Line #72 Film/FirstMan


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/firstman.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"The entire world is watching."'']]
3	->''"You're down here and you look up and you don't think about it too much, but space exploration changes your perception. It allows us to see things that we should have seen a long time ago."''
4	-->-- '''Neil Armstrong'''
5
6	''First Man'' is a 2018 {{biopic}} film about the [[TitleDrop first man]] to walk on the moon, UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong, starring Creator/RyanGosling as Armstrong, with Creator/ClaireFoy, Creator/JasonClarke, Creator/KyleChandler, Creator/CoreyStoll, Creator/ChristopherAbbott, and Creator/PabloSchreiber. The film was directed by Creator/DamienChazelle, who previously directed ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'' and ''Film/LaLaLand''.
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8	The movie chronicles the career of Neil Armstrong during UsefulNotes/{{the Space Race}}, from his selection into the Gemini Program to the landing on the moon. It is based the book by James R. Hansen.
9
10	The movie is stylistically unique in how precise it is with the visual and audio depiction of spaceflight, there are no broader establishing shots of any aircraft or spacecraft in flight but instead stays inside the cockpit or with inferred "cameras" mounted on the outside. A rocket liftoff is depicted in RealTime from [[POVCam viewpoint of the crew]] with only audio cues and what can be glimpsed through the windows.
11
12	'''Previews:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k Trailer 1]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4GtJB5WAlQ Trailer 2]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVowQ4LgwLk Trailer 3]].
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14	----
15	!!''First Man'' provides examples of:
16
17	* AcePilot: The difficulty and danger of flights the Gemini and Apollo astronauts go through is emphasized to show just how skilled they are. In the opening scene, Neil takes an X-15 to the edge of the atmosphere and avoids bouncing off into space.
18	* ActionPrologue: The film opens with Neil testing a high altitude supersonic jet which nearly skips off the atmosphere. [[spoiler: Ultimately he ends up crash landing the plane.]]
19	* AirborneAircraftCarrier: While barely visible, as the opening takes place entirely from Neil's perspective in the cockpit, the X-15 is deployed from under the wing of a B-52.
20	* AndMissionControlRejoiced: Not, as might be expected with Apollo 11 (that is entirely done with the original radio audio), but with Gemini 8 docking with the Agena docking vehicle.[[note]]It's the first time two spacecraft had ever docked; for once, the Americans beat the Soviets to a major space milestone.[[/note]]
21	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Asked by Janet to Neil:
22	-->'''Janet:''' What are the chances that you're not coming back?
23	* ArmorPiercingResponse: After Neil injures himself training for the lunar landing, he's asked by superiors if it's worth the cost in lives. Neil, remembering the slew of dead astronauts left in the wake of the moon landing attempt, snaps that it's a little late to be asking that question.
24	* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
25	** In reality the X-15 flight that opens the movie happened after Karen's death, not before.
26	** While Neil did crash while flying the LLRV, he suffered nothing more than a bit tongue during his parachute landing.
27	** The Apollo 1 disaster is portrayed as having killed the pilots within seconds by a fire followed by a large explosion. In real life, most of the burns on the astronauts occurred in postmortem, with the cause of death being asphyxiation and smoke inhalation.[[note]]The fire quickly consumed all the oxygen in the cabin, but not before melting the astronauts' suits and oxygen tubes, exposing them to the toxic cabin air.[[/note]] Furthermore, the spark caused by faulty wiring is portrayed as occurring within Ed White's line of sight, whereas in real life it originated from under Grissom's seat.
28	** Though Neil was attending an event at the White House at the same time as the Apollo 1 fire, he (as well as the other astronauts present) did not receive a call notifying him what had happened until after he had returned to his hotel.
29	** The film gives the impression that the American public opinion was against strongly against the Apollo program. While there was a vocal segment of the population who felt it was a waste of money, the majority of the American public was ''in support'' of the mission.
30	** During the Apollo 11 launch, Michael Collins is shown sitting in the LMP's seat while Buzz Aldrin is in the CDR's seat when it should have been the reverse[[note]]the mission commander sat in the CMP's seat during launch so he could grip the abort handle[[/note]].
31	** While Neil really did head over to the West crater off the mission plan, it's speculation that he might have [[spoiler:left anything in it, let alone any of Karen's possessions]]. Other astronauts did leave personal items on the Moon, but if Neil did this, he took that secret to his grave.
