I’m surprised no one has thrown this up yet. One word: Masterpiece!

I absolutely loved this movie. Solid performances all round, with Ryan Gosling being a stand out. He’s quickly becoming one of my favourite actors.

The editing and cinematography is great, I really liked the POV shots as they give you a sense of how insane this feat was. The launch sequences are some of the best scenes I’ve ever seen on film.

All of this is backed up with a magnificent score and a really solid screenplay. I can see this film cleaning up at all the awards ceremonies. My early call is best picture and best lead to Ryan Gosling.

Do yourself a favour and watch this immediately!

Huge BO disappointment, though.

Largely ignored by audiences WW.

Quoted from Dreamscale Huge BO disappointment, though. Largely ignored by audiences WW.

I've yet to see the film and wonder why since it looked great and it had a great cast. Marketing perhaps? I wanted to see The Right Stuff because of all the backstory that I had never heard about (I didn't read the book) and the same with Apollo 13. With First Man, I know how it ends. Was there a backstory that would entice me to go see it on the big screen? If so, marketing failed for this cowboy.

Quoted from Dreamscale Huge BO disappointment, though. Largely ignored by audiences WW.

I'm actually not surprised by this. (For context, I haven't seen the movie, but I haven't seen a first-run movie since my first child was born...)

The Space Race was a front in the Cold War. From the leadership's point of view, the sole purpose of putting rockets in space was to perfect ICBM technology and demonstrate to adversaries that it actually worked. NASA strapped as much science onto its missions as it could, but any adult watching in the 1960s understood what was going on.

It didn't really sink into people's minds what astronauts were doing until Apollo 13 went pear-shaped on national television, but that's after the events of this film.

So you have a biopic about the faceman for a nationalistic PR stunt of historic proportions. The subject matter can be expected to dampen (though certainly not eliminate) enthusiasm for the film outside the US.

Inside the US, all you seem to hear about the film is that they don't show Neil Armstrong planting the flag on the Moon. So you have a biopic about the faceman for a moment of national pride without the iconic image everyone associates with said moment of national pride. The footage is in the public domain, and it could have been shown on a 1960s TV set to hide its non-HD quality, so there was zero cost involved. The choice to exclude the flag seems intentionally anti-patriotic which can be expected to dampen (though certainly not eliminate) enthusiasm for the film inside the US.

So the director or writers made a half-way attempt to make the film more palatable outside the US, but only managed to make it less popular in the US. This seems to have overshadowed the acting, cinematography, and valor of the underlying historical events.

Quoted from FrankM So you have a biopic about the faceman for a nationalistic PR stunt of historic proportions. The subject matter can be expected to dampen (though certainly not eliminate) enthusiasm for the film outside the US. Inside the US, all you seem to hear about the film is that they don't show Neil Armstrong planting the flag on the Moon. So you have a biopic about the faceman for a moment of national pride without the iconic image everyone associates with said moment of national pride. The footage is in the public domain, and it could have been shown on a 1960s TV set to hide its non-HD quality, so there was zero cost involved. The choice to exclude the flag seems intentionally anti-patriotic which can be expected to dampen (though certainly not eliminate) enthusiasm for the film inside the US. So the director or writers made a half-way attempt to make the film more palatable outside the US, but only managed to make it less popular in the US. This seems to have overshadowed the acting, cinematography, and valor of the underlying historical events.

While I understand what you are staying, I don’t fully agree.

This was a great moment for mankind not just the US and was watched by over 500 million people worldwide. I don’t think its subject matter is any less interesting to someone outside the US.

As far as the controversy goes, I have to be honest, I think this is just plain stupid. The flag does get its screen time on the moon, you just don’t see the few moments it would have taken to place it there. I’m not from the US so I honestly couldn’t care less. This movie is so much more than that one moment. I think people are cheating themselves out of a truly great film and a very worthy story if that’s why they didn’t see it. This film is about the monumental achievement and the lead up to the moon landing, and it’s about the man that Neil Armstrong was and his personal battles in the lead up to the moon landing. It’s not about sticking a flag in the moon for bragging rights.

Nothing about this film is a half-way attempt at anything. It is a brilliant film.

In my opinion you should forget about all the ridiculous controversy and reasons not to watch this, and enjoy it for the amazing piece of cinema that it is.

Quoted from Dreamscale Huge BO disappointment, though. Largely ignored by audiences WW.

Unfortunate, but in reality it doesn’t reflect the quality of every part of this film.

Whenever I see stuff like this my first thought is that Fast and the Furious 8 made over a billion dollars and it was a complete turd. I don’t think this is necessarily an accurate way to measure a films brilliance.

Sure you can say something like, but yes it was a financial success and heaps of people watched it. True, but it doesn’t change the fact that it has no story line and some of the worst acting known to man. This can’t be said for First Man. Whether it makes money or not, the film now exists for all of us to enjoy. It didn’t need to make enough money for a sequel, and everyone involved will surly get more work based on their fantastic performances in front of and behind the camera.

Quoted from Warren In my opinion you should forget about all the ridiculous controversy and reasons not to watch this, and enjoy it for the amazing piece of cinema that it is.

I agree. I was just offering a theory on the box office performance. If the Moon flag is actually in the film, their social media marketing people really dropped the ball quelling that rumor.

Quoted from FrankM I agree. I was just offering a theory on the box office performance. If the Moon flag is actually in the film, their social media marketing people really dropped the ball quelling that rumor.

Yeah, no idea why they didn’t bring it up. I think people really wanted that very moment he placed the flag as opposed to just a shot with it on the moon, but it’s definitely there. Understated and not in your face, but there.

Catch this in theatre if you're gonna see it.

The human drama was all pretty pedestrian, to my mind, but the spacey stuff is SO GOOD that you come away satisfied.

Better (and much less annoying!) than La La Land, not as good as Whiplash.