, the riveting story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight. A visceral and intimate account told from Armstrong’s perspective, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the film explores the triumphs and the cost—on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues and the nation itself—of one of the most dangerous missions in history.

The movie has so many excellent scenes right from the very first scene where Neil’s X-15 rocket plane inadvertently bounces off the atmosphere or the first training scene or the Gemini 8 mission or the scene where he gets ejected from the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle. The best scene is the scene where Janet confronts Neil and asks him to talk his sons about the possibility of his not returning back alive from the moon mission.

There was some controversy due to the movie not showing the American Flag hoisting on the moon. The movie should have depicted that scene as it is such an iconic scene.

The movie has been nominated for four Oscars – Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing and has a very good chance of winning in Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The movie should have been nominated for way more Oscars. The movie deserved nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editing too.

Ryan Gosling was excellent as Neil Armstrong and should have won a nomination for Best Actor. Claire Foy was excellent as his wife Janet Shearon Armstrong and should have won a nomination for Best Actress. Jason Clarke was very good as Ed White, another astronaut who gets killed. Olivia Hamilton was good as Patricia White, Ed’s wife. Kyle Chandler was good as Deke Slayton. Corey Stoll was good as Buzz Aldrin in a small role. The rest of the cast was good too.

Screenplay by Josh Singer is excellent. Damien Chazelle’s direction is excellent and the movie is intense from the very first scene to the last. The movie is grim and gritty and never loses focus. The background score is excellent.

First Man shows the human cost of the whole space program, the lives that were lost and the near fatal mishaps from which Neil escaped. The movie shows how hard and dangerous the mission was. It very effectively portrays the courage and perseverance that it took to land a man on the moon. First Man is excellent and definitely one of the best movies of the year 2018.

Highly Recommended

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