First Man is the astoundingly boring story of mankind’s greatest achievement – sending men to the moon and returning them safely to earth. It’s a major whiff for Damian Chazelle, the director of indie hit Whiplash and the refreshingly original La La Land. Chazelle also wrote Whiplash and La La Land, but not the screenplay for First Man.
Ryan Gosling is the moon-walking astronaut Neil Armstrong, and Claire Foy (The Crown) is his wife Janet. Much of the film is consumed in the story of their marriage, damaged by the loss of a child and stressed by the danger of Neil’s missions.
With the ingenuity, courage and sacrifice that produced the moon mission, this should have been a thrilling story. Instead, it drags morose characters through a meandering procedural.
Gosling gets to prove that he can play taciturn, which gets old fast. Foy dances along the continuum from aggrieved to highly aggrieved. Their talent is wasted, as is an excellent cast overall. Ciarán Hinds and Kyle Chandler are the NASA managers, and Jason Clarke and Cory Stoll (excellent) are other astronauts. Shea Whigham and Lukas Haas are in here somewhere.
As the end credits rolled, The Wife and I turned to each other in wonder at how unentertaining this film was. First Man especially suffers in contrast to The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 and Hidden Figures. Worst true-to-life NASA movie of all time? Here’s a contender.