this is what people are calling Ridley Scott's return to form?! lmao. it fucking dragged. A good thing it's based on a light-read because the film itself somehow manages to meander at times. I really liked the casting for the most part though and some of the mars shots were nice but this just felt way longer than it needed to be for me. I'm having a hard time deciding if it's as good as American Gangster let alone his best in 10+ years. Matt Damon did a great job though, and I think Jessica Chastain was very spot on casting for Lewis. Sadly I don't think the humor translated so well from the script to screen.
In regards to recent space films I'd certainly put Interstellar and Gravity above it. They're both dumber movies (interstellar especially). But they both also are far more amazing visually (there's no great shots in here when there should be) and the former is also pretty ambitious despite being full of it's fair share of problems. And so much more tense too, this is kinda just...there. nothing really edge-of-your-seat worthy.
What I'd give The Martian over those is Mark Watney though, Matt Damon's portrayal makes him the most likable character in any of the 3 films being discussed.
I wouldn't call this bad by any means but it's not great either. Perfect matinee 7/10 kinda movie. not the type to have strong feelings about positive or negative. Meh...
the closest in tone I could compare it to is Apollo 13 but that was so much better I think.
edit: anyways bring on the next big space movie. i love how this has become a yearly thing for the past 3 years.
Interstellar had ambitious ideas, but it shied away from going big. Everytime there's a beautiful scenery around, we get to see it for 5 seconds and we're back inside the cabin and that movie was also the epitome of drag. After only 2 hours there was 50 minutes+ left, I was begging it to end. The Martian was well edited, so if anything the length complimented it.
I would've had however cut the earth scenes entirely and concentrate on Matt Damon surviving alone. It would make the contact with earth much more impactful. Oh and I think that after the initial shock, the Gravity becomes really borderline boring. You just watch it for the ending. When you know the outcome, you may throw the movie in the recycle bin. In the Martian atleast you may enjoy it for the humor and the ideas behind it.
Apollo 13 is still de facto feel good space movie.
The guy lived on Mars for a year and figured out how to grow plants in the worst possible environment. You're saying you wouldn't have a question or two for him? Not even how he came up with Blondebeard the Pirate?
Saw this yesterday and thought it was good, though there are a few things I didn't get/like about it.
Like why didn't Mark simply
regrow his potatoes? They say something something cold/bacteria, which doesn't make any sense as the bacteria originally came from his shit in the first place.
Some people in this movie really need to learn about email or phones, specifically that "astrodynamics" dude. Everything with him and the Chinese engine tech was just bad.
I didn't like how some of the problems that suddenly arose should have been thought of months ago. Specifically,
the part where JPL is like "oh yeah, the MAV thing on Mars is actually too heavy for this to work". This is something that should have been dealt with immediately once the plan was made and trying to make bring it up suddenly seems like a cheap way to create tension again.
Saw this yesterday and thought it was good, though there are a few things I didn't get/like about it.
Like why didn't Mark simply
regrow his potatoes? They say something something cold/bacteria, which doesn't make any sense as the bacteria originally came from his shit in the first place.
i cant remember exactly but the the leak pretty much nuked his water supply. the ability to light a fire to create more water faster and he had to use poop from everybody to get enough fertilizer for all the plants. He would only have enough poop to for 1 or 2 plants because the only poop he had left was his own.
I didn't like how some of the problems that suddenly arose should have been thought of months ago. Specifically,
the part where JPL is like "oh yeah, the MAV thing on Mars is actually too heavy for this to work". This is something that should have been dealt with immediately once the plan was made and trying to make bring it up suddenly seems like a cheap way to create tension again.
they were caught off guard by it being so heavy. As I recall, the first we hear of it is when they're explaining their carefully figured out plan to make it light enough.
I didn't like how some of the problems that suddenly arose should have been thought of months ago. Specifically,
the part where JPL is like "oh yeah, the MAV thing on Mars is actually too heavy for this to work". This is something that should have been dealt with immediately once the plan was made and trying to make bring it up suddenly seems like a cheap way to create tension again.
When they were lifting off normally the ship was waiting in low Mars orbit, so it didn't have to go nearly as high. At the end of the film they were doing a fly-by at a much higher altitude.
