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First Reviews for The Martian (dir. Ridley Scott; based on the book; Matt Damon)

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Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
The Martian |OT| We Are the Future

It kinda plays with another phrase from Matt Damon from another space movie.
 
H

Haines

Banned
Ive never believed in first reviews. So many big movies get raving reviews that are average. Ill prob catch this on netflix some day tho. Seems like a nice sunday after noon flick.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Haines said:
Ive never believed in first reviews. So many big movies get raving reviews that are average. Ill prob catch this on netflix some day tho. Seems like a nice sunday after noon flick.
Click to expand...

But it has to be rainy, okay?
Someone mentioned quite a good amount of critics have seen it in festivals since quite some time, FYI.
 
E

enigmatic_alex44

Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
Really excited to see this :) Both Matt Damon and Ridley Scott haven't made a good film in years so the good reviews have me pretty stoked.
 
C

Chris R

Member
Glad to see the positive reviews. Wish IMAX had a 2D showing of this near me, instead I opted for the biggest screen I could find on Saturday. Not as early as I like but whatever.
 
O

Oozer3993

Member
Just got back from the movie. I read the book at the beginning of the year and absolutely LOVED it. I am happy to say that the movie plays very closely to the book. I loved it. I felt it went a touch slowly, but that could be because I've read the book and knew what was coming. Some quick thoughts before bed:

* The Mars porn! Oh the Mars porn! Mariner Valley! Olympus Mons! Martian sunset! If you like space landscapes, you may faint.

* Probably my favorite Lord of the Rings joke ever.

* I loved the casting of Matt Damon when it was announced. Will Hunting was essentially Mark Watney with a Boston accent. He's great here.

* As some one with a soft spot for it, the reverence shown for the
Pathfinder probe
warmed my heart.

* If you liked the humor in the book, it is very much in tact here.

* JPL wishes their buildings looked that cool.

* Venkat has been turned into Vince. I'd be angrier, but I'll take any excuse for more Chiwetel.

overcast said:
I have the option to see it in 2D or 3D for free. Is 3D worth it?
Click to expand...

The 3D is understated for the most part, but the landscape shots are amazing in 3D. There's a shot of Mariner Valley at the very beginning where you can see how it's gouged into the surface. And Olympus Mons in 3D? Breathtaking.

KHarvey16 said:
Another question for those who have read the book and seen the film:

Is China involved in the rescue?
Click to expand...

Yup. It plays out just like the book. In fact, China kind of gets more screen time than they did in the book. It's a nice touch to how important they were in the mission, and certainly won't hurt the movie's earnings potential in China.
 
S

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Damn good film. Easily Scott's best since Kingdom of Heaven DC and one of the best films of the year. Amazingly tense film while being full of humor.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
I saw it tonight. It was enjoyable even though it was quite long. I could see it being the best thing either Matt Damon or Ridley Scott has done in years. It was funny and I liked it way better than Gravity. I'm not an expert scientist but it "felt" more realistic and enjoyable than either Gravity or Interstellar. In fact, it probably even felt more human and inspiring to me than Interstellar.

If you're a small child then be warned it features some foul language and Matt Damon's buttocks.

Sean Bean has a great accent and I loved his reference to
Lord of the Rings, where he acted out one of the characters!
.

For me I'd say 8/10, maybe even 9/10.
 
D

Daniel B·

Banned
Great stuff (
cool use of hexadecimal [0-9A-F]
) - 8/10. Prometheus, which I scored 7/10, rates higher visually, but unlike Prometheus, this is good, alround. And yes, that was Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) from Halt and Catch Fire, at NASA control.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
DieH@rd said:
The Martian |OT|
Fuck you Mars

I know this is PG 13, and people in NASA swore like sailors, but I really hope that Watneys "Fuck you" line from the book survived. It was the absolute highlight of the book for me.
Click to expand...
That line made it in, early in the movie no less.

Donald Glover was pretty funny. I didn't know what I'd seen him from but I finally looked it up and I think it was Community:
cmwalaarollh.gif


It was nice to see Michael Peña get a role. My friend immediately said, "It's that guy from Ant Man!" once the movie started.
 
M

MasterOfPastures

Banned
Read the book once I heard about the movie. It's a really good adaptation. And we got to see things that the book never really addresses clearly, like his weight loss and physical deterioration due to to his diet. Go see it.
 
M

March of the Crabs

Member
Just saw this in 2D and it was awesome. Doesn't seen like it would be a good fit for 3D so that sucks for people who don't have the option. Really good though. 9/10 from me.
 
