PROJECT HAIL MARY : Tuesday 24th March 2026

I saw the M Rated 'PROJECT HAIL MARY' earlier this week, and this American Sci-Fi adventure film is Co-Produced and Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, whose previous Co-Directing credits are 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' in 2009, '21 Jump Street' in 2012, 'The Lego Movie' in 2014 and '22 Jump Street' also in 2014. The film is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Andy Weir. It saw its Premiere showcasing in London earlier this month, and was released world wide last week, having garnered generally favourable critical reviews. The film cost US$200M net to produce, and has so far grossed US$164M at the global Box Office.

The film opens with Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling, who also Co-Produces here) slowly waking up from an induced coma on a spaceship. He is disorientated, his muscles are weak, he is suffering from retrograde memory loss, and while in his enforced sleep he has grown a long beard and hair. We don't know how long he has been in stasis. Grace quickly discovers that his other two crew members have died while in their induced comas. He then scribbles away on a white board deducing that he is 113 light years away from Earth in a distant planetary system.

Grace's memory gradually starts to return and he remembers that he is a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist. In the past, scientists have observed the dimming of our Sun, which has coincided with the formation of an infrared line from the Sun to Venus called the Petrova line. The dimming, is seemingly caused by a microorganism known as Astrophage rapidly increasing its population on the Sun's surface, which will result in a catastrophic global cooling of Earth within the next thirty years, which we are told will wipe out half of all humankind, animal and plant life. Government agent Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller) recruits Grace and a few hundred other scientists from across the world to study Astrophage.

Grace is tasked with examining samples of Astrophage under strictly controlled lab conditions. He discovers that Astrophage is a cell which is impenetrable to any form of electromagnetic radiation, and that it thrives on Venus through the planet's carbon dioxide rich atmosphere and energy from the Sun. Researchers also discover that Astrophage is a very effective, albeit volatile, fuel source. It has also infected other stars within our solar system. Stratt discloses Project Hail Mary, a plan to send a crew on a suicide mission to Tau Ceti, the only undimmed nearby star. The Hail Mary spacecraft only has enough Astrophage as fuel for a one-way trip, but will carry probes to send the crew's findings back to Earth.

Back in the present, as Grace approaches Tau Ceti, his on board computers alert him to an alien object approaching. That object turns out to be an alien spacecraft, vastly larger than his own ship. It docks with the Hail Mary, and Grace determines it is made of 'xenonite' (solid xenon - a dense, colourless, odourless gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts.). The pilot of the alien ship is a rock-like, five-legged alien from Eridani. Grace names it 'Rocky' after the Eridian's appearance and Rocky Balboa (voiced by James Ortiz).

Grace deduces that Eridians see via echolocation, and creates a laptop computer translation system for Rocky's music like speech. There were twenty-three other Eridian's on Rocky's ship but they all perished. Rocky explains that he is a mechanic and also the sole survivor of a mission to stop the Astrophage. Neither can survive in the other's atmosphere, so Rocky enters Hail Mary using a small, multi-sided transparent ball like structure as a spacesuit.

Grace has a memory flashback where he recalls meeting the commander Yao Li-Jie (Ken Leung), engineer Olesya Ilyukhina (Milana Vayntrub), and scientist Annie Shapiro (Liz Kingsman) for Hail Mary, along with their backups. While handling Astrophage, a mishap kills the scientist and backup three days before launch in a massive explosion at command base. With no time to train a replacement, Stratt requests that Grace take the place of the deceased scientists giving him three hours to make up his mind. When Grace refuses to go, Stratt tries to convince him that he will be saving humanity and the planet, but he still maintains that its not for him, and that he'll face his fate with the rest of humanity. Stratt has him drugged and forcibly placed in an induced coma on the Hail Mary.

Following Tau Ceti's Petrova line, Grace and Rocky find that the planet Tau Ceti e, which they name 'Adrian' after Rocky's mate and Adrian Balboa, holds an organism which preys on Astrophage, so controlling its population. After learning that Grace cannot return home, Rocky offers enough Astrophage to refuel Hail Mary. Shortly after gathering the organism from the upper atmosphere of Adrian, a fuel leak causes the Hail Mary to spin uncontrollably, which results in Grace being slammed into a control bank and being knocked out. 

