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Space movies (possible spoilers)
- Thread starter SwedishAdvocate
- Start date
Just returned from seeing the movie. I have read the book twice. I agree with most of Johan's comments though I liked the movie more than he did.
I knew that how the Martian atmosphere and dust storms were portrayed was not accurate, so I was prepared for that. What really irked me were the vast spaces inside the Hermes. That was absurd. Every kilo that gets lifted out of earths gravity well is expensive. Nothing is wasted.
Doug, when I read the book I also assumed the Mindy Park character was Korean. Overall I felt some of the multicultural feel of the book was lost. Dr Kapoor should have been played by an Indian actor. But Hollywood believes that known actors sell tickets.
That said, this film nevertheless sent some important messages to the youthful audience that I hope it is attracting:
-- Science is important, science is useful, science matters. There is no place for ignorance and narrow-mindedness when exploring the universe.
-- Space exploration is risky. So what: do it anyway. It's exciting, and just plain fun.
-- Big, bold missions of exploration bring people together.
I'm down with that.
I knew that how the Martian atmosphere and dust storms were portrayed was not accurate, so I was prepared for that. What really irked me were the vast spaces inside the Hermes. That was absurd. Every kilo that gets lifted out of earths gravity well is expensive. Nothing is wasted.
Doug, when I read the book I also assumed the Mindy Park character was Korean. Overall I felt some of the multicultural feel of the book was lost. Dr Kapoor should have been played by an Indian actor. But Hollywood believes that known actors sell tickets.
That said, this film nevertheless sent some important messages to the youthful audience that I hope it is attracting:
-- Science is important, science is useful, science matters. There is no place for ignorance and narrow-mindedness when exploring the universe.
-- Space exploration is risky. So what: do it anyway. It's exciting, and just plain fun.
-- Big, bold missions of exploration bring people together.
I'm down with that.
Jenny got that reference right away, too (she's not the Areophile that I have been, so the whole film was all-new to her): "Hey look! Falcon-wing doors".
More spoilers:
* I'm glad others brought up the wind-storm problem. That was a Large Helping Of Suspended Belief there, for me. The lightning shown is, however, to be expected, if I recall correctly.
* Geomorphology: I kept getting distracted by all the layer-cake geology. All those horizontal strata demonstrate big-time quiescent maritime deposition - less likely on Mars than little green Martians. My guess is a south-central Utah filming, with vegetation CGI'd out, but does anyone know for certain the shoot locations? (On edit: IMDB says Wadi Rum, in Jordan - which also hosted 2000's Red Planet, as well as some of Lawrence of Arabia and a host of others).
* Okay, so he blows up the Hab and destroys the potato crop, but: although we heard a NASA voice-over discussing how that flash-froze the plants and exposure to the temps and Martian atmosphere killed all the bacteria, I see immediately two problems: first, that's unlikely - I'm guessing microbial action would be able to be re-initiated BUT, even if I'm wrong there, we still have Matt's (sorry - did the character have another name?
) own poop to serve as a fine re-culturing starter.
* Initial (Thanksgiving Special) potatoes: does anyone think that those spuds could have been viable from the outset? Is NASA going to send "raw" tubers? Hmmm.
I loved the film. Thought Matt nicely balanced the emotional baggage of being marooned with the practical task of fixing the problem...after problem...after problem. And besides, it's got an Alaskan's three favorite tools to the rescue: visqueen, duct tape and ratchet straps!
More spoilers:
* I'm glad others brought up the wind-storm problem. That was a Large Helping Of Suspended Belief there, for me. The lightning shown is, however, to be expected, if I recall correctly.
* Geomorphology: I kept getting distracted by all the layer-cake geology. All those horizontal strata demonstrate big-time quiescent maritime deposition - less likely on Mars than little green Martians. My guess is a south-central Utah filming, with vegetation CGI'd out, but does anyone know for certain the shoot locations? (On edit: IMDB says Wadi Rum, in Jordan - which also hosted 2000's Red Planet, as well as some of Lawrence of Arabia and a host of others).
* Okay, so he blows up the Hab and destroys the potato crop, but: although we heard a NASA voice-over discussing how that flash-froze the plants and exposure to the temps and Martian atmosphere killed all the bacteria, I see immediately two problems: first, that's unlikely - I'm guessing microbial action would be able to be re-initiated BUT, even if I'm wrong there, we still have Matt's (sorry - did the character have another name?
) own poop to serve as a fine re-culturing starter.* Initial (Thanksgiving Special) potatoes: does anyone think that those spuds could have been viable from the outset? Is NASA going to send "raw" tubers? Hmmm.
I loved the film. Thought Matt nicely balanced the emotional baggage of being marooned with the practical task of fixing the problem...after problem...after problem. And besides, it's got an Alaskan's three favorite tools to the rescue: visqueen, duct tape and ratchet straps!
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Johan
Ex got M3 in the divorce, waiting for EU Model Y!
Weir has said on his reddit AMA that he knows the storm is very exaggerated, but he wanted there to be a natural disaster to set off Mark Watney's story.
* Geomorphology: I kept getting distracted by all the layer-cake geology. All those horizontal strata demonstrate big-time quiescent maritime deposition - less likely on Mars than little green Martians. My guess is a south-central Utah filming, with vegetation CGI'd out, but does anyone know for certain the shoot locations? (On edit: IMDB says Wadi Rum, in Jordan - which also hosted 2000's Red Planet, as well as some of Lawrence of Arabia and a host of others).