A

Atraveller

Banned
MadLaughter said:
The Martian |OT| In Your Face, Neil Armstrong

The Martian |OT| Pythagoras is a Dick

The Martian |OT| I'm Pretty Much Fucked

The Martian |OT| Potato Party

The Martian |OT| Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped

The Martian |OT| In space, no one can hear you scream like a little girl

The Martian |OT| A desperate struggle for survival, with occasional titration

Not that I possess the skills to make an OT, but I want one :(
Click to expand...
Book got some pretty cringe moments.
 
T

Trey

Member
It's pretty much the book in movie form.

Not bad. Visuals fall short of interstellar and Gravity (in particular), but it's still a gorgeous film. I'm loving Hollywood's space renaissance.
 
P

PsihoPerihelion

Member
The Martian |OT| How do you like dem potatoes?

Now on topic: Man, this fucking movie. I'm so glad that Scott is back. Great directing, awesome cast, some stunning space porn, great visual effects. Sound, cinematography and editing work on tandem to make this movie just fucking WORK. A real showcase to a craftman like Scott.

Above all, I just want Harry Gregson-Williams to win the Oscar for his score https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_aN1xzxCP8

Holy fuck it is brilliant. I know that my favorite soundtrack from this year is James Horner's The 33. Probably one of his best works, but it has no chance on winning. This one? Give the award to my man Harry already!
 
K

Kin5290

Member
I just saw this. It was a great movie, and stayed pretty true to the spirit of the book. The big difference is in the end, where
instead of the explosive decompression assisted deceleration going off without a hitch Watney pokes a hole in his suit for thrust and Lewis catches him in a tethered Manned Manuvering Unit.

The cast was great, with my favorite "settings" being with Watney on Mars and the crew of the Hermes (Chastain and Pena are fantastic). Chastain was just awesome and a powerhouse.

Surprisingly I liked Mindy Park, despite having doubts about her over an apparently Korean character being cast with some random white chick. She's played a lot like Felicity from Arrow before the writing went to shit and she morphed into hot CW female lead #215.

Things I didn't like:

Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose was hit and miss. She gets some good bits, especially when she gets to be snarky or curse, but for large stretches she is just a Worried Teary Eyed Female to contrast with the senior dudes at NASA. All of the Mission Control cheering scenes (there are at least 3 or 4 of them) aren't necessary, and most should have been cut. It's pretty weird contrasting the professionalism of the Hermes crew (who still get to have fun and joke around) with the unprofessionalism of Johnson Mission Control. Still, these are minor flaws in a movie that was otherwise pretty damn good.

I kind of liked the ending, but it does not have the "Humans will go to extremes to save one of their own in peril" monologue that was at the end of the book and in the trailers. It's kind of a shame, because I thought it would've fit in well there.

The soundtrack and visuals were indeed fantastic. I honestly prefer the space visuals here compared to those of Gravity, particularly the zero G sections of the Hermes and the IRIS II docking sequence.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
Trey said:
I'll tell you though, if you thought the fire extinguisher scene in Gravity was dumb...
Click to expand...
The zero / low / orbit gravity scenes in this bothered me way less than Gravity. I kind of doubted the Hermes would have had sufficient gravity for people to stand/walk/run normally with the level of rotation it had, but I could be totally wrong on that.
 
P

Prototype Viktor

Member
One place I saw said it was a nice twist on the damsel in distress but that wouldn't be true because in a damsel in distress movie the damsel in do anything (without a guy telling her to do it)
 
K

Kin5290

Member
Blizzard said:
The zero / low / orbit gravity scenes in this bothered me way less than Gravity. I kind of doubted the Hermes would have had sufficient gravity for people to stand/walk/run normally with the level of rotation it had, but I could be totally wrong on that.
Click to expand...
It probably had low G instead of 1G. Mars itself has slightly under 0.4G. The problem is that it's damn hard to mimic the effects of low G as opposed to 0 G or 1G on 1G Earth, especially outside of a set or soundstage, so apparently Ridley Scott didn't bother to.

It's also probably why Lewis and Johansson had their hair tied back tightly when navigating the gravity free body of the Hermes. In Gravity, you can see that Sandra Bullock's hair is obviously experiencing the effects of Earth gravity even when she would nominally be in a weightless environment.
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
Movie was great. I'm loving all these space movies over the last two years. It's a fucking great time to be into Sci-Fi and NASA porn.

I'm super impressed with Ridley Scott's work on this movie too. I was worried he lost it after Prometheus, but he's still got a great eye for visuals and knows how to pace a movie. I'm hoping he'll bring that over to the next Alien movie.
 