Rocky breaks his spacesuit, saves Grace, and is able to bring the ship back under control by stabilising the ships gyroscopes at the touch of a button, but is severely injured in the process. With Rocky in a state of hibernation to recover, and Grace maintaining a watchful eye on his alien colleague, he finds a way to breed the Astrophage-consuming organism, which he calls 'Taumoeba' (an amoeba from the planet Tau). Rocky revives, and he and Grace part as friends, to return to their own solar systems, and home planets.

During the return journey back to Earth, Grace is awakened from a sleep by a contaminate alarm sounding throughout the ship. He isolates the alarm to the ships labs where he has stored the Taumoeba in xenonite flasks. He subsequently discovers that Taumoeba has evolved the ability to pass through their xenonite containers and is eating Hail Mary's fuel. Grace fixes the problem on his ship by ejecting the offending fuel tank, but realises that Rocky's entire ship is made of xenonite, which will allow the Taumoeba to consume all of his fuel. Left with the choice of returning to Earth or saving Rocky and his home world, Grace chooses to save his friend, sending Taumoeba and his research notes and video diaries to Earth via four probes, which he names John, Paul, George and Ringo - a journey that will take a little over four years.

The probes deliver to a now older Stratt on Earth what humanity needs to kill Astrophages, as she watches his video diaries from the bridge of an ice breaker ship carving through a frozen seaway in what is clearly a cooling world. The Eridians meanwhile have created a biodome on their planet for Grace to live in, and he clearly has a very comfortable existence on his new home away from home. Rocky later tells him that scientists have finished preparing the Hail Mary to enable him to return to Earth. While contemplating the news, Grace begins another day of teaching science to Eridian children, who all bounce around the room enthusiastically when he asks 'what is the speed of light'?

I really enjoyed 'Project Hail Mary' and by and large it seems that the critics and the movie going audience do too. It's a crowd pleaser of a film that combines science fact, science fiction, emotion, heart, connection, danger and moments of laugh out loud humour into a neat package that doesn't outstay its 156 minute runtime. The production values are top notch, and Ryan Gosling carries the weight of the film firmly on his shoulders as he grapples at first with the loneliness of infinite space, then befriending an alien rock, and ultimately saving Earth from near extinction. Directors Lord and Miller have here crafted what is sure to become a classic of the genre - a wholly immersive piece of film making that is a cinematic experience to be savoured. It's also a pleasing change to see an alien that is friendly, welcoming and collaborative on the big screen rather than those Hell bent on the widespread destruction of all mankind and our tiny blue planet, as is usually the case. If I have one gripe, however, it centres around the disconnect between timelines from the start of the film and the end of the film, the passage of time in between, and the fact that Stratt clearly ages, yet Grace doesn't, and although I haven't read Andy Weir's novel, I'm told that this isn't addressed in the book either! A minor criticism in what is otherwise an almost flawless film. Enjoy it on the biggest screen possible - you won't be disappointed.

'Project Hail Mary' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BARBIE : Tuesday 1st August 2023

I saw the much hyped PG Rated fantasy comedy 'BARBIE' this week that is Co-Written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach and Directed by Greta Gerwig, and is based on the Barbie fashion dolls by the world's second largest toy maker, Mattel. The film is the first live-action Barbie film after many computer-animated direct-to-video and streaming TV films. Greta Gerwig's previous feature film making credits are her debut with Joe Swanberg on 'Nights and Weekends' in 2008, before her breakout 'Lady Bird' in 2017, and then 'Little Women' in 2019. This film saw its World Premier screening in Los Angeles in early July before its wide release in most territories from 21st July, cost in the region of US$135M to produce, has so far raked in US$824M at the global Box Office and has garnered mostly positive critical reviews.

The film opens up with a riff on Stanley Kubricks's '2001 : A Space Odyssey' in which a bunch of young girls are seen playing with their baby dolls in the desert. The narrator (Helen Mirren) tells us that for a very long time girls have always played at being mother to their baby dolls . . . until one day when Barbie (Margot Robbie, who also Co-Produces here) stands tall amongst them and everything changed. At that the young girls start smashing their baby dolls into the ground, kicking them and destroying them wantonly, together with their tea sets, little prams and all the paraphernalia that goes with the innocent childrens playtime. 