When they were lifting off normally the ship was waiting in low Mars orbit, so it didn't have to go nearly as high. At the end of the film they were doing a fly-by at a much higher altitude.
Not just the altitude. Ares III was doing a flyby orbit (i.e. their speed > escape velocity >> typical orbital speeds), and the MAV had to match that speed starting from the surface. Plus, the flyby would've been around the closest approach to Mars for Ares III, and that's always the part of the trajectory with the most speed involved. That's why they had to use a booster for a ship that could've put a satellite in Mars orbit (i.e. the Chinese booster) in order to get the supplies to the Ares in the first place. A normal booster for earth orbit wouldn't have cut it. Thankfully, Mars has much less gravity to overcome than Earth, but it still took a whole lot more speed than the MAV was originally designed to produce.
Saw this yesterday and thought it was good, though there are a few things I didn't get/like about it.
Like why didn't Mark simply
regrow his potatoes? They say something something cold/bacteria, which doesn't make any sense as the bacteria originally came from his shit in the first place.
Originally, they had brought soil from Earth to see how plants grew on Mars. Grass and the like, not food. That soil (and its Earth bacteria) combined with the poop is what let the potatoes grow. He apparently had all his soil in the parts that were depressurized. Also, all the potatoes died, and he couldn't grow new potatoes from dead ones. Probably should've kept a couple in a safe place in case he did lose pressure, in the first place. In the book, small amounts of the bacteria actually survived, but the real kicker was that all his potatoes were dead.
I didn't like how some of the problems that suddenly arose should have been thought of months ago. Specifically,
the part where JPL is like "oh yeah, the MAV thing on Mars is actually too heavy for this to work". This is something that should have been dealt with immediately once the plan was made and trying to make bring it up suddenly seems like a cheap way to create tension again.
They did think of it months in advance and were working on it for that whole time. The original plan for was Mark to make it to the arrival of Ares IV, and JPL was working on how to modify Ares IV MDV to land at Ares III site and then re-take off and fly horizontally to the Ares IV site. They only had to work out the Ares IV MAV launch once the Ares III crew force their hand with the Rich Purnell maneuver. (He's a steely eyed missile man.)
Ah, and the decompression instantly freeze-dried all the growing potatoes, too. When he took the potatoes NASA sent for Thanksgiving out of the container, thought they were freeze-dried in the package, but they just must have been vacuum-sealed. Thanks!
The more I think about this movie, the more I hate it. It's the opposite of Interstellar where it grew on me over time.
The Martian was way too optimistic for my tastes, it never felt like anybody was in danger and there was no tension. Matt Damon cracked way too many jokes, and while he was likeable, it felt like you were just watching Matt Damon, not a character he was playing. Too much time on Earth as well with characters nobody cared about. The spaceship crew was alright, but they didn't get enough to do.
LOL @ people thinking this is going to be an Oscar contender
The more I think about this movie, the more I hate it. It's the opposite of Interstellar where it grew on me over time.
The Martian was way too optimistic for my tastes, it never felt like anybody was in danger and there was no tension. Matt Damon cracked way too many jokes, and while he was likeable, it felt like you were just watching Matt Damon, not a character he was playing. Too much time on Earth as well with characters nobody cared about. The spaceship crew was alright, but they didn't get enough to do.
LOL @ people thinking this is going to be an Oscar contender
Some people in this movie really need to learn about email or phones, specifically that "astrodynamics" dude. Everything with him and the Chinese engine tech was just bad.
This struck me as odd also. I have a breakthrough, time to hop on a plane to show it to someone! Um, email, video chat, conference call. I don't get what they were going for.
Overall it was an enjoyable movie. Glad we saw it in 3D as it was really well done.
Decent film. Felt a lot of the earth characters were superfluous, especially the SNL lady.
JAlso, Jeff Daniels was stupid as hell. They portrayed him as a semi-villain, yet he was constantly trying to get things done to save Damon. I thought the entire character was inconsistent. Also "Calculations Correct" got a huge boo from my crowd. That was hella dumb.
Finished watching this yesterday at my local theater.
What a fantasic well-shot movie and the pacing was almost perfect.
The hype build around this movie was always portrayed as just being a dumb, simple flick but it is actually flawless in its portrayal of one man trying to survive the harshest environment possible, and staying upbeat while a lot of things go wrong.
