As promised, just a short follow-up on the Martian, the movie which was released last month. I wrote a longer review of the book (here).
The movie is pretty enjoyable, and although it shifts a few
scenes around, it stays pretty much true to the book at least as far as big
scenes and bullet points go. I mean,
there are things that just won’t translate well to the big screen, so they kept
a lot off. Specifically, going into
details with all the different math calculations and science. They really streamline it all, and show you
things, instead of bore you with details.
There were a few problems I had with the movie though. I think the main one is the passage of
time. They did a good job with Watney,
letting him appear more primal as the movie progresses, but pretty much
everyone else looks the same. So even
though 400 days or so have passed, it just looks like a week to everyone but
Watney. The progression of time was also
poorly translated in the scenes when Watney had to drive long distances. In the book, it really emphasized how much he
hated doing those long drives. In the
book, the first drive was just for a few weeks, as I recall. The second drive was supposed to be something
like four times that length and he truly dreaded it! The dread didn’t come across in the
movie. And especially so because they
just lumped that longer drive all into one montage scene, showing both Mars
progress as well as Earth progress! It
was a feel good moment where in the book, it was one of the roughest of
times. They also took out a few of the
different disasters that Watney faces during the long drive.
So while not exactly the book (and what adaptation is
really?!), it still maintains the spirit of the book and is an enjoyable watch! It’s not a movie of the year or anything, but
it’s a fun big budget, low-thinking sci-fi movie that hits the right emotional
chords. Until next time, later geeks!
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