We next encounter Barbie, named Stereotypical Barbie, and a whole host of other Barbie's all living in the perfect world of Barbieland - a matriarchal society where women are confident, successful and hold the power base. Their Ken counterparts spend their days at the beach while the Barbie's hold down all the important jobs - there is a President Barbie (Issa Rae), a Physicist Barbie (Emma Mackey), a Lawyer Barbie (Sharon Rooney), a Judge Barbie (Ana Cruze Kayne) and a Writer Barbie (Alexandra Shipp) amongst others. Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) is happiest when he is close to Stereotypical Barbie and seeks more from their relationship, but doesn't altogether know why, and is rebuffed anyhow by Barbie who wishes to maintain her independence and her close friendships with all the other Barbie's. 

That night at a dance party at her house, when all the Barbie's are dancing and the Ken's are all stood on the sidelines watching on, Barbie suddenly blurts out if anyone has ever thought about dying. At that the music comes to a grinding halt, all the Barbie's stop dancing and are motionless, and no one utters a word, except they all have horrified expressions on their faces. Embarrassed, Barbie says that she's just dying to dance, in an effort to cover up her question, at which point normality is resumed. The next morning, she wakes up and senses that something is not quite right in her world. She can no longer complete her usual routines, discovers that she now has flat feet and she has cellulite on her thighs. 

Revealing all of this to the other Barbie's, she pays a visit to Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) - a wise but disfigured Barbie who has been outcast by the others, who advises her that she must travel to the Real World in order to cure her hardship and locate the child playing with her. Initially very hesitant to leave Barbieland behind she is told that she has no choice, and so sets off alone in her car, only to find Ken stowed away on the back seat. Reluctantly Barbie allows Ken to stay and join her . . . as long as he's brought his rollerblades along!

The pair eventually arrive at Venice Beach having travelled by bicycle, rocket ship and boat and stand out wearing their very '80's roller skating gear in neon pinks, blues and yellows attracting the undue attention of the locals who for the most part mock them. Deciding they need a change of attire, they head into a clothing store and emerge with Barbie wearing a bright pink all in one suit and Ken dressed as a cowboy, only to be chased down the street for not paying. They end up getting arrested, finger prints and mug shots taken and released. 

Their antics are eventually brought to the attention of the Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell) who immediately orders for them to be captured. Meanwhile, Barbie is able to track down her owner, a young somewhat rebellious teenager named Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) who upon their meeting at school criticises Barbie for promoting unrealistic beauty standards and calls her a fascist. Upset by this outburst, Barbie discovers that Gloria (America Ferrera), a Mattel employee and Sasha's mother, is the reason behind her inner conflicts and crisis of confidence over her personal identity. Gloria had started to play with Sasha's old Barbie toys which were to be discarded while experiencing her own identity crisis, unwittingly transferring her own issues on to Barbie. 

Barbie, winds up at the Mattel Corporate Offices in Los Angeles where the CEO and his all male corporate executives attempt to put Barbie back in the box for remanufacturing. Barbie initially keen to step back inside the box has a change of heart and makes a dash for it, resulting in the CEO and his executive team all giving chase. Barbie escapes with the help of Gloria and Sasha and together the three head to Barbieland. In the meantime Ken has been walking the streets of LA and has had his eyes opened wide to the male dominated society present at almost every turn. Realising that the patriarchal system is the way to go, he feels empowered, respected and accepted for the first time in his hitherto female lead life. 

Ken returns to Barbieland where he persuades the other Kens (Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, John Cena and Rob Brydon amongst others) to take control, as the Barbies are indoctrinated into subordinate roles, including maids, housewives, and attentive girlfriends. Barbie arrives and tries to convince Ken and the Barbies to return to the way things were, only for her arguments to fall on deaf ears. Barbie's house is quickly converted into Ken's 'mojo dojo casa' and she falls into a state of depression and anxiety, winding up laying prone on the floor face down in Weird Barbie's house. However, Barbie has her confidence restored when Gloria gives an inspiring speech about society's conflicting expectations towards women. 

With the help of Sasha, Weird Barbie, Allan (Michael Cera), and other discontinued dolls, Gloria uses her inspirational messages on all the Barbies to bring them out of their subservient roles. The restored Barbies then coerce the Kens into arguing and fighting amongst themselves and as such are distracted from altering the constitution to enshrine male superiority, while the Barbies retake their former positions of power. In the process, they also come to the realisation of the failings of their previous ways of life, and decide to make a number of changes in Barbieland, including the better treatment for the Kens and all outcast dolls. 

