The Martian (2015)

[dfergie]

[CONTAINER][MOVIE1]Title: The Martian

Tagline: Help is only 140 million miles away.

Genre: [GENRE]Adventure[/GENRE], [GENRE]Science Fiction[/GENRE], [GENRE]Action[/GENRE]

Director: [DIRECTOR]Ridley Scott[/DIRECTOR]

Cast: [ACTOR]Matt Damon[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Jessica Chastain[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Kate Mara[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Jeff Daniels[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Chiwetel Ejiofor[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Michael Peña[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Aksel Hennie[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Sebastian Stan[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Kristen Wiig[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Sean Bean[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Donald Glover[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Mackenzie Davis[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Naomi Scott[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Lili Bordán[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Gruffudd Glyn[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Sam Spruell[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Jonathan Aris[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Dilyana Bouklieva[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Szonja Oroszlán[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Nikolett Barabas[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Karen Gagnon[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Mark O'Neal[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Brian Caspe[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Nick Mohammed[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]James Fred Harkins Jr.[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Björn Freiberg[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Scott Alexander Young[/ACTOR]

Release Date: [RELEASE]2015-10-02[/RELEASE]

Runtime: [RUNTIME]130[/RUNTIME]

Plot: [PLOT]During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.[/PLOT][/MOVIE1][POSTER1]

[/POSTER1][/CONTAINER]

 

[rad]

Saw it in 3D last night, a VERY good movie.

 

[riffjim4069]

I saw this film last night and liked it better than Gravity. I didn't love it, but it was pretty good and worth a couple hours of my time.

 

[Ilya]

It was for sure much more realistic than Gravity!

 

[TNGTony]

A martian wind storm would NOT cause that damage. The air pressure on Mars is the same as at about 80,000 feet on Earth. I will reserve judgement on the actual movie until I see the whole thing.

 

[Ilya]

A martian wind storm would NOT cause that damage.

What damage are you referring to?

 

[dfergie]

If you've seen the movie read, it explains what was right, and what was wrong...

Spoiler

"http://www.iflscience.com/space/how-accurate-martian-9-things-movie-got-right-and-wrong"

 

[Ilya]

The dust storm during the opening (evacuation) scene was definitely overdramatized. But that was required for the plot and for the cinematic effect. Otherwise, why would they evacuate the planet and leave an astronaut behind? But other than that, everything else looked pretty realistic to me.
No worries, I am not revealing much.

 

[TNGTony]

I am very particular with sci-fis about this kind of thing. There are things we know and things we can extrapolate in science and science fiction. If you have to change the laws of physics to create a situation for your characters in a scifi, it's a giant DING in the credibility of the entire story to me. This kind of thing is what made Orbit an eye-roller for me.

If you want to make a fantasy, make a fantasy. If you want to make a great sci-fi, stick with scientifically accurate fiction.

 

[mike123abc]

I saw the movie and liked it, but you cannot watch the movie only thinking about the science and be satisfied. The storm was a big problem. If such storms were possible on Mars, why would they send the second launcher to Mars years early when it could just as easily be blown down before the astronauts got there?

 

[TNGTony]

I've said this before and I'll have to say it again: I wish I could turn off my brain and just enjoy a movie without picking it apart.
There are two types of science fiction movies, those that call themselves science fiction, but are really fantasies, and those that make a serious attempt to stay within the realm of plausible science or extrapolations of current scientific fields. "The Martian" was so close. But no. Alas, It is a rescue fantasy movie just like Orbit was. It is an excellent movie full of action, drama, and suspense. But it was so loaded with major issues being overlooked that I had to switch modes almost right away from a mentality, something that could really happen transcribed and augmented to a fictional situation, to total fantasy....something that could never happen. ...from "Apollo 13" to "Robinson Caruso on Mars" ...not that Robinson Caruso on Mars was a cinematic gem, but it is just as plausible as "The Martian" is.
I want to make it clear, I liked this movie. I liked it a lot. I am just really angry that so many little things.... little things that would not have been hard to correct were ignored for unnecessary dramatic effect. I was so angry that on three separate occasions the movie resorted to cliches that have been used in every single space rescue movie and TV show from "Marooned" to 20 episodes of Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Stargate. ...plot complications any one subjected to an Irwin Allen TV show would recognize... I'm getting tired of outlining the course of a movie before it unfolds because the same plot devices and complications are being rehashed.
Those that want to know nothing of the movie should stop reading now, but there's no spoilers here if you know the plot or have seen the previews.
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When a mission to mars is forced to leave quickly due to a massive wind storm that threatens to knock over the ascent vehicle Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is separated from his group and thought dead by the rest of his crew. He is left for dead on the planet. He has to figure out how to survive on the planet until he can figure out a way to be rescued.

Problem #1 and a big, gigantic issue: the initial cause of Matt Damon's character being marooned was, without doubt, completely wrong and totally impossible. ...not improbable, impossible as shown. A 100 mile an hour wind on mars carries about the same force as a 10 mile an hour wind on Earth. There are 100 mile and hour winds on mars, but they can only blow up dust... not rocks and debris. The atmosphere of Mars is equal to the atmosphere on Earth at about 100,000 feet! This is known stuff to anyone who cares to look at wikipedia, JPL, or any page on the internet about the planet.

Problem #2 Mars has no magnetic field to speak of. This means that solar radiation (Gama, Cosmic Rays). Walking around in a space suit and probably even in the hab as well, this astronaut is receiving the equivalent of one full body CT scan every four or five days in radiation.

Problem #3 would be a spoiler. It happens toward the end.

The rest of the issues become more academic and pedestrian, but this is why the movie goes from the realm of believable scifi to escapists fantasy.

As escapists fantasies go (Vertical Limit, Cliffhanger, Orbit).... I really liked it.

 

[lparsons21]

Uh, you know that credibility isn't a necessary part of fiction, right?

I always leave my plausibility gene in another room while I watch movies. Especially scifi!! I KNOW they will get something totally wrong just because they almost always do.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but the book was wonderful and I'm almost tempted to go to an actual theater and see it!

 

[TNGTony]

Uh, you know that credibility isn't a necessary part of fiction, right?

I spent the first half of my previous statement explaining the difference between the type of fiction this movie could have been, a real science fiction, and the fantasy it was. ...a movie where science as we know, or an extrapolation of how we understand concepts of science it is used in a fictitious story and how this movie failed at that.
Credibility doesn't have to be part of any fiction. It doesn't even have to be part of reality. However plausibility MUST be part of this type of fiction unless you want it reclassified as a fantasy.

 

[jayn_j]

Just finished the book. Will stream the movie tonight. Yes, I saw the same holes you did, and I thought the last one was excessive. However, the science was so detailed and spot on that it actually made the points needed for dramatic effect stick out. I am actually pleased with what I read and willing to overlook a couple of dramatic points because of the large amount they got right and in detail.