An attempt at conveying my thoughts on First Man(movie):
Honestly, I feel like overall my thoughts on it boil down to it's an amazing movie, but not a very good portrayal of Neil/his life. These are the main things I noticedβ
Amazing costume/set design
Nearly all of the outfits are based on exact things they were wearing in various pictures/videos, and they were recreated amazingly. I immediately recognized nearly all of the outfits from pictures I've seenβit got to a certain point where I was just identifying characters based on their outfits. The houses/nasa buildings were also amazing/accurate. Especially Neil's house and the LRL. I can tell how much love the costume & set designers put into it, and how much time they spent studying the image archives. And, as someone who sews/designs clothes, and has spent a somewhat unreasonable amount of time going through Apollo image archives, I really appreciate that.
All of the silly/goofy neil scenes were amazingly done
Imo, that's when he really got into the character/was able to do it well. When Jan was telling the White's about Neil's college musicals, the way they were teasing Ed right before told them about the Apollo 1 assignmentβit was just so Neil, and I really wish that was included in more of it. One of the big things about Neil's personality is that he's really goofy/always making jokes, not quite in the same way as Pete or Jim, but he definitely has a sense of humor, which is the main piece of his personality that he's willing to show. He doesn't necessarily use jokes to mask sadness/fear/pain, but, he's very good at hiding his bad emotions, whereas joy/jokes are the biggest emotion he allowed himself to display publicly.
I'm actually so impressed with Jan in this movie!! The acting was amazing, and overall she was pretty accurately portrayed. One of the only characters who had the proper 60s/almost transatlantic accentβwhich was apparently because the actress was British and was the only one who had to do an accent no matter what, so she did the correct accent very wellβshe genuinely sounded like Jan. I also absolutely love her relationship with pat, and overall the way she interacted with Neil was really good.
Deke was surprisingly well done
I feel like he's one who doesn't always get super good portrayals, and tbh I didn't really expect it from this movie, especially since he doesn't have a super big role, but something about him in this movie I really liked. The way his voice was shaking on the phone call about Apollo 1, all of his interactions with Jan, when they were talking about the LLRV crashβit was all so Deke.
The entire Apollo 1 scene was amazing.
Grumpy Gus. Giggly Ed. The effects for the spark/fire. Whole thing was so good. It hurt so much to watch, but it was so well done. I think I may honestly prefer it to the fire scene in Apollo 13, which is an insanely high commitment coming from me.
The speach for if they didn't come back genuinely caught me off guard and was an excellent addition
Mike was very well done in the scene when they were getting in the LM
I absolutely love the way he was panicking/asking a ton of questions, just to end on "Come back, will you?" That whole scene was such a good portrayal of Mike, and I love the way Neil was just watching him ask all the questions like "you good dude π?"
I love the landing scene, especially the way they included the program alarms without over-dramatizing then
Making the program alarms a bigger problem than they were is one of my biggest pet peeves about Apollo 11 portrayals, and I hate how often it happensβeven in official NASA stuff. The real story of the program alarms is so much more interesting anyway: a few days before the mission, they were doing what was supposed to be the final sim. It was just the mission control team, the crew had already completed their training. Usually, the final sim for a mission is uneventfulβit's a best case scenario dress rehearsal, where the SimSup lets them end on a high note and go through an an ideal mission one last time. But, for some reason, this time the SimSup decided to give them a problem with the landingβnamely, in the last simulation, during the lunar decent, they were given a 1202 Program Alarm. In that sim, Steve Bales panicked and aborted the landing. After a rough debriefing, where the the SimSup explained that was not reason to abort the landing, and another run of the sim, he made a list of every program alarm, and whether or not they could precede with a landing after getting it, and kept that list at his console. When they got the program alarm during the actual landing, Steve immediately recognized it as the same one from the simulation without even having to check his list. And when they got the 1201 alarm, he easily determined that it meant the same thing. Mission Control wasn't panicking about the alarms, because they just learned how to handle them. I really appreciate the view of them from eagle, where they're a surprise/concern, and you don't fully know what they mean, but mission control gives you an almost instant "Go" on them, so you you know it's not a worry.
Kennedy's speach playing over the shelf full of newspapers/magazines from all the missions was absolute cinema. That was some ART right there
I also love that the last words spoken were "Congratulations Jan"
Overall it made me cry so much. It was so sweet.
Why is Ryan Gosling the main character of this movie about Neil Armstrong??
I really do love Ryan Gosling, but unfortunately I just don't think he was a good choice for this movie. I've seen so many pictures/videos of the astronauts, that to a certain extent I have this problem with all space moviesβI know what the astronauts look/sound/act like, and I know what Famous Hollywood Actorβ’ looks/sounds/acts like, so I have a hard time getting into a movie/seeing the actors as the characters they're supposed to be playing. That being said, even though "Jim Lovell" and "Tom Hanks in Apollo 13" occupy completely separate sections of my brain, whenever I watch that movie I still notice a ton of tiny little mannerisms, sentences, tones in his voice, that are so unbelievably accurate to Jim. There are so many barely discernible little things in that movie that really make it believable, make it feel like the Lovell'sβand I just didn't get that from First Man. I know that Apollo 13 isn't entirely a fair comparison, since Tom Hanks had the opportunity to talk to/spend time with Jim, which Ryan Gosling wasn't able to do with Neil. That being said though, I've never met/talked to Jim, and I still notice so many of the tiny accuracies in the movie, so I feel like you could still get a more accurate portal through just studying archive footage/books about him. I do really love Gosling/think he's a great actor to be clear, this is less a complaint about him and more about the casting departmentβbecause "great actor" isn't the only qualifier for a role, and I simply don't think he was the right choice for this movie.