Barbie and Ken apologise to each other and acknowledge their shortcomings. Ken complains that he has no identity or purpose without Barbie, to which she encourages him to find his own identity. Barbie, who remains unsure of her own purpose and identity, meets with the spirit of Mattel Co-Founder Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman) who states that Barbie's story has no defined ending and her ever-evolving history transcends that of her more humble beginnings. Barbie decides to become human and return to the Real World, and after the Barbies, Kens, and Mattel executives all bid her goodbye and good luck, some time later, Gloria, her husband (Ryan Piers Williams), and Sasha take Barbie, now going by the name of Barbara Handler, to her first appointment to meet with her gynecologist.

'Barbie' is like a big serving of pink sugar coated fairy floss that after a while you've simply had enough of that stuff and are compelled to ditch half of it in the bin. Greta Gerwig has here crafted a film that has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek while at the same time relaying a strong message about Barbieland matriarchy, Real World patriarchy, gender equality, female empowerment and social commentary. And in Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling we have a pair of expertly cast Actors who go all in to embody the spirit of Barbie and Ken, and who look like they had a real blast bringing those characters to life on the big screen. The production values on show at Barbieland are top notch; the musical song and dance routines which are kept mercifully infrequent are well placed and well choreographed; and the performances by the principle cast are whacky and engaging. All of that said, for a film that is ostensibly a comedy much of the humour failed to land for me, with the opening sequence only raising the slightest chuckle, and this movie's Box Office success is clearly down to the power of marketing over the sum of the films parts.

'Barbie' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE GRAY MAN : Tuesday 19th July 2022

I saw 'THE GRAY MAN', Rated MA15+, at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this American action thriller film is Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo who have previously helmed four MCU films, being 'Captain America : The Winter Soldier' in 2014, 'Captain America : Civil War' in 2016, 'Avengers : Infinity War' in 2018 and 'Avengers : Endgame' in 2019, amongst other feature films and TV series. Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney, the film went on limited release from last week before being released on Netflix from 22nd July. Costing US$200M to produce it is the most expensive film ever made by Netflix, and it hopes to start a series of films based on the eleven 'Gray Man' novels. It has garnered generally mixed or average Reviews so far. 

The film opens up in 2003 in a prison cell where Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling) is incarcerated until 2031 for the murder of his father. He is being interviewed, or rather recruited, by Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) who works for the CIA and recognises in Gentry the attributes necessary to turn him into a black ops mercenary, with the associated skills to take out all the bad guys on their hit list. Fitzroy tells Gentry that he can walk out of the prison in thirty minutes a free man, or he can serve out his sentence, and for what it's worth Fitzroy would have done the same thing as Gentry did that got him into the slammer in the first place. 

We then fast forward eighteen years to the present day. We are in Bangkok in a lavish hotel counting down the minutes to midnight on NYE. Gentry (now known as Sierra Six or simply Six) is ordered to take out a hit on a mark set to arrive shortly in time for the fireworks extravaganza. With the marks entourage in tow, and Six now poised to take the shot, he hesitates, so allowing the mark to walk outta there. But Six pursues his mark and what follows is a close quarter hand to hand fight on the ground floor amongst exploding tubes of fireworks. Six overcomes his mark, and as the mark lays bleeding out, he hands Six a medallion containing a USB drive, and says that he is Sierra Four, before he dies. Six gets the hell outta there, goes to an internet gaming joint and plugs in the USB, but it is heavily encrypted and without the necessary passcodes can't access what is contained therein. So, he is next seen posting it in a letterbox to an unknown recipient. 

Back in Langley, at CIA HQ, Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) another CIA Agent is being questioned by Denny Carmichael (Rege-Jean Page) her superior as to the role she played in the Bangkok hit, what if anything the mark gave to Six, and for her to very seriously consider her future career if he doesn't get the answers he wants. Miranda has an obvious dislike for Carmichael and gives nothing away. 

Meanwhile, Six hot wires a Tuk Tuk and calls Fitzroy asking for him to arrange for his extraction. Fitzroy has subsequently retired but still has connections and influence. His tells Six to get to Chiang Mai where an extraction team will be waiting with a cargo plane fuelled and ready for take off with a team of friendlies on board. 