32	* AskAStupidQuestion: An interviewer asks Neil if he'll be "affected" by the recent death of his daughter during the training program. An annoyed Neil responds by saying it'd be unreasonable to assume it ''wouldn't'' have an affect on him.
33	* AspectRatioSwitch: The movie mostly uses Widescreen 2.39:1, as director Creator/DamienChazelle shot the movie in a mixture of celluloid formats. These include 35mm 2-perf Techniscope, 3-perf Super 35, Super 16mm, and Creator/{{IMAX}} 15-perf 70mm. The latter is used for the lunar sequences with its taller aspect ratio of 1.43:1, but protected for 1.90:1 for Digital IMAX and 2.39:1. The UsefulNotes/BluRay and UHD Blu-ray releases both show the lunar sequences in 16:9, filling the whole TV.
34	* BadassBookworm: All the astronauts, really, but Neil is notably an engineer as well as an astronaut.
35	* BerserkButton: Downplayed with someone as quiet as Neil, but one of the only times he gets truly angry is when an interviewer brings up his dead daughter. Whenever he is reminded of her he has to go be alone immediately.
36	* TheBigBoard: Deke Slayton draws the distance from the Earth to the Moon to scale, across two blackboards.
37	* BillionsOfButtons: When Neil enters Gemini 8 and Apollo 11, the camera lingers to show the countless buttons, switches, and displays both cockpits have.
38	* BookEnds: Karen's bracelet shows up twice. First is when Neil hides it away in his desk drawer shortly after Karen dies at the beginning and before the Gemini program. The second is at the end of the film [[spoiler: when Neil takes it with him and throws it into a crater on the moon]].
39	* BrutalHonesty: Buzz Aldrin ''twice'' makes honest but rude remarks about dead pilots in the program. When he says that he's simply saying what everybody else is thinking, Neil remarks that maybe he shouldn't.
40	* CentrifugalFarce: Neil's first experience with the three-axis centrifuge is one of the more light-hearted moments in the film, especially when a clearly addled Armstrong goes to his next training class only to get a massive {{Doorstopper}} of a textbook (figuratively) thrown at him. However, the scene is also an opportunity for him to show how cool he is under pressure (and a foreshadowing of his much more serious encounter with centrifugal gee-forces on his Gemini 8 mission).
41	* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Janet starts smoking more as the problems with the Apollo program start to mount up.
42	* CoolPlane: The North American X-15 in the opening scenes.
43	* DeadpanSnarker: When asked at an Apollo 11 pre-launch press conference what he would like to take to the moon (after UsefulNotes/BuzzAldrin gives a sentimental crowd-pleasing answer) Neil remarks if he had a choice he'd take "more fuel". Subverted because, while it sounds like a snarky response, he actually meant it.
44	* DeathNotification: Robert R. Gilruth and Deke Slayton go over a press release to be issued in the event that Armstrong and Aldrin are stranded on the moon with no hope of rescue. [[TruthInTelevision The press release was real]], though never used.
45	* DeathOfAChild: As in real life, Neil's very young daughter dies of brain cancer early on in the film. The already stoic Armstrong withdraws from his family and throws himself into his dangerous work as an astronaut instead of grieving properly.
46	* {{Determinator}}: Neil Armstrong embodies this trope, being driven by the death of his daughter to get towards the moon. Every setback the program encounters along the way only makes him even more determined.
47	-->'''Neil:''' We need to fail down here, so we don't fail up there.
48	* DispenseWithThePleasantries: A trait of Armstrong when he's trying to work, and especially in flight.
49	-->'''Mission Control:''' Gemini 8, can we get a status update?\
50	'''Neil:''' ''[busy writing out a course correction]'' No. Got too much to do.
51	* DownerBeginning: The first few minutes are dedicated to showing the Armstrongs providing cancer treatment for their toddler daughter. [[spoiler: Ultimately the treatments are unsuccessful and she dies.]]
52	* TheEngineer: Neil's profession as an engineer is a major focus and one of the reasons he's chosen to be an astronaut. One of the military pilot candidates refers to him as an "egghead", which sounds amusingly odd given that the audience has already seen him as an AcePilot.
53	* FamousForBeingFirst: Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, an achievement so significant they made an entire movie about it.
54	* AFatherToHisMen: Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, deeply cares for the Gemini and Apollo crews. He is nearly brought to tears when going over the "worst case scenario" brief for Apollo 11. Incidentally, Slayton was the only one of the Mercury Seven who, at that time, had not gone into space. He was diagnosed with an erratic heart rhythm shortly before his own space flight and was grounded. He finally did go into space in 1975 as part of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
55	* ForegoneConclusion: Neil Armstrong lands on the moon. The infamous end to Apollo 1 also comes as no surprise. There's still an amazing amount of tension in the movie during these scenes.
