The Martian... Hmmmm

firstlight (Tony) · #1 08-10-2015, 09:39 PM

I noticed that Unipol has a copy of the Martian to give away. I take it he doesn't think much of it. I have to admit that I didn't see the book in print, i heard the Audible book read by R C Bray. I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. His reading of it was brilliant, and although there is a lot of colourful language, it seemed very real an believable to me (which also made it very real).

The movie however was abominable. The characters were not even 2 dimensional... closer to a singularity. Very disappointing was the fact that the movie characters didn't resemble the personalities that the audio book brought out. The memorable lines from the book were missing, as were key scenes ans events. Worst of all was the ending which was changed completely from the text and frankly ridiculous.

In summary: My impression of the text is coloured brilliantly from the excellent reading by R C Bray, and the movie was spectacularly disappointing. Save your money to buy bricks to drop on your feet... I would have enjoyed that more.

RickS (Rick) · #2 08-10-2015, 10:26 PM

Hi Tony,

I was disappointed with the movie as well. I'll stick to watching them on planes in future and then only when I need a break from reading a book

Cheers,
Rick.

AdrianF (Adrian) · #3 09-10-2015, 10:30 AM

I have to agree the movie was disappointing
I wish I had left it at reading the book.

Adrian

pmrid (Peter) · #4 09-10-2015, 03:09 PM

Yeah. Movie was a let-down.
Having read the book a couple of times, I was probably expecting too much from the movie I guess. Not everyone is a science/astronomy nerd and movies are made to attract the wider audience. I had hoped to see more of the science and less of the folksy personalities at NASA; more of the challenges of fitting out the vehicles, the rollover, the storm-avoidance and so on. Bummer. I give it a 3 out of 5.
Peter

firstlight (Tony) · #5 12-10-2015, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickS

Hi Tony,

I was disappointed with the movie as well. I'll stick to watching them on planes in future and then only when I need a break from reading a book

Cheers,
Rick.

I hear you

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianF

I have to agree the movie was disappointing
I wish I had left it at reading the book.

Adrian

Yup

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmrid

Yeah. Movie was a let-down.
Having read the book a couple of times, I was probably expecting too much from the movie I guess. Not everyone is a science/astronomy nerd and movies are made to attract the wider audience. I had hoped to see more of the science and less of the folksy personalities at NASA; more of the challenges of fitting out the vehicles, the rollover, the storm-avoidance and so on. Bummer. I give it a 3 out of 5.
Peter

INHO I think you are a bit too generous. They pretty well butchered a good story. I hear lots of people liked the Movie, I can only assume they didn't read or hear the audio book (I'll plug it again... get the audio book... it will blow your mind.)

Actually I had to laugh out loud in the movie when he repaired his helmet with duct tape, and the hab with a piece of plastic and duct tape. Also it was funny when it flapped during a sand storm. Really? 1 atmosphere in the dome and less than 1% outside? Almost 200:1?... riiiight!

Am I being too picky? Probably, but hey, if they even can't put in Watney's Theme Song (read/hear the book), then have to anglicise the Hindu-Americans name (Why?

Would people have trouble pronouncing Venkat?), then they deserve to be picked.

I know, I know I'm having a full-on rant, but when my 9 year-old son is picking the movie to pieces on the drive home, you know the level they sunk the story to. BTW if there were spoilers for those who haven't seen the movie in the above paragraph, I just have to live with the burden

.

I gave the movie 4.5... bricks. Actually sorry I spent the money, but I hoped that it was at least half as good as the book. This was the worst translation of book to movie that I've seen since Dune.

casstony · #6 12-10-2015, 10:36 PM

Despite the technical silliness, I thought it was good family entertainment and anything that raises the profile of space exploration is a good thing. It's always dangerous watching the movie after reading the book.

firstlight (Tony) · #7 12-10-2015, 11:03 PM

Yeah, true.

Being too picky. Upset me more than it should?

firstlight (Tony) · #8 12-10-2015, 11:08 PM

I suppose what really got at my goat was the believability of the book which was totally disregarded. Also I thought there were SO many good/cool/funny lines that got chopped.

"Yeah, things didn't go exactly to plan, but I'm not dead so it's a win!"

casstony · #9 13-10-2015, 10:58 AM

I remember being similarly annoyed at watching Jurassic Park after reading the book. "Who's this soft, cuddly old guy, where's the nasty businessman?"
I guess reading is bad for us

firstlight (Tony) · #10 13-10-2015, 07:02 PM

You mean we use our brains? Dangerous in our society.

