First Man 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 4.0/5

There are only a very few moments in the history of man (and woman) that has made an impact (good and bad): The invention of the wheel. Nuclear weapons. Automobiles. The first plane. The Transatlantic flight. And space exploration, most notably, the landing on the moon.

First Man is an examination on astronaut Neil Armstrong (RYAN GOSLING) and looks at a relatively short, but important, period of his life from 1961 through 1969 and the historic Apollo 11 mission. It goes into how he got into the program as well as his marriage to his wife, Janet (CLAIRE FOY) and their personal sacrifices as they experience the loss of a daughter and close friends, fellow astronauts, and the toll it takes. Oh, and Buzz Aldrin (portrayed by COREY STALL) was a grade-A, callous douchebag.

Space exploration has always interested me, right alongside the historical events of World War II, and First Man tells a story that, as far as I can tell, hasn’t been captured on film outside I’m sure some documentaries over the years. What I particularly enjoyed was director Damien Chazelle, in his follow-up to his award-winning musical La La Land, approach of putting the audience in an almost first-person viewpoint with Armstrong during his missions and showing the dangers these men went through in the name of exploration, and in the face of public pressure for perhaps to remain grounded, not worth the cost of life and money.

Although, as far as movies about space go, First Man doesn’t quite measure up to the likes of Gravity or Interstellar, but it is one good drama. Ryan Gosling does a wonderful job in his portrayal as Neil Armstrong and while it wasn’t anything powerful, it was finely measured with some greatly emotional scenes. Won’t, and didn’t, get much award recognition but in fairness, the script didn’t do him much favors, especially since the film only covers a brief time in his career.

Claire Foy meanwhile proves that she could be an actress on the rise between this and, yes, even The Girl in the Spider’s Web, not to mention her lead performance on The Crown. The rest of the supporting cast were alright. The one oddity was Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin; he’s not in the movie a whole lot but two scenes made him look like a complete asshole, needlessly since he doesn’t act as some sort of antagonist or foil toward Armstrong. Now, he very well may have been a unsympathetic jerk-wad, but his scenes were rather unnecessary since he really doesn’t play a big role even in the moon landing, with the focus being squarely on Armstrong anyway.

In the end, First Man isn’t all that amazing in some aspects, but does feature respectable performances by both Gosling and Foy while the space exploration parts were easily the highlights, culminating with the well done moon landing sequence, really satisfactorily re-created.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.25/5

This release comes with a title-embossed, glossy slip cover. Included is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. All of the features are available on the 4K UHD disc and are in 4K resolution. Unfortunately for a film of this type, these featurettes were a bit too short, though totaling around 39 minutes.

Audio Commentary – Director Damien Chazelle, Screenwriter Josh Singer and Editor Tom Cross provide a nice group track covering the production of First Man going into how the project came to be, breaking down a variety of scenes, locations, working with the cast, etc. A very professional track.

Deleted Scenes (4:17) – Nothing major here, one scene is of a house fire the other is the Apollo 8 launch. Some historical items but neither one advanced the story or added much for the characters.

Shooting for the Moon (3:40) is a basic overview of the project with some interviews by the cast and filmmakers on what drew them to the film and its core story.

Preparing to Launch (3:39) – This featurette is on Neil Armstrong and bringing his story onto the big screen.

Giant Leap in One Small Step (4:31) – This is one of the more interesting featurettes with interviews by Armstrong’s two children, along with Chazelle and Gosling, and more on Armstrong the man and who he was.

Mission Gone Wrong (2:42) – This featurette goes into the filming of the training vehicle sequence.

Putting You in the Seat (7:09) is on Chazelle’s approach to having an almost first-person viewpoint on Armstrong and his flights.

Recreating the Moon Landing (6:01) looks at how the moon landing scene was filmed.

Shooting at NASA (3:11) looks at filming on the actual locations, such as Cape Canaveral and Andrews Air Force Base.

Astronaut Training (4:02) looks at the cast getting a tour and some training for their roles.

4K VIDEO – 5.0/5, BD VIDEO – 4.75/5

AUDIO – 5.0/5

OVERALL – 4.5/5

Overall, First Man might not be the best movie about space exploration around but it is still a well made drama from Damien Chazelle in a solid follow-up to his Academy Award winning music-drama, La La Land. Ryan Gosling gives a nice, if not quiet, performance but the highlight was the space travel sequences. This 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo pack includes amazing video and audio transfers while the bonus material was decent enough.