First Man

It's hard to think of many human accomplishments from 50+ years ago that we haven't far surpassed by the year 2018. 

7/20/1969, or the date of the moon landing, stands as one such accomplishment and becomes all the more baffling and impressive the longer you think about it. First Man recognizes how insane of a achievement this was and does its best to drive home the story of "first man" Neil Armstrong. 

I want to take a moment though to really drive home this accomplishment for mankind. In the history of man, there have only been TWO people on the moon and as a human race we've only sent people to an entirely different planet ONCE. Personally for me, and many others, space exploration is not only interesting, but essential. I've been sad to see it decrease in recent decades, but hopefully with the likes of SpaceX we can get back to making significant manned achievements again. 

First Man is a lot like Interstellar (a movie that impacts me more each time I watch it) in the sense it creates this wonderment and intensity around the exploration of space. It takes great pride in its accuracy of how it portrays NASA, rockets, and space itself, driving home the mind-blowing nature of this achievement. Beyond that however, it explores the introverted and nerdy Armstrong, who's name in history will only become more revered as time moves forward. While not quite on the same playing field in terms of historical significance, Damien Chazelle continues to make a name for himself. Actually, scratch that, he's one of the best directors in Hollywood right now. With the tight and exciting Whiplash, the floating fun of La La Land, and now the intensity of First Man, he's proven he can pretty much take on any topic and make, not only a great film, an amazing one. First Man is thrilling, paced well, edited just as good, and perhaps most importantly, it all builds to the big scene on the moon. 

"Just checking...can you smell my fart?"

That scene is easily one of the best of the year, particularly in IMAX. I tend to get emotional thinking about the vastness of space and just how small we are; even in the initial emergence onto the moon's surface I felt a lump in my throat. The sound, once loud and booming out of the gigantic IMAX speakers, completely cuts to silence and you're met with as much black space as you are the grey expanse of the moon. A moment where Neil makes his first footprint on the surface of the moon weighs heavy and significant, him quietly realizing that it's not only the first ever human step on the moon's surface, it's the first ever step by a human on a different planet. None of us are ever likely to go to the moon and experience that first-hand, but First Man is likely about as close as you can currently get to feeling the scale and significance of it. 

Mad Max: Fury Field

First Man is anchored by Ryan Gosling who continues to be impressive under Chazelle's direction. His Armstrong is quirky, often serious, and stoic. It's not the most demanding role Gosling has ever been given, but it's superb nonetheless. Claire Foy is equally as impressive in a co-staring role as Janet Armstrong and there are other significant supporting performances by Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stroll, and more. The script is airtight, as are most of Damien's films, and there's little room for fluff throughout this entire film. Each scene holds purpose or significance somehow and the 141 minute runtime feels like it flies by; unlike its release-brethren from earlier this weekend. My only complaints with First Man is likely more preference based in that the actual ending scenes feel diminished in the space following the moon landing and the majority of the film uses shaky camera techniques with lots of close-up shots of characters, even if it's more of a mundane moment. It's never disorienting like it can be in some (read: most) action films, but it felt unnecessary to always be doing it.

The technical achievements of First Man are also significant. The sound editing is absolutely superb, particularly in a few of the more intense scenes within the rockets or ships. Unsurprising for a Chazelle film, it also features one of the year's best original scores that adds a lot to what you're seeing on screen, but is never overused as some complained was the case in Interstellar (certainly not this critic). Cinematography is harder to compliment because of all the close-character framing, but where it counts (i.e. showing size of rockets, moon landing, etc.) it's fantastic and awe-inducing. 

Drive: Over the Moon

As excited as I was during moments of First Man, particularly during its jaw-dropping rendition of the moon landing, I now feel even more excited for anything coming in the future from Damien Chazelle. For some reason, this film felt like his first real test; likely because it was out of a musical comfort zone that existed with his first two films. He crushes it, as he has already, and given how young he is, we could be seeing the beginnings of a timeless filmmaker. 

Fantastic times we live in!

CONS

• Odd/unnecessary use of constant close-ups and shaky camera
• Wasn't a fan of the very low-key ending

PROS

• Incredible direction by Chazelle once again
• Great script and characterization of Neil Armstrong. Shows how heavy the pending achievement weighed on his psyche
• Ryan Gosling excels in his central performance. Not to be outdone is Claire Foy
• Strong support cast
• Captures the brilliance, mystery, intensity, and importance of the moon landing. In IMAX it's as close as you'll ever get
• Nearly 2.5 hours feels like it flies by
• One of the year's best original scores coupled with incredible sound editing
• The moon landing scene. I must stress how incredible it all turns out
• One of the best "space" films we're ever likely to get around one of the most significant achievements in human history

Rath's Review Score | 9/10