When I first heard of the movie, I was skeptical of yet another movie that was focused on NASA and the Apollo missions. However, I enjoyed the movie’s unique focus on Neil Armstrong during the Space Race. It gave me a better understanding of and more appreciation for the astronauts who took risks and overcame adversity to satisfy the dream of landing on the moon.  Although the pacing seemed slow at times, it was valuable in understanding Armstrong’s life, and in some ways, any astronaut’s life, from the slow lulls to the sudden changes.

The movie succeeds in bringing out the humanity in Armstrong’s life that is often snuffed out by a superhero visage stemming from the moon landing. It also speaks to the hardships of space travel that have been diminished over time, replaced with rose-tinted views of space travel.

Notably, the decision to explicitly show the astronauts planting the American flag on the moon has been a major source of controversy since its premiere. Some have claimed that the planting of the flag was an essential part of the moon landing that should be explicitly shown, but I believe that the movie was more intended to underline all aspects of the mission, so a brief showing of the American flag on the moon was all that was needed to convey the sense of American pride.

This sweeping space odyssey is very well made, with beautiful cinematography accentuated by incredible visuals and masterful audials. Particularly, the moments of total silence during the movie made the audience feel like they were on the moon or trying to take in the shock of a colleague’s death. Ultimately, the culmination of this and other effects made the movie feel more powerful and impactful, as the viewer left the theater.

Overall, this is a movie that everyone should watch. Not only does it provide a realistic view of space, but it also serves as a universal reminder of the strength of humanity as a whole. I would rate this film 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I will say that the acting throughout was exceptional, and it was very well filmed. However, from his first take off to stepping his first foot on the moon I had never been more bored by a movie. From the time the movie began, with Neil Armstrong bumping around in a tiny spacecraft to finally stepping foot on the moon 2 hours later, I could have been scrolling through Instagram and wouldn’t have missed a single plot line. The whole movie was slow and there was little to no character development. For the entire film, every single character was just completely serious and sad. There was no change in emotion from the time of their daughter’s death to Neil Armstrong being the first man on the moon. All of the characters had very little reaction to happy occasions.

This was not the thrilling space movie I had anticipated. As the film dragged on for two hours and 22 minutes, I had zero investment in the well being of any of the characters. Another enormous issue was as many of the spacemen died I was never certain as to which characters it was. Every character looked the same, dressed the same, and acted the same. They all wore the same three shirts and were all spacemen. So, I was left tired and bored in the theater at 10 pm on a Tuesday.

To continue, the plot did, in fact, stay true to the history of Neil Armstrong, however, I was left unimpressed by the unimaginative filming of the movie as a whole. I am going to be completely honest, as I was sitting in the theater the only thing keeping me from falling asleep due to the extremely dull aesthetic of the film was the fact that I had to write a truthful review.

Overall, I can not suggest this film to anyone as I can not imagine a more bland experience to have to endure. I would rate this movie 1 out of 5 stars, but it only gets one star because of Ryan Gosling’s performance as Neil Armstrong.