Ridley Scott definitely works with some talented people because his movies are so realistically shot that it is hard to realize it was all shot in Jordan.
And heck.. I find Matt Damon one of the better actors in the business.
I loved it. So far it sits in my Top 5 of this year with Mad Max being my #1.
He was constantly cautious bordering on over-cautious in the book. The PR girl said that she hoped Mitch was going to hit him when he sniveled into the decision
to not tell Ares III crew about the Rich Purnell maneuver
. Movie didn't have enough of those little character building points, but I think it did a good final job of portraying him pretty closely.
I absolutely hated this movie. I went in so hyped and enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so but the humour was so "Big Bang Theory" lame, every single scene had expository dialogue so bad and glaringly placed that I was cringing by the end. Once we had that geek
making baby rocket noises and poking Kristen Wiig on the head with a pen to explain the plan to the audience (again) while the HEAD OF NASA looks on looking bewildered and explains "I'm the head of NASA!" *sensible chuckle*
, I'd given up. So corny, predictable and cliched. Horrible.
I absolutely hated this movie. I went in so hyped and enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so but the humour was so "Big Bang Theory" lame, every single scene had expository dialogue so bad and glaringly placed that I was cringing by the end. Once we had that geek
making baby rocket noises and poking Kristen Wiig on the head with a pen to explain the plan to the audience (again) while the HEAD OF NASA looks on looking bewildered and explains "I'm the head of NASA!" *sensible chuckle*
, I'd given up. So corny, predictable and cliched. Horrible.
I saw it last week and I really love it. I enjoyed so much the cycle of arising problems and finding solutions. I think using the humor as coping mechanism was really inspired, it helped in defining the character. I think Matt Damon did a great job in this film and somehow this compensated for the crappy character from Interstellar. It is something to create a Eureka moment out of
shit
.
And you can have tension and you can see the phases that a character goes through by using just the seriousness of the actual situation, even without inventing an unstable character with a sad story and who becomes a superhero.
I rate this above Interstellar as a whole, but bellow Interstellar without Matt Damon and the Hollywoodian ending. Gravity is pushed by nonexistent forces bellow these two.
Edit: It seems that it helped that I didn't read the book before. Now I will read it definitely sometime in the future, after the movie has settled into my archives.
I'm iffy on this picture. I think it's an enjoyable movie, but the more I think about it the more I feel like it never captured the tension of the book. Spoilers for examples (everything spoiler-tagged is an actual movie/book spoiler):
1. When the airlock explodes, Watney's struggle to get back to the hab with a leaking suit vs sealing the suit with duct tape and walking back to the hab.
2. When he short circuits Pathfinder, the feeling of being alone again and not having NASA's help in figuring out certain things, basically going back to square one of solving everything on his own.
3. The end, even with the addition of Lewis' stunt felt pretty flat to me. To be fair though, the ending for the book is pretty anticlimactic, in my opinion (though all the hell they've all been through by then may be seen as more than enough tension).
I guess it's because
I had already read the book and knew how it ended that I felt that way
. I watched it with a friend (had read the book too), my GF and his GF (neither read the book). My GF squeezed my hand at the right moments
Ares IV launch, Lewis' bungie jump, etc
so it could definitely be me.
Also, of the things that were removed for the movie, I thought
short circuiting pathfinder
was the one that hurt it the most. As a said before, it's a pivotal moment in the book and it changes a lot of things for the people involved. I would have preferred they kept that in and instead removed some of the new stuff that wasn't necessary. Additionally, while I didn't hate the extra stuff at the end I would have tried a different approach for that.
In the end, after thinking about the movie for some time, it feels like a very safe adaptation (in several ways).
Good movie, not great but pretty good. And after Prometheus i was scared that Scott may fuck up this one too. Nothing really to add to what everyone said but if i have to chose what i specifically didnt like was two things:
1.
Teddy - Mitch relationship.
Their rivalry in the book is depicted in a completely different way, specially when
Teddy accuses him of leaking the maneuver to the Hermes crew
.