I really don't understand what the thought process was behind what they included.
Including the LLRV ejection but not the house fire was an insane decision. The LLRV ejection was an important thing, and a dramatic scene, but I really don't think it belongs that high on the list of Defining Moments of Neil Armstrong's Life. He ejected from the contraption already known to be somewhat unreliable/unsafe, he landed unharmed, and he continued on with his life. Even at the time, Gene Cernen, who shared an office with Neil, thought that people were lying to him about the accident until he asked Neil directly, because an hour after the crash Neil was sitting in their office, completely calm and unbothered, filling out some paperwork at his desk. Even in the movie, I feel like that scene could easily be removed without issue. I know to certain extent I probably put more emphasis on the house fire than necessary, because it is something that I relate to very strongly/have a connection toβbut even with that being said, I still do feel that it was a more important thing in Neil's life, not only personally, but with his relationship with Ed, not to mention how powerful of a representation it is of how much he loved his family. He described the time he spent crawling below the smoke to Ricky's room, not knowing weather or not he was ok, as "The longest journey he made in his life." I also feel like the fire was worth including because of how much the movie focused on the relationship between the White's and the Armstrong's. The way Ed helped save them during the fire, only to himself die in an even more powerful fire is such a strong story, such an important piece of the story of their relationship, that I almost can't believe they didn't include it.
Neil was way too emotional. This is partially the same thing about the casting but also the writing.
Like... in some ways he was too emotional, but in other ways he wasn't emotional enough. One thing about Neil Armstrong is that he Does Not loose his composure or control of his emotions. He avoids showing sadness/anxiety/fear/pain as much as he physically can. I get that to make a compelling character in a movie they have to show their emotions, but I feel like they could have shown the emotions in a more private way, or even only to Jan. Overall, I feel like he spent too much time walking around looking obviously sad/distracted. Especially with how much he'd be upset in from of the boys/say no when they wanted to play. He made sure they didn't see him upset, and he was a very active/happy father, when he managed to not be working. I also really didn't the shots of him slamming around the phone after Gemini 8, or hitting the table when he got mad. Those were both extremely out of character and honestly just weird things to add. If you listen to any description of Neil from people who knew him, the top qualities they list are always "calm" "quiet" "gentle" or other things of that nature. He always thinks through what he says and does, and even if he were to act hastily, it's just not in his nature for that to be anywhere near his natural reaction. He's not an aggressive person whatsoever. That being saidβin some ways he wasn't emotional enough. He didn't keep that wall up at all times, that wall didn't block the joy. He was still always one to joke, especially around his friends. He loved joking/playing with his kids. He had so much pain and so many emotions that he carried with him his whole life, but they didn't weigh on him through every second and every breath. Another one of the top things people describe about Neil is his smile, his little grin that he would make so often, and felt like it was missing in a lot of the movie.
I don't think they called Karen 'Muffie' the whole time
I get the timeline has to be compressed for movies but it was still really bugging me
I really don't like how they portrayed buzz.
In a lot of scenes he went past being kinda annoying/oblivious and was just straight up insensitive. Buzz is such a complex person, who is very hard to portray in a movie where he has such a small role, but if you aren't going to do him justice then you shouldn't try to include him to the extent that they did. Having him act like that about Elliott See or Apollo 1 would've been one thing, I still wouldn't have liked it, but I could understand thatβbut both of them was too much. It was also kind of weird how they had him talking about bringing Joan's jewelry in contrast to Neil saying he'd bringing more fuel, almost like they were implying that Buzz was a more attentive/present husband, which is a very strange thing to imply anyway, but especially in a movie specifically about Neil Armstrong.
The moon scene was overall very good but there was something about it was just...off. It was uncomfortable almost. Uncanny.
I think it was the way his suit lookedβit wasn't a pressure suit. There was no ring locking the helmet or gloves, it wasn't air-tight. It looked like he was literally wearing a cloth hood, it wasn't a spacesuit. It almost reminded me of a beesuit, but it didn't even have enough zippers/elastic sealing it to be a useful beesuit. If I'm concerned about bees getting in it, than there's no question the vacuum of space could get in it. It's honestly really disappointingβthe way the suit looked really through off the scene for me, but otherwise that scene was absolutely amazing. It's especially frustrating compared to how good the rest of the costume/set design was.
Ed was overall good, but there were a few times he just a little off
That was mostly just in his relationship with Neil/it ties back to my previous complaints about Neil. I can't even fully place what it was that I didn't like, he just didn't feel quite right
There was something I didn't entirely like about the ending/him and Jan seeing each other through the glass. That's another thing where I can't place exactly what it was
Jan threatening Deke after Gemini 8 is one of my favorite Jan stories, and the writers really didn't do it justice
I love that story so much, the way she talked to Deke, the way she threatened to purposefully to tell the press, the way the conversation started with "Deke don't you ever do that to me again" the fact that she fully understood the reasoning of turning off the squak boxes, and was only mad about not being let inside mission control. I love that story so much, and I feel like her just yelling at him during Gemini 8 itself cheapend the impact a bit.
The entire mission control scene during Gemini 8 was ridiculous. People act like the mocr is overdramatic in Apollo 13, but that was another level of nonsense.
The lack of Jan during Apollo 11 was really disappointing.
The special effects were really hit and miss
Really weird to me that the three main plot points were Karen, his marriage/family, and his relationship with Ed, and yet they didn't include the dates of their anniversary/Karen's death/Apollo 1/Karen's funeral/the Apollo 1 funerals.