56	* {{Foreshadowing}}: At a press conference, the astronauts are asked what else they'd like to take to the Moon, and Armstrong answers "More fuel". The Lunar Module almost ran out of fuel during the landing.[[note]]The intended landing area turned out to be scattered with boulders, so Armstrong had to take manual control and fly further downrange until they found a clear patch of ground. The descent engine had less than 30 seconds worth of fuel remaining when they finally landed.[[/note]]
57	* AGlassInTheHand: After being informed about the Apollo 1 fire, while attending a reception at the White House, Neil breaks the wine glass he was holding.
58	* GoodWithNumbers: Neil works out a course correction with paper and pencil that puts Gemini 8 exactly where it needs to be to see the Agena target vehicle and dock.
59	* HappilyEverBefore: The film ends on a hopeful note, showing that Neil and Janet's marriage remains strong despite the incredible stress his career put on the family. In real life, the marriage was on tenuous ground and the two eventually divorced.[[note]]In retrospectives, family and friends noted that that the two had difficulty relating to one another (in part, due to Neil's taciturn nature) and that Neil had a tendency to take Janet for granted (such as leaving her in charge of managing their farm while he went off to do more glamorous business work).[[/note]]
60	* HappilyMarried:
61	** Neil and Janet Armstrong, mostly, despite the stress of the astronaut training. In real life, they would divorce in 1994.
62	** Ed and Pat White, leading the latter to be rendered completely numb following her husband's death.
63	* HeroicBSOD: After the Apollo 1 disaster, Janet finds Pat standing silent and motionless in her driveway, with a slew of forgotten newspapers scattered around.
64	* HeroOfAnotherStory: UsefulNotes/ChuckYeager and UsefulNotes/GusGrissom (''Film/TheRightStuff''), and Jim Lovell (''Film/Apollo13'') have essentially cameos here. Deke Slayton, on the other hand, has prominent roles in all three of these films.
65	* HumbleHero: Both the movie version and the real Neil Armstrong. It was one of the reasons NASA chose him to be first on the moon.
66	* ImprobablePilotingSkills: Naturally.
67	** Neil manages to regain control of the X-15 flight as it threatens to skip off the atmosphere helplessly into space and he even manages to land roughly where he was supposed to.
68	** Neil recovers the spin on the Gemini flight, with little help from MissionControl, in pitch darkness, and after his co-pilot has passed out from the G-forces. He does it by correctly deciding that the flight control thrusters are causing the problem, turning them off, and then using the ship's re-entry thrusters to regain control. He saves the astronauts' lives, but the mission has to be aborted because he used up three-quarters of the re-entry fuel doing it.
69	** Neil fails to regain control of the LLRV (in reality the vehicle suddenly lost fuel pressure to its attitude thrusters, so there was ''no way'' to regain control), but he does eject in time to avoid being killed in the crash.
70	** Lastly, and most memorably, landing the LEM manually to avoid landing on top of a boulder or in a crater, all while the landing computer keeps setting off the master alarm. The movie, in fact, downplays the precariousness of the LEM landing as the error codes displayed by the computer required more serious intervention than just turning the alarm off each time. This was displayed with some accuracy in ''Series/FromTheEarthToTheMoon''.
71	* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: Averted during the moonwalk sequence; the astronauts' faces are obscured by their gold-tinted helmet visors, and when Neil raises his visor when he's looking down into a dark crater, his face initially remains in shadow. The audience is finally able to see Neil's face when he [[spoiler:drops Karen's bracelet into the crater]].
72	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: UsefulNotes/BuzzAldrin is insensitive and arrogant, but he's still competent and charismatic, and he and Neil get along long enough to get to the moon together.
73	* JitterCam: From beginning to end, the camera drifts around when one might expect it to keep steady.
74	* ManlyTears: Neil cries twice over his daughter Karen, but he does it where only the audience can see him do it.
75	* NervesOfSteel: You don't get to become an astronaut unless you are absolutely cool under pressure, as Armstrong demonstrates multiple times. Whether he's dismissing reporters certain of his coming demise, shaking off nausea from his daily flight simulator, or parachuting out of an exploding test plane, he stays as calm and disciplined as ever.