2. Also i think they should had spend a little more time explaining some of the technical stuff
(the RTG, Oxigenator... ) i know it was already a very long movie but Scott didn't get the pacing right, i'm ok with removing some aspects of the story like the long voyage to get Pathfinder or when the rover rolls over but to me it felt a little rushed
The movie is good, but flails at times. You could cut the earth and not lose anything. Infact, I woud've preferred it that way. They made Mars unique, but storytelling at the earth was worse than a nightmare.
I enjoyed it but I would've loved more Watney and less Earth/Hermes crew. More explanations for things, more bad things happening, etc. Also a bit more of the Chinese scientists. I mean,
it just cuts to them, they say oh yeah we can help, and bam. It's like they do this whole buildup to the NASA rocket, it fails, oh no what do we do now, then chinese people, oh nevermind, we got this this.
I know it was still kind of like that in the book but maybe add a little more tension there, like discussing the political leveraging. What I loved in the book was how so much of it was just Watney by himself, having a problem, doing some math, and solving the problem, repeat. There wasn't enough of that imo.
The movie is good, but flails at times. You could cut the earth and not lose anything. Infact, I woud've preferred it that way. They made Mars unique, but storytelling at the earth was worse than a nightmare.
I loved the first act. Still a little too much exposition but it was fine. But once communication was set up and Earth scenes started dominating the movie my interest began to wane. The characters started to all come off cartoony and unbelievable. There was waaaay too much exposition. And worse of all, Earth is just boring I didn't want to be there regardless of the other issues. I went in to the movie expecting it to almost entirely take place in space and on Mars for some reason, so that was a disappointment.
It wasn't a bad movie, but I probably wont be picking up the bluray.
I loved the first act. Still a little too much exposition but it was fine. But once communication was set up and Earth scenes started dominating the movie my interest began to wane. The characters started to all come off cartoony and unbelievable. There was waaaay too much exposition. And worse of all, Earth is just boring I didn't want to be there regardless of the other issues. I went in to the movie expecting it to almost entirely take place in space and on Mars for some reason, so that was a disappointment.
It wasn't a bad movie, but I probably wont be picking up the bluray.
I agree that there should have been more focus on being isolated in such a desolate place, the movie was way too upbeat... but then so was the book so its hard to lump the blame entirely on the film for that.
As for your last line, get out of here with that shit.
I'm iffy on this picture. I think it's an enjoyable movie, but the more I think about it the more I feel like it never captured the tension of the book. Spoilers for examples (everything spoiler-tagged is an actual movie/book spoiler):
1. When the airlock explodes, Watney's struggle to get back to the hab with a leaking suit vs sealing the suit with duct tape and walking back to the hab.
2. When he short circuits Pathfinder, the feeling of being alone again and not having NASA's help in figuring out certain things, basically going back to square one of solving everything on his own.
3. The end, even with the addition of Lewis' stunt felt pretty flat to me. To be fair though, the ending for the book is pretty anticlimactic, in my opinion (though all the hell they've all been through by then may be seen as more than enough tension).
I guess it's because
I had already read the book and knew how it ended that I felt that way
. I watched it with a friend (had read the book too), my GF and his GF (neither read the book). My GF squeezed my hand at the right moments
Ares IV launch, Lewis' bungie jump, etc
so it could definitely be me.
Also, of the things that were removed for the movie, I thought
short circuiting pathfinder
was the one that hurt it the most. As a said before, it's a pivotal moment in the book and it changes a lot of things for the people involved. I would have preferred they kept that in and instead removed some of the new stuff that wasn't necessary. Additionally, while I didn't hate the extra stuff at the end I would have tried a different approach for that.
In the end, after thinking about the movie for some time, it feels like a very safe adaptation (in several ways).
Yep, I agree #1 was handled poorly in the movie and it stood out, really disappointed by that scene. I couldn't figure out what was missing while I watched but #2 is definitely spot on. It needed that extra hill on the emotional roller coaster and that would have forced them to cut out more Earth scenes which both mediums drag on way to long in the second half.
Initially, I think the movie handled #3 better but I was hoping that would be one area where they drifted far away from the source material. This would be a rare case where I would be okay if they came up with something completely different from the book.
I saw it last week and I really love it. I enjoyed so much the cycle of arising problems and finding solutions. I think using the humor as coping mechanism was really inspired, it helped in defining the character. I think Matt Damon did a great job in this film and somehow this compensated for the crappy character from Interstellar. It is something to create a Eureka moment out of
shit
.
