The Martian - excellent movie

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

I saw The Martian this weekend and loved it.

It made Mars look gorgeous but didn't stint on the danger and setbacks.

The movie would have been so much less without Matt Damon and his ability to bring humor and wit to all sorts of aspects, from his enjoyment and pride in himself as a clever botanist, to his taste in music. Since his musical taste was wildly diverse from that of his commander, Jessica Chastain, it made for some moments that showed how resilient the Damon character was. And Chastain was so believable in her role that I would have been happy to have her lead me in a mission.

I saw it in 3D, but I don't think that is necessary to get the most from the movie. It did make the scenes in which the astronauts traverse the tube-like spaceship interiors and how they backed into new "tunnels" more fun, however.

I'm not sure this next is a spoiler, but it may be if you know nothing about the movie.

Spoiler

As a gardener, the one thing that bothered me was that he placed the waste directly under the potatoes he was trying to sprout. If he had really done that, it would have been an overload of nitrogen and the plants would have "burned." Before adding waste, it needs to be composted first. At minimum, it would have had to have been much more dilute than what we were shown in the movie.

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

AspenGrove · ‎08-27-2013

Haven't yet seen the movie, but the novel is marvelous! Highly recommend the book by Andy Weir.

Lori Kaye · ‎03-14-2010

Looking forward to seeing this movie. My husband is really intrigued with Mars lately!

DoneTryin · ‎03-09-2010

I'll second that! I blazed through the book over the weekend, so now I can go see the movie

staciesmom · ‎04-13-2010

@AspenGrove wrote:
Haven't yet seen the movie, but the novel is marvelous! Highly recommend the book by Andy Weir.

I enjoyed the book as well, and DH and I are planning to see the movie on Wednesday evening,

LTT1 · ‎03-09-2010

@GingerPeach @staciesmom @DoneTryin @Lori Kaye @AspenGrove

Thank you! Now I can't wait to see the movie!

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~

kahootz · ‎03-11-2010

If I'm not really into science fiction, do you still think I would enjoy the book?

DoneTryin · ‎03-09-2010

@kahootz wrote:
If I'm not really into science fiction, do you still think I would enjoy the book?

I'm not much for sci-fi books, either, but thought I'd give it a shot anyway. So I pretty much just glossed over the science (& math!), & it was still understandable & very exciting. The suspense is in finding out how he gets out of several jams, & then if he'll get rescued. If you don't like it, well, at least you tried.

straykatz · ‎03-09-2010

DH and I went on Saturday morning....we loved it!! We didn't see it in 3d. (I don't like 3d movies)

Gioiella · ‎03-17-2010

I really enjoyed the movie.

In response to your spoiler:

Spoiler

In the book, he does spend a lot of time working on the soil, adding Martian soil to the human waste and letting the bacteria multiply, and then adding more soil and repeating until he gets the mixture just right. The movie just condensed all of that for the sake of time and an interesting story (who wants to watch bacteria multiply?)