The Martian (Post-release)

[Jaitea]

Finally caught this and frankly thought it was way over-hyped. Some inexplicable spark was missing. Somehow it just had little of the (very poorly written) charm of the book. I dunno, it felt brisk and cold and sterile, if that makes sense? Kinda phoned in. There was no one thing WRONG with it (well, CG breath...) but the whole shebang struck my as obviously plodding from A to B in a very paint by numbers way. Perhaps if I hadn't read the book first...

Also, why was this nominated under best comedy? That's like the time Jethro Tull beat Metallica for best heavy metal performance.

I agree,...I enjoyed it,....VERY well made,...great performance,.....fantastic visuals,....but there was something missing

I always say that if you think about a film the next day,....its either very good or very bad,.....I just stored the movie away in my brain as 'seen'....haven't thought much about it at all

J

 

[cayman shen]

I always say that if you think about a film the next day,....its either very good or very bad,.....I just stored the movie away in my brain as 'seen'....haven't thought much about it at all

J

Yes, exactly. Nice way of putting it. The film left no hooks in my brain whatsoever. The day after seeing the Hateful 8 I was online reading reviews, discussing it. This was just an item crossed off a list, exactly.

 

[glunark]

Just wondering if the disco music was in the original book, because I can't help but feel I have seen one plucky human whose only contact with earth is a bunch of 70s music he didn't pick himself, before.

 

[cayman shen]

Just wondering if the disco music was in the original book, because I can't help but feel I have seen one plucky human whose only contact with earth is a bunch of 70s music he didn't pick himself, before.

Yes, that was straight out of the book. The author was trying to be "funny." But it came off like an alien studying people humor and trying to do stand up for his people friends.

 

[Axlotl]

Finally saw it. Dug it.
Felt like it missed a few good opportunities for jokes - though I got a good laugh out of "Sorry we left you behind on Mars, but we just don't like you".
The atmosphere and wind didn't bug me all that much, but there were a couple other sciencey things that did.
One was Bucky crawling all over the outside of the Hermes without a tether - then Murph gets in an MMU and has it tethered to the ship.
Another was Will Hunting digging up decaying radioactive isotopes to heat his truck - never mind that his suit is heated, otherwise they all would have froze to death inside of 10 minutes.
There were a few more, but I can't remember them now.
All in all, I liked it. Better than "Interstellar".
I'm glad to see Hollywood bringing hard science fiction into the mainstream.

 

[firesprite]

Finally saw it. Dug it.
Felt like it missed a few good opportunities for jokes - though I got a good laugh out of "Sorry we left you behind on Mars, but we just don't like you".
The atmosphere and wind didn't bug me all that much, but there were a couple other sciencey things that did.
One was Bucky crawling all over the outside of the Hermes without a tether - then Murph gets in an MMU and has it tethered to the ship.
Another was Will Hunting digging up decaying radioactive isotopes to heat his truck - never mind that his suit is heated, otherwise they all would have froze to death inside of 10 minutes.
There were a few more, but I can't remember them now.
All in all, I liked it. Better than "Interstellar".
I'm glad to see Hollywood bringing hard science fiction into the mainstream.

He went for the unit to warm the vehicle because to run the heater would run the battery down faster and shorten his drive time by half to 3/4, forcing him to stop and spend 12 hours recharging. It was laid out pretty clearly in the book and I seem to recall him mentioning it in the movie...

 

[Axlotl]

firesprite: but he didn't need to run the heater in the cab. His suit HAD to be heated, or the astronauts wouldn't have been able to survive.
Remember the scene when he blew up the hab and his potatoes flash-froze? He would have frozen, too, if he didn't have a heated suit.

 

[firesprite]

@firesprite: but he didn't need to run the heater in the cab. His suit HAD to be heated, or the astronauts wouldn't have been able to survive.
Remember the scene when he blew up the hab and his potatoes flash-froze? He would have frozen, too, if he didn't have a heated suit.

Again, the power supply isn't infinite. He had limited power for the suits, even if he had spares. Additionally, they only had limited air supplies.

 

[rkward]

For anyone interested the map dividers that were used in the movie can be found here (Lee Valley Tools): http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=63134&cat=2,40725,45454. I found them completely by accident!

