Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: First Man
January 20, 2019
First Man - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
First Man was made to win Oscars. I don’t think there are many people out there that would deny that. I don’t know if it is going to succeed in that goal, but it did struggle in theaters, earning barely more than $100 million worldwide. Is the film too much “Oscar-bait” to win over audiences? Or is it an unfairly overlooked gem?
This is going to be a short plot summary, because the film is a biopic of Neil Armstrong during the space race. Either you know the general beats, or you are likely just not interested in the film. The movie focuses on Neil Armstrong from his days as a test pilot in the Gemini program through 1969 when he became the first man to walk on the moon. That’s really all of the plot you need to know.
I really wanted to like this movie, but I couldn’t get into it. The film spent much of its first half beating me over the head yelling, “This is an important movie. This is a somber movie. This is an award-worthy movie. Give me Oscars!” Its self-importance becomes a serious hindrance. While the movie is doing this, it isn’t doing enough to make me care for the lead character. Part of the problem is Ryan Gosling’s performance, which can be generously described as stoic for most of the movie. It could also be described as emotionless and off-putting. To be clear, I’m not blaming Ryan Gosling for his performance. I’ve read an interview with Neil Armstrong’s sons who said it was accurate. I’m just saying it would have been better for the movie to try and work around this.
Because I found the lead performance off-putting, it didn’t take long before I had grown tired of the character study I was watching and just wanted to see more of the technical and political issues surrounding the space race. When the film does focus on the space program, I was really engaged. I even liked the more claustrophobic feeling given to the early space flights, as opposed to the more grandiose and cinematic look most movies would use. I just wish the film focused more on this aspect of the story than the more somber, self-important aspects.
Extras begin with an audio commentary track with the director, Damien Chazelle; the screenwriter, Josh Singer; and the editor, Tom Cross. There are also two deleted scenes before we get to the featurettes. There are eight featurettes, which sounds impressive; however, the longest is just over 7 minutes long and most and in the three-minute range. In total, it’s just 35 minutes of featurettes. Subjects range for the real life Armstrong to behind-the-scenes / making of featurettes. They are worth checking out, but the overall length still feels a little short for a first-run release.
I like movies about the space program in general and the 1960s space race in particular. I was hoping First Man would focus on that more than it did. To be clear, it is not a bad movie; it just didn’t meet expectations and that’s disappointing. The DVD / Blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD has enough extras that it is worth picking up if you are a fan of the movie.
Video on Demand
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, First Man, Ryan Gosling, Damien Chazelle, Tom Cross, Josh Singer