I saw this movie today (actually yesterday) and have a mixed response to it, but mostly disappointment. Visually, the movie looks very good, as one
would expect of a Ridley Scott ("creator of worlds") movie. Generally, I had no complaints with the acting. Anything Matt Damon does is usually pretty
good, but this movie didn't really require a lot of acting chops from him.
The most irritating thing about the movie for me was the Scorcese-ized sound track. I very nearly walked out at one point when a somewhat lengthy
sequence of space/technical activities was shown to the tune of an asinine and loud pop song.
I should think that one of the most riveting things about space would be the silence, but there was no concerted attempt in the movie script to
explore that a little. For me this movie is clearly a work of business, not a work of art. Ridley Scott is capable of much better.
NASA's agenda and the American government's agenda were present in the film, I believe, in the sense that the action, at times, was suggestive of the
exploits of the Apollo astronauts. (Disclaimer: I believe the Moon landings were faked.) To some extent the official narrative of the space agencies
was reinforced by this film.
I don't think there is a market for the sort of film I would have preferred. I think we just haven't had enough lived experience in space to make good
space movies.
Mars, the planet, was, for me, the star of the movie, but unfortunately it only made cameo appearances.
All the hardware, equipment, etc. looked extremely good. As I said at the beginning, the movie looks fine. The script itself was a disappointment and
some of the action looked absurd to me.
I would still recommend it as representing the current state of the art for this sort of sci-fi thing. Good visually, but vapid script. Science nerds
probably loved it.
edit on 7-2-2016 by ipsedixit because: (no reason given)
edit on 7-2-2016 by ipsedixit because: (no reason
given)
edit on 7-2-2016 by ipsedixit because: (no reason given)
edit on 8-2-2016 by ipsedixit because: (no reason
given)