ZeroID (Brent) · #11 14-10-2015, 12:12 PM

Hmmm, I've read the book, was looking forward to the movie, now I'm not so sure.
The book was excellent IMHO, I have a very vivid imagination and got completely lost in it to the point of staying up late one night to finish it.

I'm not super picky about movie versions, but I like to have a reasonably close resemblance to the story line and the action. I can tolerate a bit of license with the physics if the rest of the movie at least entertains well but now I'm wondering ...

I'll go and see it if only to satisfy my own curiousity. I guess it will be a bit like 'Gravity' which took a fair few liberties with reality but I enjoyed anyway.

jjz (Joe) · #12 15-10-2015, 11:00 AM

I am reading the book now, I didnt want the movie to ruin it for me. Sounds like I made the right decision....

ZeroID (Brent) · #13 18-10-2015, 07:26 PM

Ok, verdict. Awesome. Not perfect obviously, some physics ignored but the overall movie is very good.
For those who complain about stuff not being included the film is already 2 and half hours long. To get all the drama the book covers would end being a 3 episode LOTR experience. They used some speed up sequences to accelerate some bits and some clever two location shifts to show NASA and Mars doing similar tasks. I think the balance between Mars location time and Earth\Hermes time about right. It needed to get the correlation between the efforts on Earth and his side of it to balance how it all worked.
It was almost documentary style, believable and reading the book first is an excellent idea. I was able to fill in the bits that the film could not include but still enjoy it all.
I'll give it 9 out of 10.

PeterM · #14 19-10-2015, 07:50 AM

Totally agree Brent awesome movie. Thoroughly enjoyed and heading back for a 2nd VMax viewing tomorrow. 9/10 absolutely.

Suzy · #15 21-10-2015, 10:04 PM

Oh wow, I'm loving the feedback on this movie; I guess I won't expect too much for when I finally get around to seeing it when hubby gets back from his travels. I made him promise me *not* to watch the movie on the plane. I want a date night at Gold Class with all the trimmings (wine, food). So if the movie disappoints, at least I'll be in comfort

.

My daughter and her husband saw it and absolutely loved it.

Question please?

I have heard before that it's focused a lot around NASA people. Are there plenty of gorgeous panoramic views of Mars using NASA's real footage? We have so much of it these days.
I asked my daughter but she had trouble answering if there was

.

And I guess after reading these comments, I'm probably better off watching the movie first and then getting audio book.

RobF (Rob) · #16 21-10-2015, 10:12 PM

I don't see that many movies in the cinema these days, but had a chance to see this in 3D, and loved it. Yes, I could poke scientific holes in it, and no I haven't read the book.

But it was great entertainment, and on quite a few occasions realised how much extra oomph the 3D added (reflections off helmets etc).

Really glad went to see it.
Still not sure about the plastic and tape to repair that airlock though....

casstony · #17 21-10-2015, 10:18 PM

Suzy, there are lots of gorgeous panoramic views but they're mostly scenes from deserts on Earth I think. Still enjoyable though.

Suzy · #18 22-10-2015, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by casstony

Suzy, there are lots of gorgeous panoramic views but they're mostly scenes from deserts on Earth I think. Still enjoyable though.

Thank you Tony

ZeroID (Brent) · #19 23-10-2015, 10:42 AM

Suzy, as I said I think it was quite well balanced in the NASA/JPL - Mars exposure. They used some quite clever cinematography to convey connection and fill in what could have been quite complex and time consuming explanations about parallel events.
I'm pretty sure you're going to love it.

A lot of the scenic shots were taken to convey the isolation of his situation. There are plenty of quite stunning vistas and some unusual views which work for it.

And I'm not sure about the plastic door fix either ... ( Suzy - you'll find out ... no spoilers here )

As a technical comment I noticed that they showed the air pressure at the Habitat as earth normal, about 15 lbs. I think the ISS actually runs at a lower pressure, not sure what. It would have made better sense to run the habitat at a lower pressure, less strain on seals and components. I know it's just a movie thing to show the audience what is happening but would that be a better system ? And why ?

Suzy · #20 23-10-2015, 11:16 AM

Hi Brent, thank you so much for that explanation, it's much appreciated.

I came across this article by Phil Plait. I could only read the beginning though as he warned there's spoilers in it.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...e_science.html