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'First Man' Informs, But Does Not Inspire or Entertain

A Ride to the Moon is Just a Drag

By Rich MonettiPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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After just seeing First Man, I saw a few Facebook posts that got my attention. People did not approve of the fact that the film failed to show the planting of the American flag on the moon.

"No Flag, No See" was one comment and some felt (without seeing the movie) that the intent was to share the accomplishment with the world. So to help deliver my review, I’m going to wrap—or unwrap—myself in the flag.

First Man takes off as Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) traipses the imaginary line between earth’s upper atmosphere and space. In an early rocket plane, the panels are falling off, the dials from the primitive dashboard go into overdrive and the centripetal force on the fuselage gets the same treatment.

So do we. But engines fire and the First Man virtually wills himself from skipping off the atmosphere and disappearing into the darkness.

All I could think was if there are going to be two more hours of this, I’m going to need a shoulder harness. On touchdown, though, things slowed down considerably.

A Slow Burn

Despite, the remarkable burn that got Armstrong home, Chuck Yeager is not kind with his critique:

“He’s distracted.”

And he is. Armstrong’s young daughter would soon succumb to cancer. (The loss of numerous colleagues also weighs on the American icon).

For a figure who holds such an exalted place, it’s a piece of history that most of us probably never knew. Of course, the wear on Armstrong is obvious throughout the film. In fact, the humanizing revelation causes a collective sense of being taken aback.

Real Heroes

We essentially know our astronauts as nearly superhuman. They have a focus that keeps both voice inflection and heart rates on pace no matter the level of crisis. They must deal with personal problems or tragedy in the same manner.

First Man teaches us that they don’t. We also learn that when an astronaut goes into space, he or she takes their family with them.

Again, what we assumed was that every woman who stood behind their man did so with unyielding strength and the same adherence to sacrifice. First women are just as fragile.

Up the Flagpole?

So this film is quite an education. But here I return to the so called slight on American Exceptionalism because it's all there anyway. The Kennedy speeches, the desire to beat the Soviets and the uplift that the space program had on America as a whole.

Admittedly, though, Armstrong is aloof from this narrative so you may object. But detractors must acknowledge that the losses he feels could easily override any notions of patriotism.

Instead, his obsessive need to get to the moon comes from loss, and he does so at the expense of everything else. So the culmination of his journey must end with a symbolic gesture to his pain.

Get the Message Right

We masterfully get that moment on the moon. On the other hand, running the flag up the pole would serve no purpose but to confuse the message. Still, as America's triumph is unfolding, Armstrong's son unfurls a flag on the front porch, and the symbolism is pretty powerful.

You see that's what creative people do. They find different ways to get the point across rather than regurgitating the same rote.

At the same time, the red, white and blue tidbit gets its chance to reinforce what we again take for granted. The astronauts weren't the only ones going to the moon and risking everything.

Ride to the Moon is a Drag

So, I must have loved this film. No, I thought it was pretty much torture.

First Man is an onslaught of angst that plods along unmercifully. Armstrong's disconnection from those around him feels like we are following Dave Bowman into Infinity and Beyond.

But doing it without the light show and ample supplies of LSD makes the running time seem like eternity. The same goes for his wife's attempts to reach him, and constant shadow of death she lives under.

The obvious cinematic comparison is set two Apollos later in Ron Howard's 1995 odyssey. But the daily sacrifice and life and death reality doesn't leave you awash in pain.

As a result, you'd rather watch I Dream of Jeannie to get a representation of what astronauts go through. So for you super patriots, maybe the flag waving would be better served elsewhere.

Of course, if you’d like to know whether the key components are misrepresented or overdramatized, that’s why they write books.

Author can be reached at [email protected].

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About the Creator

Rich Monetti

I am, I write.

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