In the meantime, Carmichael has recruited Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a psychotic and torture loving former colleague of Six who lasted just five months in the service of the CIA before venturing out on his own and operating a seemingly very successful mercenaries for hire business. Hansen has kidnapped the young daughter of Fitzroy, Claire (Julia Butters) and is threatening to do all manner of nasty things to her should he not get the answers from Fitzroy, whom he also now holds captive. Hansen coerces Fitzroy in telling the extraction team to dispense with Six. And so whilst cruising at 25,000 feet and while Six catches up on some much needed shut eye, the extraction team spring into action with the intention of killing Six. But, needless to say this doesn't go according to plan, and more close quarter hand to hand combat leads to a stray bullet blowing a gaping hole in the fuselage, various bad dudes getting thrown out of the plane, and the aircraft steadily disintegrating as Six jumps out of it without a parachute before it explodes in midair. He of course glides toward a bad dude with a parachute, they fight in free fall and Six lands shaken but not stirred somewhere in Turkey. 

Next up Six goes to Vienna to obtain a fake ID and passport, but alas the local who is organising the said documents in secretly in cahoots with Hansen. He successfully manages to capture Six in a deep pit through a bullet proof trap door in the floor just about where Six was standing to have his passport photo taken. Six, using his best MacGyver skills, manages to create a flood of water so elevating him up the pit and rigs an explosive charge to detonate just at the right time when Hansen and his goons arrive at the scene. In the ensuing mayhem, Six comes face to face and fist to fist with Hansen, but on the way out of the building Miranda shoots a tranquilizer dart in the arse of Hansen, and then into Six before loading him up in the boot of her car. 

When Six comes round a short time later, Miranda and Six talk over their predicament and what their next move should be. It turns out that Six posted the USB drive to Margaret Cahill (Alfre Woodard), the former head of CIA Special Op's, who has now also subsequently retired and living in Prague. So, the pair head off to Prague, as Cahill seems to be one of the only people they can trust, and who would have the encryption codes to allow them to access what is contained on that USB drive. Meanwhile, Hansen is back in Croatia in a very lavish and very old villa tracking Six's every move. Hansen also takes the opportunity to interrogate and torture Fitzroy to find out his whereabouts in Prague, and who it is there whom he would most trust.

Arriving in Prague Six and Miranda meet with Cahill who tells the pair that she has terminal cancer and has been given three months to live. But that doesn't stop her from opening up the USB drive and revealing that Carmichael and Hansen have been involved in some nefarious crimes around the world as their own very secretive and covert army of mercenaries taking out the Who's Who of people of influence. Needless to say, as Hansen watches on from Croatia he orders his assembled team of assassins to converge on Cahill's apartment and wreak havoc with all manner of firepower. As Cahill remains in the apartment holding onto a hand grenade, she allows Six and Miranda to escape via an underground tunnel leading out into the street, whilst providing the pair with her armour plated bullet proof glassed Audi car. What follows is a blood bath in down town Prague, as Miranda evades various other vehicles behind the wheel of Cahill's car, while Six is going head to head and toe to toe with numerous goons inside a tram. It doesn't end well for the numerous local Police killed in the conflagration, the assassins who also meet their swift demise courtesy of Six, and the tram which ultimately hurtles sideways and off track into the sandstone columns of a building causing much destruction, on top of the trail of mayhem left behind in the wake of Cahill's apartment being destroyed. 

Next up we find our intrepid rogue agents heading to Croatia to take out Hansen once and for all, rescue Fitzroy and his daughter, and regain the USB drive which has subsequently fallen into the hands of Avik San (Dhanush), and Indian assassin working for Team Hansen. Six and Miranda go in heavily armed to the villa under cover of darkness and while Miranda takes out all the external gun placements Six concentrates his efforts on the internal goons and getting to Fitzroy and Claire. Needless to say its all in a days work for the pair who successfully overcome their foes, leaving Miranda to battle it out with Avik San, and Six to guide the Fitzroy's to safety, although Fitzroy takes a bullet to the stomach and orders Six to take his Claire with him, leaving him with a single hand grenade which he pulls the pin on when Hansen and three of his goons are upon him. Of course the blast takes out the three goons, but Hansen scrambles to his feet and continues to give chase, culminating with Hansen holding Claire at gunpoint inside a maze within the grounds, while Six trails behind in search. The three come face to face around a fountain in the centre of the maze, and Six tells Hansen to let Claire go, which he does, leaving the pair to fight to the death. In the end it is Suzanne Brewer (Jessica Henwick), Carmichael's off sider, who plugs Hansen in the chest with a bullet and kills him dead. She also plugs Six with a non-life threatening bullet wound, just to add to his stabbings, slashings and beating he took from Hansen. 