76	* NotSoStoic:
77	** At a funeral, Neil imagines seeing his dead daughter, and promptly leaves, banging his car into another in process. Earlier on in the film, at his daughter's wake, he keeps his cool until he heads alone into his study, at which point he promptly bursts into tears.
78	** Janet, who is as stoic as her husband is, completely loses it when she realizes Neil intends to leave for the Apollo 11 mission without preparing their sons for the possibility of him not making it back.
79	* OhCrap:
80	** On Gemini 8:
81	--->'''Dave Scott:''' Neil, we're in a bank.
82	** The Apollo 1 pilots upon realizing there's a fire in the oxygen-rich cockpit.
83	** Neil and Buzz when they realize the LEM is headed towards a crater full of car-sized boulders. It's subdued but clearly tense when Neil takes over manual piloting to get to a better landing spot, and neither of them are comfortable until they've grounded.
84	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: The film opens with the death of Armstrong's daughter Karen from a brain tumor.
85	* POVCam: Used on several occasions:
86	** The film open's with Neil's view out the X-15 cockpit windows.
87	** We also see Neil's POV as he climbs into the Gemini 8 capsule, which shows off the impressive number of switches and gauges.
88	** Most importantly, Neil's view as he climbs down the LEM ladder onto the surface of the moon and takes his first step.
89	* PrecisionFStrike: Janet Armstrong snaps and uses the F-word when Neil replies to her question of how likely it is he will make it home from Apollo 11 with a dry non-committal answer.
90	* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: The spin rate reading of Gemini 8 hits the top of the scale.
91	* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: The Americans are determined to get to the moon because the Soviets have beaten them at every major space accomplishment so far. Ed White is stunned when he learns that they have just beaten him at being the first EVA.
92	* SoundtrackDissonance: The unveiling of the iconic Saturn V rocket that would later send Apollo 11 to the moon is juxtaposed with a black activist performing the protest song "Whitey's on the Moon". There really wasn't much fanfare in real life, as the program was coming under fire for its financial (and human) costs and wasn't vindicated until after the moon landing.
93	* SpaceIsNoisy: Averted. The moment Armstrong and Aldrin open the hatch on the LEM, all ambient noise stops. For the rest of their stay on the moon, the only sounds are radio transmissions and the soundtrack.
94	* StepfordSmiler: Janet is serious and not prone to smiling often, but is forced to put on a wholesome smile for the dozens of reporters who constantly lurk around her house or hang around for promotional photos.
95	* StockFootage: Much of the Apollo 11 launch sequence used genuine footage from NASA's archives[[note]]NASA documents and stores ''everything'' it can in every possible way[[/note]] with some VFX used to fill in the edges to match to the film's aspect ratio.
96	* TheStoic: Not only are most of the pilots stoic (particularly Neil, who was famously quiet and enigmatic in real life), but their wives are as well, even during funerals ({{justified\|Trope}} by Janet when she mentions that she and Neil got "good" at attending funerals due to a number of pilot deaths in previous years). When Janet finally sees Neil in quarantine after he comes back from the mission, she hardly changes expression.
97	* SunkCostFallacy: Alluded to when Neil is nearly killed in the LLRV accident. His seniors tell him it's too risky for him to fly such a dangerous machine again. Neil points out that it's the best training they have for how to fly the real lunar module, and that it's a "little late" to talk about not risking the lives of the astronauts. It's clear that Neil commits to the Apollo program because he thinks that backing out would make the sacrifices of the earlier astronauts, and other pilots who died during test flights, count for nothing.
98	* TeamMom: Michael Collins fusses over Armstrong and Aldrin as they make final preparations to land on the moon, double and triple-checking to see that the landing crew has everything they need.
99	* TragicKeepsake: Neil keeps a bracelet with his dead daughter's name on it, [[spoiler: later dropping it into a crater on the moon in her memory]].
100	* TrainingFromHell: The 3-axis gyroscope contraption causes Armstrong to black out. When he comes to he immediately wants to try again, and is then seen throwing up in the toilet... followed soon after by Ed White in similar difficulties.
101	* TripToTheMoonPlot: The film is a biography of Neil Armstrong, so naturally enough the movie's climax features the Moon landing from Apollo 11.
102	* VomitDiscretionShot: Subverted. Though the camera cuts away from most of the actual vomiting, the next scene shows the pilots in a classroom, with many of them having vomit stains over the fronts of their shirts.
103	* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Ed White's reaction to seeing that the Russians have just beaten him at being the first EVA.
104	----
105	->''"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."''

Context Film / FirstMan