A

arumisan

Member
Been following the film for the past month - watching panels, videos etc. The viral marketing videos is quite stellar!

Hopefully I'll be able to go and watch it in the upcoming future once I can convince my sister to watch it with me.
 
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ZackieChan

Member
Just finished the movie. I thought it was excellent. Super tense in parts, even though I read the book. Just a great film all around. Very happy with how it turned out. Thought it would be overly serious after the first couple of scenes, but the tone was a good balance of joking and seriousness.
 
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mr-paul

Member
Really enjoyed this. In fact, I probably enjoyed it more than Interstellar and gravity. Nice touches of comedy, beautifully shot, well acted. I definitely recommend it.
 
M

Mindwipe

Member
I think this film establishes that Scott hasn't lost it, but does need to not be let near the scripts for his films in future.

Also that Guardian review is fucking appalling.
 
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Hellwarden

Member
"It's a film that would pass the time on a rainy Sunday afternoon."

Is that...really such a bad thing? That's some lazy ass snark right there.

Most movies fall into that category.

Doesn't mean there isn't a lot of good movies in that category.
 
Z

ZackieChan

Member
Hellwarden said:
"It's a film that would pass the time on a rainy Sunday afternoon."

Is that...really such a bad thing? That's some lazy ass snark right there.

Most movies fall into that category.

Doesn't mean there isn't a lot of good movies in that category.
Click to expand...

It's also kind of bullshit. Movie is exciting, funny, beautiful and well-acted (except for Donald Glover). Not sure what crawled up the reviewer's ass.
 
G

Grazzt

Member
Kin5290 said:
I just saw this. It was a great movie, and stayed pretty true to the spirit of the book. The big difference is in the end, where
instead of the explosive decompression assisted deceleration going off without a hitch Watney pokes a hole in his suit for thrust and Lewis catches him in a tethered Manned Manuvering Unit.
Click to expand...

Just got back, really enjoyed it. I didn't read the book, but judging from what you said about the ending, I prefer the movie version.
Flying like Ironman is just too damn cool
Also I really loved Matt Damon in this movie. Fantastic acting and
naked butt
Could some explain why
he got some kind of wounds on his body during his last shower scene?/SPOILER]
 
D

disillusion386

Member
Went to see it last night. Absolutely enjoyed it. Had a lot of heart, and stayed true to the book.

I preferred the book version of the ending though.
I thought Weir's version was more exciting with Beck venturing out and pulling Watney from the MAV, but I guess Hollywood and all.

Grazzt said:
Just got back, really enjoyed it. I didn't read the book, but judging from what you said about the ending, I prefer the movie version.
Flying like Ironman is just too damn cool
Also I really loved Matt Damon in this movie. Fantastic acting and
naked butt
Could some explain why
he got some kind of wounds on his body during his last shower scene?/SPOILER]
Click to expand...
Hmm, was that when we was already at the second HAB?

I could be wrong, but it could be when he was traveling between HABs. The movie cut out that portion of the book in which he lost radio contact with NASA, and there was a massive storm during the road trip he didn't know about.
 
G

Grazzt

Member
disillusion386 said:
Hmm, was that when we was already at the second HAB?

I could be wrong, but it could be when he was traveling between HABs. The movie cut out that portion of the book in which he lost radio contact with NASA, and there was a massive storm during the road trip he didn't know about.
Click to expand...

WOW, that's a ton of shit. I hope we can get a director or extended cut with those scenes.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
It was decent. Nothing super special though. Watney acts a little too cute for a guy stranded by himself on a planet. So much shoehorned in for audience spoon feeding, which isn't entirely necessary when the movie spends half the time viewing his situation from NASA's point of view.
 
K

Kin5290

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
It was decent. Nothing super special though. Watney acts a little too cute for a guy stranded by himself on a planet. So much shoehorned in for audience spoon feeding, which isn't entirely necessary when the movie spends half the time viewing his situation from NASA's point of view.
Click to expand...
It's basically the coping mechanism that keeps him going on instead of opening the airlock door without a sealed suit.
 
N

nailbombxx

Member
Never read the novel, but I saw the movie last night with my girlfriend. We both enjoyed it. Solid movie, definitely above average but nothing mindblowing.

SCULLIBUNDO said:
It was decent. Nothing super special though. Watney acts a little too cute for a guy stranded by himself on a planet. So much shoehorned in for audience spoon feeding, which isn't entirely necessary when the movie spends half the time viewing his situation from NASA's point of view.
Click to expand...

I would have expected more bouts of madness imo.
 
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