 

[Riceball]

Again, the power supply isn't infinite. He had limited power for the suits, even if he had spares. Additionally, they only had limited air supplies.

Not to mention that I don't think that they were rated for the Martian nights, which they would spend inside the hab and not out and about.

 

[dascoyne]

I just saw this and it's pretty much the film I expected. Nicely acted and interesting conflicts but ultimately predictable and completely without surprises.
I did like the film very much but it's not a film I'll feel compelled to view repeatedly or ever again.
The 70's soundtrack just felt derivative of GotG (I know the difference is that it's more disco but it's still classic pop in sci-fi).
The closing credits with the montage of characters seemed a wrong choice. I expect it to be more appropriate when trying to harken back to character moments, but this isn't a film that is anchored on very compelling characters. The closing credits were supposed to conjure some form of euphoria but I felt nothing.

When a film isn't compelling enough to transcend my problems with the science then that tells me the story falls short of greatness. Which is interesting because I really liked the film. But the science did bother me.

When he punctured his suit for thrust he should know that the palm is the worst place for thrust. In space that's going to impart more angular momentum than translational momentum. In other words he'd end up spinning in place. I know they show him bouncing about at first but later he's flying straight with thrust from one palm. That took me immediately out of the movie and I realized I wasn't invested enough in the story or character not to be bothered by this. Ideally he should have punctured his suit around the center of mass which is the lower abdomen - or slightly higher if he's in a top-heavy space suit. That's just basic physics.

 

[dascoyne]

As if the 70's soundtrack seeming derivative of GotG wasn't enough to make me think of the MCU he had to reference Iron Man more than once. And with Sebastian Stan and Michael Pena in the cast I kept thinking about how much more interesting their parts were in the MCU.

 

[DuneMuadDib]

To be fair to the film, the book it's adapted from predated GotG by a few years and the disco was referenced just as often in the book along with tv of the same era.

 

[dascoyne]

To be fair to the film, the book it's adapted from predated GotG by a few years and the disco was referenced just as often in the book along with tv of the same era.

I was aware of that. I didn't mean to imply that it was ripped off. It just reminded me of it.

 

[Riceball]

When a film isn't compelling enough to transcend my problems with the science then that tells me the story falls short of greatness. Which is interesting because I really liked the film. But the science did bother me.

When he punctured his suit for thrust he should know that the palm is the worst place for thrust. In space that's going to impart more angular momentum than translational momentum. In other words he'd end up spinning in place. I know they show him bouncing about at first but later he's flying straight with thrust from one palm. That took me immediately out of the movie and I realized I wasn't invested enough in the story or character not to be bothered by this. Ideally he should have punctured his suit around the center of mass which is the lower abdomen - or slightly higher if he's in a top-heavy space suit. That's just basic physics.

The movie did take a certain amount of license with that scene, it was mentioned in the book but was ruled out for, I believe, reasons similar to what you mentioned.

 

[dascoyne]

The movie did take a certain amount of license with that scene, it was mentioned in the book but was ruled out for, I believe, reasons similar to what you mentioned.

In the book he punctured his lower abdomen?

 

[Riceball]

In the book he punctured his lower abdomen?

I don't think so, I don't remember what the ultimate solution was but I'm fairly certain that the didn't puncture his suit at all.

 

[dascoyne]

I don't think so, I don't remember what the ultimate solution was but I'm fairly certain that the didn't puncture his suit at all.

Which would be more logical because I honestly doubt you get enough thrust from expelled gas to accelerate to the velocities they describe or even to be precise enough for him to match vectors with the ship.

 

[firesprite]

I don't think so, I don't remember what the ultimate solution was but I'm fairly certain that the didn't puncture his suit at all.

Which would be more logical because I honestly doubt you get enough thrust from expelled gas to accelerate to the velocities they describe or even to be precise enough for him to match vectors with the ship.

He did not puncture his suit. Beck got to the gutted MAV and attached the line to him, then they used the jetpack to get back to the ship.

 

[jcoffman99]

Just read the book having already seen the film. Great read. Lots of differences. If you liked the film check out the book.