We then fast forward two weeks to a heavily guarded private hospital in which Six has been non-responsive, and Claire is being held. Brewer and Carmichael plan on paying a visit to Six, with the latter questioning Brewer as to why she let Six live. Because he's a valuable asset and one of the most capable operatives they have she responds. As they exit the lift, the pair are confronted with the bodies of several guards and Six's now empty bed. He is next seen in silhouette passing along the windows of the room where Claire is being held taking out a number of goons. He then enters the room, rescues Claire and the two are seen speeding out of the hospital grounds in a SUV. 

'The Gray Man', which for the most part I enjoyed, is a mash up of Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt and John Wick with a little bit of James Bond thrown in there for good measure. It's an entertaining ride for sure with plenty of exotic locations, wide sweeping aerial drone shots, action set pieces, gunplay and close quarter combat, solid enough performances from the ensemble cast, and sarcastic quips aplenty to raise the occasional smile, but what it lacks is a fresh approach and sufficient intrigue to make this film stand above all the others in this increasingly overcrowded genre. Watch it from the comfort of your own sofa at home when it lands on Netflix this week, chow down on a big bowl of popcorn, leave your brain in the kitchen and strap in for a high octane super charged globe trotting journey that sees two Hollywood fav's go head to head. What's not to like?

'The Gray Man' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

FIRST MAN : Tuesday 16th October 2018.

'FIRST MAN' which I saw at my local multiplex this week, is an American biographical drama film based on the 2005 book by James R. Hansen titled 'First Man : The Life of Neil A. Armstrong' and is Directed and Co-Produced by Oscar winner Damien Chazelle of 'Whiplash' and 'La La Land' fame. Made for US$65M the film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival back in August, and was subsequently screened at the Telluride Film Festival and then the Toronto International Film Festival in early September. The film went on general release in the US last week too having received generally widespread critical praise for Chazelle's Direction, the performances of Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy especially, the score and the cinematography. Box Office receipts so far amount to US$30M.

The film charts the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon by the time the clock ticks over into 1970, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969. Launching (literally) in 1961, we see Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) struggling at the controls as a NASA test pilot of an X-15 experimental hypersonic rocket powered aircraft that was able to reach the edge of outer space, when after a moment of weightlessness the plane inadvertently bounces off the atmosphere. Even though he successfully manages to navigate the plane to a safe landing somewhere in the Mojave Desert, his superiors air their concerns about his recent spate of mishaps, and therefore choose to ground him. Meanwhile, his young daughter Karen, has a brain tumour, and is receiving cutting edge treatment. But despite this, Armstrong is distracted and pours over books, keeps copious notes on her symptoms, treatment and searches out some possible cure. But, before long Karen passes, and as any father would be, Armstrong is gutted.

Shortly afterwards Armstrong applies for Project Gemini (NASA's second human spaceflight programme) and is accepted, requiring Armstrong, his wife Janet (Claire Foy) and son Rick (Luke Winters) to move to Houston, together with a bunch of other astronauts chosen to take part in the Gemini Programme. Here he befriends Elliot See (Patrick Fugit) and Ed White (Jason Clarke) whilst under the watchful eye of Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler) - NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office. Up to this point, them pesky Russians have eclipsed Uncle Sam in every aspect of the '60's Space Race, as so Slayton states in no uncertain terms the importance of Project Gemini as a precursor to the Apollo missions and the ultimate aim of putting a man on the moon by the close of the decade. Armstrong and the chosen handful of hopefuls are put through a rigorous training regime that tests them to the very limits of their endurance . . . and beyond.

Meanwhile, Janet gives birth to another son, Mark (Connor Blodgett). After the Ruskies notch up another first by performing an EVA (ExtraVehicular Activity - a spacewalk performed outside a craft orbiting the Earth), Armstrong is advised by Slayton that he has been chosen to be the Commander of Gemini 8 which would see the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, with David Scott (Christoper Abbott) as his pilot. Armstrong and Scott successfully launch on Gemini 8 and dock as planned with the Agena Target Vehicle in space. After celebrating their success, things go rapidly pair shaped as the docked pairing of space craft begins to spin uncontrollably. Armstrong is able to successfully undock the two craft, but Gemini continues to spin at an ever increasing rate. After almost blacking out, Armstrong is able to bring the rapidly rotating craft under control and safely aborts the mission, saving their lives in the process. Janet, however, has had the privilege of listening in to their radio transmission is none too impressed with her husbands near death experience and promptly berates Slayton saying that they are all 'just a bunch of boys playing with balsa wood models . . .  you don't have anything under control'.

