Comments on: Is The Martian the best hard sci fi movie ever? https://habitablezone.com/2015/10/18/is-the-martian-the-best-hard-sci-fi-movie-ever/ Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:41:18 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: SDG https://habitablezone.com/2015/10/18/is-the-martian-the-best-hard-sci-fi-movie-ever/#comment-33191 SDG Mon, 19 Oct 2015 19:17:57 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=51315#comment-33191 I read the book after it came out. When I heard that Matt Damon was playing Mark Watney I cringed just a bit. I don't mind Damon, but I didn't think he was nerdy enough to pull it off. I was wrong, he did great. I took my wife who was a bit skeptical after hearing my description of the movie. She was thinking it was going to be like Gravity, a film neither of us really enjoyed. I told her it wouldn't be like Gravity (secretly hoping it wouldn't be like Gravity) and was right again. She thought it was a great movie. I liked the way they blew their two F-word budget early on and had to resort to other ways of using it. Made me laugh each time. Some nitpicks: They didn't even use the best line from the book. Some of the zero G work wasn't quite believable like turning corners mid flight. I don't think they explained very well that the ARES resupply was critical or they all die. The book made a pretty big deal about the contingency plan if they didn't get the resupply which was pretty grim. I read the book after it came out. When I heard that Matt Damon was playing Mark Watney I cringed just a bit. I don’t mind Damon, but I didn’t think he was nerdy enough to pull it off. I was wrong, he did great.

I took my wife who was a bit skeptical after hearing my description of the movie. She was thinking it was going to be like Gravity, a film neither of us really enjoyed. I told her it wouldn’t be like Gravity (secretly hoping it wouldn’t be like Gravity) and was right again. She thought it was a great movie.

I liked the way they blew their two F-word budget early on and had to resort to other ways of using it. Made me laugh each time.

Some nitpicks: They didn’t even use the best line from the book. Some of the zero G work wasn’t quite believable like turning corners mid flight. I don’t think they explained very well that the ARES resupply was critical or they all die. The book made a pretty big deal about the contingency plan if they didn’t get the resupply which was pretty grim.

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2015/10/18/is-the-martian-the-best-hard-sci-fi-movie-ever/#comment-33188 Robert Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:47:26 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=51315#comment-33188 High praise! (just copy-n-paste mcfly's comment) High praise! (just copy-n-paste mcfly’s comment)

]]> By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2015/10/18/is-the-martian-the-best-hard-sci-fi-movie-ever/#comment-33187 mcfly Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:48:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=51315#comment-33187 I'm looking forward to it. Thus far I've deliberately avoided reading the book, though I bought a copy. My wife found it a real page-turner. As an aside, I actually enjoyed Prometheus. I thought it ended a real dry spell for big screen scifi. True, the team of scientists wasn't the brightest group ever assembled, and were perhaps too often driven by their own shortcomings. Meh, these things happen. I’m looking forward to it. Thus far I’ve deliberately avoided reading the book, though I bought a copy. My wife found it a real page-turner.

As an aside, I actually enjoyed Prometheus. I thought it ended a real dry spell for big screen scifi. True, the team of scientists wasn’t the brightest group ever assembled, and were perhaps too often driven by their own shortcomings. Meh, these things happen.

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