And you can have tension and you can see the phases that a character goes through by using just the seriousness of the actual situation, even without inventing an unstable character with a sad story and who becomes a superhero.
I rate this above Interstellar as a whole, but bellow Interstellar without Matt Damon and the Hollywoodian ending. Gravity is pushed by nonexistent forces bellow these two.
Edit: It seems that it helped that I didn't read the book before. Now I will read it definitely sometime in the future, after the movie has settled into my archives.
There was no real tension IMO, because if the guy duys, film ends, and it's as simple as that. So you go into every problem, knowing he's going to get through. Which is fine, if there was some character development, but I did not think there was so much. He starts off cracking jokes, in the middle he cracks jokes, and in the end, he cracks jokes. Nothing changes. You see one tiny bit where he gets pissed off, but honestly his reaction to being stranded was far too smooth; before he's considered how to survive until Ares V comes or at least survive for a year or so, that's a death sentence, and the reaction is just not there. It's not that he's not sad, it's that there's no shift.
There was no real tension IMO, because if the guy duys, film ends, and it's as simple as that. So you go into every problem, knowing he's going to get through. Which is fine, if there was some character development, but I did not think there was so much. He starts off cracking jokes, in the middle he cracks jokes, and in the end, he cracks jokes. Nothing changes. You see one tiny bit where he gets pissed off, but honestly his reaction to being stranded was far too smooth; before he's considered how to survive until Ares V comes or at least survive for a year or so, that's a death sentence, and the reaction is just not there. It's not that he's not sad, it's that there's no shift.
In over 80% of the movies you know beforehand if the main hero survives or dies, that doesn't make it less enjoyable. I find interest in solutions not just the outcome. The voyage can be more interesting than the destination says a cliche. So the beauty of the movie is not in the fact that he escapes, but in how he overcome some very important issues related to human survival on an inhabitable planet. Science can be beautiful sometimes.
As for the character, if you haven't see any development of it, it's not my job to explain it to you, because in the end that means that the movie did a bad job for you or you couldn't go pass the jokes or you were just not in the mood. And I can't change that. I can only say that I saw the jokes as a coping mechanism to the whole situation of being left behind on a dead planet with very low chances of survival.
(At this point if your whole approach is "he's going to survive anyhow why bother with all this" I don't really understand why you went to see this movie? If you from the start don't want to acknowledge the premise of the movie, why bother? )
You can see him switching from being depressed and accepting the fact that he's going to die to trying to fight to hope then to defeat and then to hope again and so on. All these changes are pointed by jokes. A coping mechanism. For both the character and the movie that doesn't want to become a drama.
And the character at the end of the movie is not the same with the one at the beginning even if he is still cracking jokes.
Edit: but yes, he's not some kind of hero that rediscovered the whole meaning of the universe because of what happened to him. He's not unstable, he doesn't have a dark past, a sad story or anything like it. But it never supposed to be. He's the first colonist and the best biologist on Mars. His strong point is science, not philosophy. If you wanted something like this, then I understand your point of view, but again I don't understand why you went to see this movie.
In over 80% of the movies you know beforehand if the main hero survives or dies, that doesn't make it less enjoyable. I find interest in solutions not just the outcome. The voyage can be more interesting than the destination says a cliche. So the beauty of the movie is not in the fact that he escapes, but in how he overcome some very important issues related to human survival on an inhabitable planet. Science can be beautiful sometimes.
As for the character, if you haven't see any development of it, it's not my job to explain it to you, because in the end that means that the movie did a bad job for you or you couldn't go pass the jokes or you were just not in the mood. And I can't change that. I can only say that I saw the jokes as a coping mechanism to the whole situation of being left behind on a dead planet with very low chances of survival.
(At this point if your whole approach is "he's going to survive anyhow why bother with all this" I don't really understand why you went to see this movie? If you from the start don't want to acknowledge the premise of the movie, why bother? )
You can see him switching from being depressed and accepting the fact that he's going to die to trying to fight to hope then to defeat and then to hope again and so on. All these changes are pointed by jokes. A coping mechanism. For both the character and the movie that doesn't want to become a drama.
And the character at the end of the movie is not the same with the one at the beginning even if he is still cracking jokes.