In due course Ed White announces that he has been selected for the Apollo 1 Mission together with Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham) and Roger Chaffee (Cory Michael Smith). During a launch simulation test on Apollo 1 on 27th January 1967, a fire inside the cabin and the resultant explosion takes the lives of White, Grissom and Chaffee. Armstrong meanwhile is representing NASA at a White House function, when he is interrupted by an urgent phone call from Slayton, advising him of this tragedy. A year or so later Armstrong is testing a Lunar Landing Research Vehicle and is nearly killed in the process, ejecting over a field and being dragged along the ground by his parachute, while the test vehicle crashes to the ground in a ball of flame.

Shortly afterwards Armstrong is advised by Slayton that he has been chosen to command the Apollo 11 Mission with a view to this culminating in a Moon landing. His crew will be Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) and Michael Collins (Lukas Haas). Collins will pilot the command module Columbia alone in orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin are on the lunar surface. Shortly after, the three astronauts hold a Press Conference where Armstrong is particularly blunt and succinct in his answers to the gathered world press, leaving Aldrin to interject with more broader and lighthearted answers.

The night before the launch while Armstrong is needlessly busying himself with packing, Janet confronts him about the strong possibility that he won't survive the Mission, and steadfastly demands that he explains the risks to both Rick and Mark - his young sons. Armstrong is evasive and is clearly uncomfortable with such a confronting and potentially emotional conversation with his two boys, let alone his wife. After a brief conversation around the dinner table before the boys bedtime, Armstrong bids his boys farewell and kisses his wife goodbye, and departs for the Moon.

The day arrives, and Apollo 11 successfully launches, and within four days of flight touches down on the surface of the Moon on 20th July 1969. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours after landing on 21st July, with those immortal words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind', with Aldrin joining him some twenty minutes later. After exploring the surface for some time, Armstrong walks over to a small crater and gently drops into it a bracelet that was his daughter's - forever leaving a memento to her memory on the surface of that far away place. Having spent the best part of whole day collecting samples, taking photographs, observing the Moon's surface, and going walkabout, the pair take off to rejoin Collins aboard the Columbia and head back to Earth landing in the North Pacific Ocean on the afternoon of 24th July 1969. The crew are placed in quarantine for a month. Janet visits Armstrong and through the glass panels of his temporary isolation, the pair share a quiet moment of contemplation, touching hands through the plate glass.

The film also stars Ciaran Hinds as Robert R. Gilruth - the first Director of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Centre and Pablo Schreiber as Jim Lovell, the backup Commander on Armstrong's Apollo 11 Mission.

Here, continuing with his run of Academy Award success, Damien Chazelle has crafted a nuanced film that will be surely worthy of some Oscar consideration come nomination season. Rather than the all too common chest beating and hero worship associated with such space age films, here 'First Man' paints a picture of a an everyday ordinary man pushed to extraordinary lengths in his quiet determination to be the first man on the Moon. In equal measure we see the emotion, the joy and the tragedy of Armstrong's every day family life coupled with the errors, flaws, accidents and incidents and the all too many deaths experienced by NASA and Armstrong's fellow astronaut colleagues during the course of those Gemini and Apollo Missions. Gosling gives a stoic and reserved performance as both the troubled and completely focused on his day job at the expense of his family Armstrong; while Foy more than ably supports as the no bullshit tell it as it is supportive, caring and understanding (to a point) wife. Chazelle's attention to detail throughout the film cannot be faulted, and his recreation of the era, the inner workings of NASA, and the failures and successes of the technology of the time really make this film. Concentrating on the '60's era only and the events leading up to the first Moon landing was Chazelle's choice and who can argue with that, but perhaps an insight into the reserved man post that heroic journey to go boldly where no man has gone before would have rounded out the film more completely. Nonetheless, certainly worth the price of your ticket, and you should see this on the big screen for sure.

'First Man' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-