A friend asked me if I thought that Ad Astra was better than First Man.
I do think that it is. That said, it's hard to solidly compare science fiction to science history.
One thing did occur to be, though.
The fictional character of Roy McBride in Ad Astra was pretty damn similar to the portrayal of Neil Armstrong in First Man: they're calm, calculated, logical, dispassionate people--often to a fault.
That's not a common thing in cinema and it's not the easiest thing to become emotionally invested in; but, what I love about that creative choice is that, when you do the research, that's basically the personality of astronauts.
Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies; but, one of the few creative liberties taken was in regard to the performances. When Tom Hanks delivers the famous line, "Houston, we have a problem." he does so in a way that sounds like a person who is keeping his calm after his spaceship just exploded.
Listen to the actual audio of Lovell reporting to mission control. He sounds like he just spilled some milk or something. There was no tension. There's no doubt that Lovell was aware that he might be about to die at any second; but, he never even raised his voice.
That's how controlled and calculated these people are.
I'm not saying that movies shouldn't embellished, they absolutely should. But, I can't help but appreciate accurate character portrayals.