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First Man (2018)

Director:
Damien Chazelle
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Biography/Drama
NORWEGIAN TITLE
First Man
RUNNING TIME
141 minutes
Producer:
Wyck Godfrey
Marty Bowen
Isaac Klausner
Damien Chazelle
Screenwriter:
Josh Singer


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Neil Armstrong Ryan Gosling
Janet Shearon Armstrong Zoe Kazan ˝
Ed White Jason Clarke
Deke Slayton Kyle Chandler ˝
Buzz Aldrin Corey Stoll
Rick Armstrong Gavin Warren
Jim Lovell Pablo Shreiber
David Scott Christopher Abbott
Elliot See Patrick Fugit
Michael Collins Lukas Haas
Gus Grissom Shea Whigham
Joseph A. Walker Brian d'Arcy James
Roger B. Chaffee Cory Michael Smith
Christopher C. Kraft Jr. J. D. Evermore
John Glenn John David Whalen
Pete Conrad Ethan Embry
Robert R. Gilruth Ciarán Hinds

 

Review

Starting in medias res and running straight into familiar biopic quagmires of family problems and the wife left behind, First Man takes a little while to really get going. There is quite a bit of NASA diplomacy and technicalities during the film's first third, and add to that Ryan Gosling's usual underplayed acting style, it takes some time before we really start rooting for Neil Armstrong. The film finally takes off (sic) once Armstrong and co-pilot David Scott embark on the Gemini 8 mission. And from then on, First Man is a taut, suspenseful and at times momentous document of an unprecedented historical era. There's melancholy in getting to share the sense of hope and future that these young men had in the wake of their accomplishments. I doubt that the next 50 years unfolded the way they had envisioned.

Copyright © 12.03.2019 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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