Went to see this pic on Friday and was blown away. I had read Andy Weir's debut novel and was hoping the movie would be a good adaptation. It was, although it streamlined and glossed over some of the novel's details. They'd have to, as the novel goes into enough detail that it'd need to be a ten-hour miniseries to include everything. This is one of the hardest-SF novels to come out in a long time. The movie is everything Gravity and Interstellar should have been. The idea is pretty much a riff on Robinson Crusoe meats Apollo 13. I'm not the world's biggest Matt Damon fan, but he hit every note bang on. Sean Bean's character plays a pivotal role in the movie and doesn't die, although his career takes a serious hit (to go any further into detail woul involve serious spoilers). Chewitel Ejiofor is a standout as Vincent (Venkat in the book) Kapoor. The altered the character ever-so-slightly to make him more palatable for American audiences, changing him from a Hindu from India to a half-Indian American whose father was Hindu and whose mother was Baptist. Jeff Daniels is great as a NASA official as is Jessica Chastain as Commander Lewis, the leader of the Mars mission, Ares III. There is not a dud in the entire cast. Both the novel and book portray a very impressive show of international cooperation in space exploration while keeping the politics somewhat beleivable. NASA comes off very well in the story.
If you're going to see this movie, see it on the big screen and in 3D. It comes out next month on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Reply With Quote
