I never bother with those critics. I find that when it comes right down to it you either like the movie or you don't and nobody ever really agrees with each other anyway unless the movie is a blockbuster.
I am looking forward to the movie though. There are too few movies in this genre.

 

By the way, the author is doing a AMA on reddit.

 

I saw the trailer for this movie and it looked really good. It seems fairly similar to Moon from I think 2007 so check that out if anyone is bored waiting for this.

 

The Martian is released in the UK today! Very pumped for this one. Going to the lunch showing in a few hours. Don't have a hot date. Flying solo, popcorn in one hand and dick in the other.

Will report back with thoughts.

 

I'm with you in spirit! Watching it tonight in Aus after dinner with the parents.

They'll watch it, and they'll love it.

If they know what's good for them...

 

Damn, I totally forgot about this one, choo-chooing in my Spectre hype-train. Will go see it over the weekend if I have the time.

 

Okay, saw the film and it was pretty good.

As a book reader and someone who loved the book, I'd give the film a 7/10. I would have given 2 more points, a solid 9/10, but for reasons below I couldn't.

Spoilers - for both book and movie:

Spoiler

Right, there's plenty to discuss here so I'll keep it brief. The movie follows the book fairly closely for the first 3/4 of the film, but then it takes a bit of a nose dive.

I understand some of the reasons why things had to change, but not all - specifically the ending where the Hermes crew retrieve Watney from his pod in higher Mars orbit. In the book, he makes this quip about how to reduce the distance/speed of collecting him he'll puncture his suit and use the escaping air as thrust to direct himself. It's a joke and quickly overruled by the commander on the Hermes (who, strangely, is the one reeling him in in the film, not the mission specialist who trained for it).

Watney jokes he'll use the escaping air to fly around like Iron Man. In the film, he jokes about it as well... and then they do it.

What else didn't I like...

• He never loses contact with NASA again after reestablishing connection through Pathfinder
• He doesn't have to avoid the massive sandstorm during the 3200km trip in the rover
• The rover never crashes on the way to Ares 4 MAV.

All things from the book that added an element of despair/disaster to the situation. In the book, you never knew how he was going to survive. In the film, I never got that same tension, that same 'well, he's fucked now'.

Overall, I liked this film. Liked it a lot.

The best scene for me is when he's stripped the Ares 4 MAV and is about to launch off Mars after being on the planet for nearly two years. Damon owned this scene, as all the flight checks are being done between the Hermes in orbit and back on Earth. He can barely speak because he's crying, so grateful to finally be getting off the planet - whether he survives or not. Brilliant scene.

There's a lot of the good one-liners from the book in the movie, and even some improved ones for the film. Captain BlondBeard the Space Pirate, was pretty funny.

I think all of the cast fit their roles well. Yep, happy with the casting.

It lost the 2 points with me for not including some pretty basic stuff, and because I never got the sense of doom and helplessness I did from the book. It seemed too easy for Watney in the film.

I'd like the opinion of someone who hasn't read the book but seen the film, really.

So yeah, 7/10 from me. Keen to hear some thoughts.

 

Hmm. Will report back much later (timezones).

 

Personally, I thought it was a great movie. I had a few problems (namely how the hell he lost communication with NASA in the first place), but overall I consider it one step below Apollo 13 (namely because that was a true story).

 

What do you mean how? It's pretty clear in the book...

 

It's pretty clear in the movie, too, I thought, though that could be coloured for me by the fact I've read the book. But I don't think so - it's mentioned twice, from memory, why he lost comms with NASA.

I'm going to see the film again tomorrow night, so will confirm.

 

Walking in now. So excited!

 

Just got back, loved it. Really liked getting an epilogue too. Kinda felt the book ended a little abruptly.

Spoiler

Yeah, was a little disappointed about him not losing coms and the dust storm being scrapped. That tension as the world watches him march ignorantly to his doom would have been great.

Wasn't fussed about not showing the Rover being rolled. Wonder if that decision had anything to do with Scott deciding to ignore the 40% Gravity thing?

The 'Iron Man' actually happening was a little cheesy, but that whole scene after the explosion was kind of an anticlimax anyway, so I'll allow it.

Beck not getting his moment though was a little disappointing though.

Overall, super satisfied and surprisingly true to the source material bar one 'arc'. Highly recommend if you loved the book.

 

Apparently, There is no Martian IMAX release at all. That sucks.

 

Seeing as The Martian is my son's favorite book, we're planning to see it this weekend.

Trivia point: the screenwriter was raised in Los Alamos. (And purportedly dated the daughter of a guy whose office is on my floor.)

 

Spoiler

I died inside when a NASA administrator in the flick had to be convinced that a gravitational slingshot is a thing that's actually physically possible.

Still, I really really liked it. Very entertaining flick.

 

Just got out of the theater, and it exceeded my expectations. I'd give it a 9/10, which might go up to 9.5 if I still feel this good about it in a couple days.

Spoiler

I understand what you're saying about the lesser tension from Watney's drive, Joe, but honestly I thought it was fine. They swapped the time there for time with the Hermes crew and in Houston/Pasadena, which were sorely underdeveloped in the books (Hermes and JPL in particular). It also lessened a problem in Watney's storyline of the "I'm fucked by this particular problem! I think I can fix it... I'm fine! No I'm fucked again!" cycle; at that point in the book I knew it was coming again, that's gone in the movie. Also the loss of the supply rocket puts the possibility of Watney not making it in your mind, and then his speech about "they say I'll be going the fastest anyone's ever gone, and they're acting like I don't know physicists don't use the word 'fast.'" Watney was clearly worried.

I think the seriousness of the situation was definitely there. The scene where the Hab airlock blows off was fantastic, five minutes of stress ending in Damon screaming in frustration with tears in his eyes. Then he patches up the hole with plastic and has a night with strong wind, where he's clearly jumpy...

Iron Man propulsion was silly, but I can forgive it because I thought the entire Mars orbit sequence was phenomenal.

Watney in the movie is his snarky self, but he's not cracking wise every other minute, which helped keep it from being a comedy I think. To make up for it there were loads of funny little things, like when the NASA director is telling the JPL director the new timeframe and one of the JPL people holds up a sign to his boss that says "No!!!" and Rich Purnell's entire characterization.

One little casting thing I didn't like was the satellite control officer, Mindy Park, being a hot blonde. I always pictured her as Korean because how many blonde Parks do you know? Some Fox News casting right there.

There were times when I felt like the actors were trying to spit their lines out a little too quickly, as well as times when having some pauses in between dialogue would have improved it, but I suppose there were time limitations.

All in all, loved it, might be seeing it again this weekend with my cousin.

 

She's not a NASA admin, she's the PR face. She knows nothing of astrophysics.

 

Seeing Joe's thread for The Martian, I succumbed to peer pressure and went to watch it.

Boy, was it a detached experience.

Spoiler

The Martian parts were good, especially Matt Damon's acting, but I just couldn't stomach the bits with NASA. They were either predictable to a fault or plain redundant: Donald Glover as an [FONT=&quot]astrophysicist[/FONT] served no discernible purpose, the inter-management quarrels felt rehashed, the cooperation with the Chinese felt caricaturish, having the only map of Mars in the NASA cafeteria ridiculous.

Nonetheless, it was somewhat enjoyable and didn't feel like a waste of time. 6/10