"First Man"

One of the major marketing aspects of this film, is that if watched the right way, for example on IMAX, this will be as close as some will ever get to being in a rocket or landing on the moon.

The Director and lead actor of Oscar winning movie "La La Land" are reunited, as they tell the story of Neil Armstrong and his mission to be the first on the moon. The film opens in spectacular style as we find our astronaut in a test flight, and having to make a crash landing on Earth. This sees him getting grounded. Frustrated he wonders if his lunar dreams will be realised.
Obviously we all know how the story ends, but this film documents the journey made, the costs both financially and in lives lost.

There are aspects of the film that are top notch, for example the recreation of the 1960's, the sound effects and editing, and the visual effects most notably used with the various craft taking off and their journey into space.

As I mentioned much has been made of the use of IMAX cameras during the making of this film. For me one thing is clear.
Director Christopher Nolan knows how to use an IMAX camera.
Director Damien Chazelle does not know how to use an IMAX camera.
If you are going to show one of your cast members, then it is rather unwise to do a rather extreme close-up especially on the IMAX format, and given the size of the screen that the imagery will be shown on. There are other times when footage is shown blurred. I would really pity any poor sod who sits too close to the screen, unaware of what they are going to see, this could quite easily induce motion sickness.

Despite being the leading man, I'm afraid that Ryan Gosling does not get the best opportunity to flex his acting muscles. Very little demand is made of him as an actor, probably the main time is when Neil is coping, as best he can, with the loss of his daughter. I do think that Claire Foy fairs better as his Wife, Janet.

It was a shame to walk away from this film feeling a little disappointed. But alas that was the case. It was a good film but not the great movie that I had hoped for.......7 out of 10.