Edit: but yes, he's not some kind of hero that rediscovered the whole meaning of the universe because of what happened to him. He's not unstable, he doesn't have a dark past, a sad story or anything like it. But it never supposed to be. He's the first colonist and the best biologist on Mars. His strong point is science, not philosophy. If you wanted something like this, then I understand your point of view, but again I don't understand why you went to see this movie.
I thought they would make me believe that he could die for a second here, that there were stakes. I agree with you, that most films you can go in and be fairly sure nothing will really happen to them, but really great films manage to still make you think 'shit, maybe he does die here'. Or they make you feel scared for the protag, or worried.
I feel like he resolves the problems too easily, essentially. Because the lows, the struggles aren't deep enough I couldn't get into the successes he has. I agree that this kind of film is about enjoying the solution, but it feels less like a struggle and more like a mild inconvenience, which robs the solution of the gratifying feeling.
Here's the thing - I don't mean for him to be unstable. There's no need to introduce character quirks where it doesn't add anything, and a predisposition to being unstable doesn't add so much here perhaps. That said, he was literally handed a death sentence at the start of the film - that his reaction was so...almost unflappable, it hurt how easily I could get into the character. One thing that might have fixed a lot of these problems is if the film focused more on him and less on the earth shit, there would be more time to flesh out each problem and even the initial phase where it seems like he's doomed basically.
Saw this movie this morning. Pretty good. Not amazing, nothing particularly original, buy well done, and with good acting. Enjoyed it, would recommend for anyone on the fence.
Initially, I think the movie handled #3 better but I was hoping that would be one area where they drifted far away from the source material. This would be a rare case where I would be okay if they came up with something completely different from the book.
Yeah, I mean, it's good that they tried a different approach in there (and I thought it was good enough) because as I said, I thought the whole thing was flat in both the book and movie, but I also expected a bit more from the movie there. I guess what I'm saying is that I wanted the movie to surprise me there
not necessarily by killing anybody
. Spoiler for Interstellar I guess because why not:
the Lewis'/Watney cord rescue scene could have been the equivalent of Interstellar's docking scene with the right music and camera work, but it just... I don't know, it felt safe again.
.
I was caught off guard by the fact that they did go with Watney's suggestion of (end of movie spoiler)
Which is fine, if there was some character development, but I did not think there was so much. He starts off cracking jokes, in the middle he cracks jokes, and in the end, he cracks jokes. Nothing changes. You see one tiny bit where he gets pissed off, but honestly his reaction to being stranded was far too smooth; before he's considered how to survive until Ares V comes or at least survive for a year or so, that's a death sentence, and the reaction is just not there. It's not that he's not sad, it's that there's no shift.
One of the many things that the movie does not include from the book is (playing it safe with spoilers here)
a meeting where whoever did Watney's psychological evaluation talks about his personality and how he's the type of guy that will always be cracking jokes to lighten up situations. How he's the glue that keeps the team together, etc, etc. So that's the guy's character.
You do see a bit more character development in the book though, but to be honest
the guy never gets deep or philosophical, humble, defeated
man, just read this page, seems this flick is quite polarizing. Even got a classic "i fell asleep."
I thought this was quite enjoyable, Damon did a great job on his delivery with the jokes, almost none of which fell flat imo. Some fantastic shots of Mars and space. Always fascinates me how they do the zero gravity look.
If one of your complaints is "i knew he would survive" then you're doing it wrong. Secondly if film is about the destination and not the journey for you, do you ever re-watch movies?
Way better than gravity imo, which tried way to hard to be more seminal.
Saw this yesterday. I actually really enjoyed. I liked that it was mostly astronaut/NASA problem-solving, reminded me of Apollo 13. Slow-moving, but I enjoyed the pace it was going for.
^ This movie was actually shot in 3D, it is the correct way to see it.
The story is excellent, but it was the wrong choice of director and maybe screenwriter. Compare this to Apollo 13; and 13 is a lot more engaging, despite dated visual effects. The movie was still nice thanks to story, but it could have been so much more if it had a director or screenwriter with far better skills at drama.
I watched it yesterday and it was awesome, though I don´t know if it´ll be too long for people who don´t like scientific stuff and that. The whole cinema applauded at the end, which is something I usually don´t see here.