* Okay, so he blows up the Hab and destroys the potato crop, but: although we heard a NASA voice-over discussing how that flash-froze the plants and exposure to the temps and Martian atmosphere killed all the bacteria, I see immediately two problems: first, that's unlikely - I'm guessing microbial action would be able to be re-initiated BUT, even if I'm wrong there, we still have Matt's (sorry - did the character have another name?
But what is he going to plant? All the potatoes are frozen dead, they won't sprout again.
In the book he says that "The psychologists at NASA thought it would be good for us to prepare a meal, together, from scratch, at Thanksgiving. These were the only fresh food (vacuum sealed) they sent on the mission.
One more thing that I think was important and the film left out: an explanation of the design and toughness of the Hab "canvas" material and why it ruptured (due to a high number of air lock cycles beyond expected design parameters). In the book Watney seals the ruptured air lock opening with Hab canvas, not with the flimsy looking plastic shown in the film. That looked ridiculous to me. And when Watney strips the MAV he uses Hab canvas to cover the open nose area, which is far stronger than the flimsy parachute material shown in the film. But it still ripped apart, and the increased drag of all those gaping holes in the MAV is what caused it to be farther away from Hermes than was planned and what made rescuing him so difficult.
In the film, Lewis does the powered EVA to rescue Watney who does his Iron Man thing by puncturing his glove. The idea that such a technique could be even roughly controllable is beyond belief, and the book doesn't do it that way. In the book Watney remains in the MAV and Beck does the EVA to rescue him, which makes a lot more sense.
Here is a quote from the book just after Watney is back onboard the Hermes:
"If this were a movie, everyone would have been in the airlock, and there would have been high fives all around. But it didn’t pan out that way."
That made me laugh. Of course the moie. did it that way.
I still liked the movie. But I liked the book a lot more.
In the film, Lewis does the powered EVA to rescue Watney who does his Iron Man thing by puncturing his glove. The idea that such a technique could be even roughly controllable is beyond belief, and the book doesn't do it that way. In the book Watney remains in the MAV and Beck does the EVA to rescue him, which makes a lot more sense.
Here is a quote from the book just after Watney is back onboard the Hermes:
"If this were a movie, everyone would have been in the airlock, and there would have been high fives all around. But it didn’t pan out that way."
That made me laugh. Of course the moie. did it that way.
I still liked the movie. But I liked the book a lot more.
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That's extremely funny about the high-5s. Surely he retained some control over the screenplay, so that must have been an inside joke of his.
Johan - no, not all the potatoes were frozen: all his food supply remained in good shape. Just the ones in the 'garden' were destroyed.
Johan - no, not all the potatoes were frozen: all his food supply remained in good shape. Just the ones in the 'garden' were destroyed.
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Always the case, even with the greatest movie adaptations.
Couldn't check the movie out this past weekend. Looking forward to next weekend.
Quick q: I know the book has Watney generously using expletives when things go wrong (or not!) but, has the movie toned it down a bit? Would like to take our 9-year-old son along - he wasn't particularly thrilled with Interstellar so, need a more engaging space movie to cultivate a love for space adventures. (I'm not talking silly stuff like Star Wars)
Johan
Ex got M3 in the divorce, waiting for EU Model Y!
Right. Maybe he just calculated that with the setback he suffered he'd never be able to grow enough to last until the scheduled Ares 4 mission anyway, so why bother replanting? Also he lost a lot of water from the hab breach and wasn't keen on making much more.
There are multiple instances of expletives in the film, though not nearly as many as in the book.Always the case, even with the greatest movie adaptations.
Quick q: I know the book has Watney generously using expletives when things go wrong (or not!) but, has the movie toned it down a bit? Would like to take our 9-year-old son along - he wasn't particularly thrilled with Interstellar so, need a more engaging space movie to cultivate a love for space adventures. (I'm not talking silly stuff like Star Wars)
The only film that I have ever seen that was as good as the book it was based on was 2001. But in that case, the book was written while the film was in development, so it was an unusual situation.
taurusking
Member
I enjoyed the movie...I watched it yesterday on 3D...
@gg_got_a tesla: The expletives were not that bad...they were really toned down.:smile:
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There was a scene where they showed him with a beard and that he had lost lot of weight...was that graphics or he really did lose weight?
@gg_got_a tesla: The expletives were not that bad...they were really toned down.:smile:
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There was a scene where they showed him with a beard and that he had lost lot of weight...was that graphics or he really did lose weight?
Johan
Ex got M3 in the divorce, waiting for EU Model Y!
Thought about that too. I think it wasn't Damon. We only saw him from behind. The beard made it hard to tell if he actually lost weight, judging by his facial features. I think he may have lost some, but not much. It was likely someone else's body we saw from behind.
Not like Christian Bale in the Machinist or Tom Hanks in Castaway.
Two questions to the rocket experts:
The first re-supply ship sent up was American, not Chinese. Its bulbous nose looked to me like a Falcon variant. Might it have been?
The final launch shown in the film looked like a Falcon Heavy, or even larger. Any ideas out there?
Neither was shown for enough time for me to determine.
The first re-supply ship sent up was American, not Chinese. Its bulbous nose looked to me like a Falcon variant. Might it have been?
The final launch shown in the film looked like a Falcon Heavy, or even larger. Any ideas out there?
Neither was shown for enough time for me to determine.
